Joshua Farmer
Professor Miller
English 103
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Over fishing is a global problem that affects millions of people every day. It has lead to the complete depletion of fish species in certain areas all in the past couple decades. And this is not merely a sob story for the fish, when a fish population becomes completely depleted it has far reaching consequences into our world and that of the marine. A fish that runs dry in an area puts the entire areas fishing community on hold, I am not talking about the people who fish for sport they can always find other fish. The people who make their living off of catching these fish are instantly put out of a job, sometimes one that the family has had for generations. Also often entire economic systems are based off of the capture and sale of the one fish, as was true with the Canadian cod that ran completely dry in 1992 (Canadian Atlantic). Thousands of people were out of work without any notice the economy in Newfoundland is still to this day struggling to recover from the lack of cod income. However that was just the economic impact of this collapse, the marine ecosystem in Newfoundland is still in a state of collapse and it is thought the damage may be permanent with fish levels never returning to normal or possibly never returning at all (Canadian Atlantic). Over fishing simply put has far reaching consequences, many of which cannot be fathomed at the time of its occurrence.
There are many different types of ways to fish and over fish, with long lines, drag nets and myriad of other techniques. However the most destructive to fish populations and the marine community as a whole is the bottom trawling method. This method takes huge nets weighted down by heavy chains which drag across the sea floor. These nets catch anything between them and the ocean floor and because of this they bring up millions of pounds of unwanted or unusable sea life. This is called by-catch and is a major problem in the fishing industry because the organisms caught often die before being released. (Bycatch) In addition to catching these extra animals the trawlers also drag heavy chains across the bottom of the sea floor causing immense damage to the habitat and the ecosystem of the fish (Impacts). Trawling systems in short are extremely detrimental to healthy fishable marine populations and are not worth the damage they cause to the environment for the number of target species they are able to catch.
The first problem of trawling systems is that they destroy the habitat of millions of fish. The heavy chains that drag across the bottom of the sea bed damage and destroy every type of bottom habitat. On the rocky coral encrusted bottoms habitats the chains drag across the bottom tearing up the coral structures that fish use as habitat. Coral can take many decades to come back to the levels it was before the trawler and sometimes it can never come back (Impacts). Research done in the North Sea in heavily trawled areas showed major damage to the sea floor, the floor was made all the same, flat and barren. This has a huge negative effect on the local ecosystem there are no places for smaller fish to hide so they are eaten by bigger fish when the food source runs out the fish move on and then there is nothing left. (Impacts) One source described the “Trawl fleets acted as a new "super-predator" to the ecosystem, altering the dynamics of the food web of the North Sea” (Impacts). Humans often do not see themselves as the ultimate predator however in many cases this is the truth. The trawling nets drag across the seabed destroying the habitat for millions of species of fish. And this slowly but surely destroys the ecosystem for that area causing species to die out and other to move into new ecosystems. This is the problem with just the net not the amount of organisms that it removes from the ecosystem when it passes through.
By- catch is a major issue of commercial fishing of every style because of its effects on the marine ecosystem. However in no form is it more prevalent then in trawling systems. Because the nets are not specialized, anything that is not small enough to fit through the net are caught in it. This includes many species of endangered turtle and other large marine organisms such as sharks, whales, and porpoises. These animals become stuck in the nets and often drown in the nets before they are brought up and released. (Bycatch) This has an overall negative effect on the marine ecosystems that are trawled. Not only are the target fish removed from the ecosystem but thousands of other organisms are scooped up in the net. “A single pass with a trawl removes up twenty percent of the flora and fauna on the sea floor” (Bycatch). This is absolutely devastating to the ecosystem as a large percentage of the food sources for the target fish and all other fish are on or near the bottom. Another interesting figure to look at is that one of the biggest trawl fishing industries that of shrimp catch over 80 percent of their net off target.(Bycatch) In other words 80 percent of what they catch is not the shrimp that they want. This is a ridiculous amount of waste for the industry and yet they keep doing it. These were the effects on the ecosystem without the consideration of what taking the millions of target fish out of their habitat does to the ecosystem.
Taking large amount of fish indiscriminately out of their environment is not good for the ecosystem. One of the best examples of this is the depletion of Cod in the northern Atlantic by the trawling fleets. The trawlers would target cod when they massed to spawn, this had two negative effects on the population level of cod. Firstly during spawning time the population levels of the fish are extremely vulnerable to external influence. Secondly the spawn of the cod are greatly affected by the bottom trolling gear of the trawlers (Canadian Atlantic). This method has far reaching impacts on the fish populations as the trawlers are also depleting the spawn which would be the catch in the next year. The population of the fish is severely depleted the next year then when the trawlers come back eventually there is nothing left as is what happened to the cod in 1992 (Canadian Atlantic)
Over all trawlers create huge amounts of long term problems for fishermen. By destroying habitats and ecosystems it depletes the ability of the target fish to mass in the numbers that make this type of fishing possible and profitable. As well as bottom trawling promotes over fishing of target fish mainly because of the size of the operation, when every net can pull up tons of fish why not pull as many nets as possible? This type of mentality is what is causing the human race to seriously deplete the thought to be never ending bounty of the ocean.
Works Cited
"Bycatch." Greenpeace International. Greenpeace. Web. 26 Nov. 2009..
"Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Collapse." The North Sea: Fisheries Crisis Hot Spot. Web. 26 Nov. 2009..
Curtsinger, Bill. Overfishing: Doom of Our Ocean. 2009. Photograph. Gulf of Maine. Seaway Blog. National Geographic. Web. 26 Nov. 2009..
Ennis, D. L. "Effects of Bottom Trawling on Deep-Sea Ecosystems." Web log post. Blogcritics. 06 Oct. 2005. Web. 26 Nov. 2009..
"Impacts of Bottom Trawling." Alaska Marine Conservation Council. Web. 26 Nov. 2009..
NOAA. Overfishing. Photograph. Pacific Ocean. The PEW Environmental Group. Web. 29 Nov. 2009..
Professor Miller
English 103
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Over fishing is a global problem that affects millions of people every day. It has lead to the complete depletion of fish species in certain areas all in the past couple decades. And this is not merely a sob story for the fish, when a fish population becomes completely depleted it has far reaching consequences into our world and that of the marine. A fish that runs dry in an area puts the entire areas fishing community on hold, I am not talking about the people who fish for sport they can always find other fish. The people who make their living off of catching these fish are instantly put out of a job, sometimes one that the family has had for generations. Also often entire economic systems are based off of the capture and sale of the one fish, as was true with the Canadian cod that ran completely dry in 1992 (Canadian Atlantic). Thousands of people were out of work without any notice the economy in Newfoundland is still to this day struggling to recover from the lack of cod income. However that was just the economic impact of this collapse, the marine ecosystem in Newfoundland is still in a state of collapse and it is thought the damage may be permanent with fish levels never returning to normal or possibly never returning at all (Canadian Atlantic). Over fishing simply put has far reaching consequences, many of which cannot be fathomed at the time of its occurrence.
There are many different types of ways to fish and over fish, with long lines, drag nets and myriad of other techniques. However the most destructive to fish populations and the marine community as a whole is the bottom trawling method. This method takes huge nets weighted down by heavy chains which drag across the sea floor. These nets catch anything between them and the ocean floor and because of this they bring up millions of pounds of unwanted or unusable sea life. This is called by-catch and is a major problem in the fishing industry because the organisms caught often die before being released. (Bycatch) In addition to catching these extra animals the trawlers also drag heavy chains across the bottom of the sea floor causing immense damage to the habitat and the ecosystem of the fish (Impacts). Trawling systems in short are extremely detrimental to healthy fishable marine populations and are not worth the damage they cause to the environment for the number of target species they are able to catch.
The first problem of trawling systems is that they destroy the habitat of millions of fish. The heavy chains that drag across the bottom of the sea bed damage and destroy every type of bottom habitat. On the rocky coral encrusted bottoms habitats the chains drag across the bottom tearing up the coral structures that fish use as habitat. Coral can take many decades to come back to the levels it was before the trawler and sometimes it can never come back (Impacts). Research done in the North Sea in heavily trawled areas showed major damage to the sea floor, the floor was made all the same, flat and barren. This has a huge negative effect on the local ecosystem there are no places for smaller fish to hide so they are eaten by bigger fish when the food source runs out the fish move on and then there is nothing left. (Impacts) One source described the “Trawl fleets acted as a new "super-predator" to the ecosystem, altering the dynamics of the food web of the North Sea” (Impacts). Humans often do not see themselves as the ultimate predator however in many cases this is the truth. The trawling nets drag across the seabed destroying the habitat for millions of species of fish. And this slowly but surely destroys the ecosystem for that area causing species to die out and other to move into new ecosystems. This is the problem with just the net not the amount of organisms that it removes from the ecosystem when it passes through.
By- catch is a major issue of commercial fishing of every style because of its effects on the marine ecosystem. However in no form is it more prevalent then in trawling systems. Because the nets are not specialized, anything that is not small enough to fit through the net are caught in it. This includes many species of endangered turtle and other large marine organisms such as sharks, whales, and porpoises. These animals become stuck in the nets and often drown in the nets before they are brought up and released. (Bycatch) This has an overall negative effect on the marine ecosystems that are trawled. Not only are the target fish removed from the ecosystem but thousands of other organisms are scooped up in the net. “A single pass with a trawl removes up twenty percent of the flora and fauna on the sea floor” (Bycatch). This is absolutely devastating to the ecosystem as a large percentage of the food sources for the target fish and all other fish are on or near the bottom. Another interesting figure to look at is that one of the biggest trawl fishing industries that of shrimp catch over 80 percent of their net off target.(Bycatch) In other words 80 percent of what they catch is not the shrimp that they want. This is a ridiculous amount of waste for the industry and yet they keep doing it. These were the effects on the ecosystem without the consideration of what taking the millions of target fish out of their habitat does to the ecosystem.
Taking large amount of fish indiscriminately out of their environment is not good for the ecosystem. One of the best examples of this is the depletion of Cod in the northern Atlantic by the trawling fleets. The trawlers would target cod when they massed to spawn, this had two negative effects on the population level of cod. Firstly during spawning time the population levels of the fish are extremely vulnerable to external influence. Secondly the spawn of the cod are greatly affected by the bottom trolling gear of the trawlers (Canadian Atlantic). This method has far reaching impacts on the fish populations as the trawlers are also depleting the spawn which would be the catch in the next year. The population of the fish is severely depleted the next year then when the trawlers come back eventually there is nothing left as is what happened to the cod in 1992 (Canadian Atlantic)
Over all trawlers create huge amounts of long term problems for fishermen. By destroying habitats and ecosystems it depletes the ability of the target fish to mass in the numbers that make this type of fishing possible and profitable. As well as bottom trawling promotes over fishing of target fish mainly because of the size of the operation, when every net can pull up tons of fish why not pull as many nets as possible? This type of mentality is what is causing the human race to seriously deplete the thought to be never ending bounty of the ocean.
Works Cited
"Bycatch." Greenpeace International. Greenpeace. Web. 26 Nov. 2009.
"Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Collapse." The North Sea: Fisheries Crisis Hot Spot. Web. 26 Nov. 2009.
Curtsinger, Bill. Overfishing: Doom of Our Ocean. 2009. Photograph. Gulf of Maine. Seaway Blog. National Geographic. Web. 26 Nov. 2009.
Ennis, D. L. "Effects of Bottom Trawling on Deep-Sea Ecosystems." Web log post. Blogcritics. 06 Oct. 2005. Web. 26 Nov. 2009.
"Impacts of Bottom Trawling." Alaska Marine Conservation Council. Web. 26 Nov. 2009.
NOAA. Overfishing. Photograph. Pacific Ocean. The PEW Environmental Group. Web. 29 Nov. 2009.
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