Empty Oceans Empty Nets Analysis

Empty Oceans, Empty Nets
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Empty Oceans, Empty Nets
World human population growth has a direct negative impact on ocean fish production since it encourages overfishing and overconsumption of sea food in general and fish in particular. According to the Public Broadcasting Services (2014), marine fisheries are presently the source of food and employment for over 200 million people worldwide. Human population increase accelerates the rate of depletion of fish reserves as more sea food is required too satisfy an ever increasing global demand. In this regard, it is evident that the current fish and sea food consumption trend is unsustainable in the face of soaring human population, and accordingly, it is necessary to implement effective countermeasures to create a sustainable fishing industry.
A sampling of various case studies on the fish situation in the world’s fishing grounds points to a worrying trend of rapid declining fish population. For instance, the population of the Bluefin tuna in the Atlantic Ocean has declined by 70 percent within the last 30 years. The sharp decline is not coincidental since the world population has increased by almost half over that period. This sharp increase in human population increases global demand for sea food to insatiable levels, which compels fish and other sea food suppliers to adopt more efficient fishing technologies to satisfy the market demand. Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Professor of Marine Biology at Oregon State University captures the grim reality in the fishing industry in her observation that “Two-thirds of the major marine fisheries of the world are currently fully exploited, over exploited, or depleted” (qtd in Public Broadcasting Services, 2014). Further, a report by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates that of the world’s 17 major ocean fisheries, 15 are either depleted or overexploited. This repot is corroborated in study findings by a team of marine scientists, which showed that the ocean fisheries have lost 90 percent of the big fish species like swordfish, cod, and tuna within the last 50 years (PBS, 2014). The need to satisfy an increasing global demand for fish is responsible for ...