While major issues like plastic and greenhouse gases steal all the limelight in the issue of global warming, overfishing is a dangerously large, but unspoken predator. Along with being unsustainable, it is also an extremely disruptive practice that has a multitude of repercussions borne most considerably by other marine life. While catching fish is perfectly fine, overfishing is the practice of catching fish faster than stocks can replenish. While superficially this might seem like a minor inconvenience of a shortage of fish, overfishing can have major implications that run much deeper. Overfishing can tip off and collapse whole ecosystems, destroy coral reefs, and create bycatch.
The pre-industrial era saw small boats and fisheries with catching equipment like nets and rods to catch fish, but post the mid-1900s is when practices became more draconic and large scale: with trawling and large scale nets that comb throughout the ocean floors, overfishing very quickly took over the modern world. Trawling is the practice of dragging a huge net through the ocean floor to catch fish. One of the major problems this creates is: bycatch, wherein fish and other animals like turtles, seabirds, dolphins, sharks, and even whales get caught amidst the chaos and end up dying in the net. This method is awfully invasive and has even contributed to driving species into near extinction. Another key factor is that overfishing causes the existing commercial fish populace to dwindle, leaving upper, apex predators with almost little to no prey. For other smaller fish: the complete lack of predators would mean no predatory natural selection, which would lead to unhinged reproduction and overpopulation, hence creating a significant imbalance in the food chain.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization from 1990 to 2017, the percentage of global fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels dropped from 90% to 65.8%. Fish stocks, just like any valuable resource, aren't infinite. With added impediments: like rising ocean temperatures and acidity levels which weaken fish eggs and hinder species resilience, overfishing is one of the biggest threats our oceans face in the upcoming years.
All this alludes to overfishing being an extremely pervasive, harmful and ultimately unsustainable practice that detrimentally affects the ocean. There is however hope, with obvious responses like stricter fishing laws promoting sustainable fishing reforms like declaring marine protected areas and international fishing regulation. Other practices like fish farm standards should also be reformed and looked at. And of course, increased education and awareness for the local masses on the harsh effects of overfishing, to induce a shift to less consumption of fish and reduced seafood in one’s diet.
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