Decrease in fish populations

Decrease in fish populations

The current rates of overfishing will deplete 90% of the world’s commercial fish by mid century. There are many things contributing to the dwindling supply of fish including over fishing, acidification, pollution from urban and agricultural run off, and habitat destruction. Ocean acidification is caused by the ocean absorbing our carbon dioxide emissions. About 50% of all marine fish stocks are being fished at or near sustainable limits. This number is too high. Margot Stiles a marine scientist at Oceana said, “We have caught all the big fish and now we are going after their food.” The loss of the small forage fish like herring, sardines, and menhaden threatens the large fish that eat them such as bluefin tuna, striped bass, Pacific Salmon, and Pacific halibut.

One thing we can do is to limit our consumption of fish in order to cut down on the huge demand for fish. We can also recycle and cut down on the pollution to our environment. We can carpool or ride our bikes to help decrease the pollution. We can become informed about the current issues associated with overfishing which faces many of us today. We can help to support legislature aimed at increasing our healthy fish stocks. It is important to support programs that increase the fish population and healthy fish stocks.

Some information in this post was rewritten from The Daily Green.
posted by Dana Cherry
March 10, 2010
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/overfishing-47030403