Severity of overfishing

Article ‘Stop the Killing of Sharks’ shows that about 100 million sharks are killed for the demand for shark fin soup. (“Vance Erik”). This decrease in shark’s population increases the population of sea urchins, which is one of the prey of sharks. Fewer predators to hunt and more prey to survive. This might not be heard as critical as a volcanos volcano erupting but the fact is different. To feed the increased amount of sea urchins, more plant kelp, the main food source of sea urchins, are required. However, there is not enough plant kelp to feed all the increased population of sea urchins. Eventually, kelp forests will be eaten all up by sea urchins. I’ll tell you an example. In the article ‘California’s critical kelp forests’ on National Geographic, between 2014 and 2016, kelp in Southern California already had been reduced by 75 percent due to pollution and overfishing. (“Todd Woody”). Without the kelp, sea urchins die of hunger. Without sea urchins, their predators die. Lastly, lack of food should wipe out the ocean creatures in that food chain. Other creatures which have habitats in kelp forests should suffer too.

Overfishing occurs all around the world. According to the TED Talk “Let’s turn the high seas into the world’s largest nature reserve”, fishing ships sail around the world and capture many fishes. For instance, a longliner was fishing around the coast of Southern Africa. Then it sailed back to Japan to supply. Later, it sailed back and reached the coast of Madagascar to continue overfishing again (Enric Sala). Overfishing around the coast of South Africa and Madagascar leaves the local fisherman empty of the ocean. That threatens the local fishermen’s lives because there’s nothing to catch and sell. This is the impact overfishing has on people.

To prevent those incidents, the US government has allowed a fisherman to catch only a certain amount of fish. The word that describes this amount is called a quota. Another method is called sustainable fishing. In the article ‘Sustainable Fishing’ on Newsela, in the Philippines, for example, the Tagbanua people have traditionally used fishing practices that maintain fish populations. They fish for particular kinds of fish only during certain times of the year. The rest of the year, the fish are left alone. That gives their population time to grow larger again.

In conclusion, to preserve our ocean from overfishing, which destroy the ocean food chain and causes the unemployment of fishermen, we should be exposed more to the news and gather awareness that overfishing that the overfishing can have a severe have severe effect on our lives.

Do you want the ocean full of fishes or do you want an ocean full of fishing nets?