Fish Populations Are on the Decline

The main link that has caused a dramatic drop in fish populations is the over fishing of all commonly consumed fish. The commercial fishing boats cause more damage to the fish populations than pollution or global warming. The idea that fish will be around forever, no matter how much fishing goes on, is an idea that has been proven by the scientific community to be completely false. The only way to solve this problem, while preserving the jobs within the fishing industry, is to implement a plan that is in the middle of both viewpoints.

The problem that faces the ocean environment is at a point that any more damage to the fish populations will cause species such as tuna and swordfish to become endangered. According to a study done by GRID-Arendal, which is an official United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) collaborating centre, states that over 80% of the worlds primary fished species is overexploited, beyond the capacity (GRID-Arendal, ¶10). This means that more fish is taken from the sea than what the species can reproduce, which shows that fish are not to be taken for granted. The species that are most fished will eventually cease to exist.

The decline of fish species are not the only problems caused by commercial fishing boats. A study that was recently conducted stated that there are 250% more fishing fleets around than globe than what the fish species within the ocean can sustain (MarineBio, ¶1). The devastating effects of bottom fishing, such as trawling, dredging, and the use of traps, causes damage to the ecosystem which will eventually cause irreversible damage to all ocean life (GRID-Arendal, ¶10). The high yielding fishing technique called "trawling", which is the towing of heavy nets and equipment along the ocean floor, is the major cause for damage to coral reefs, seaweed beds, and all the other ecosystems where this method is used. Ocean ecosystems, unlike freshwater systems, take centuries to recover from this type of damage. This damage not only affects the land, but all forms of life within the area.

The best management plan for the environment would be to establish areas that have severely low fish populations as no-fishing zones. The best plan for commercial fishing boats would be to allow them to continue fishing wherever, and as often, as they want. The best solution to this controversy would be somewhere in the middle. The management plan that would help ocean ecosystems, as well as still allow fishing, would be the banning of any type of bottom fishing equipment, and to implement laws to stop the amount of bycatch.

The first, and the most important, issue in this crisis is the fact that bottom fishing equipment causes not only harm to fish populations, but to the entire ecosystem within the area. Any such equipment, including the use of cyanide, should be banned from use by all commercial and private fishing fleets. The accomplishment of this step of this management plan will be completed within 3 months by drawing up legislature, achieving the backing of the government, as well as the public, and then voting this bill into a law.

The second step in this plan would call for all fishing fleets to register with a worldwide organization that enforces the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA-IUU) before they could get any required licenses. This has to include all commercial fishing boats, from every nation in the world. This step will be accomplished within the next six months by meeting with all of the international diplomats, and then organizing one huge meeting with every nation having a representative, in this way all the nations of the world can work together on this saltwater crisis.

The third step to this plan would be the organization of a global task force assigned to police the ocean, and to enforce the new laws set into place. Any fishing fleets that refuse to follow the law of no bottom fishing equipment, and carry papers with them that proves that they abide by the IPOA-IUU, will be immediately prosecuted, starting with the impounding of their ships. This step will also be achieved within six months during the nationwide meeting that will be held.

The final step in this plan would be for each nation to choose professional, impartial biologists constantly to study and monitor the effects of the new regulations. This will allow the nations to evaluate the success of this plan, and to make changing if needed. This final step of this management plan will accomplished within one year, and will be set into motion by each individual nation.

The management plan proposed will cause positive and negative reactions within society. Environmentalists will support this plan, but they will still claim that more needs to be done. On the other hand, the fishing industries while support the fact that can continue fishing, but they will claim that this plan will cut into their profits and will cause them the need to invest in different, more effective, equipment. Their will always be controversy when any type of management plan is set into place, but this plan will benefit both parties concerned in this matter, as well as diminishing the amount of damage done to the oceans, and the fish that live within them.

The impact to society as a whole will also be beneficial. People will still be able to eat fish, and the areas that they live in will environmentally improve. A healthy ocean keeps the environment at a level considered to be livable. Jobs, and certain lifestyles, will be affected negatively by this plan, but if things continue on the same path as they are on now, ten years from now society would have to deal with the same problem, but with dead ecosystems along with them.

This plan will affect the environment positively, while still allowing the fishing fleets to make a living. The fishing fleets will have to adjust how they carry out their trade, and the nations governments will have to invest in groups to police and monitor the seas, but in the end, ocean ecosystems will improve, and damage to the oceans will be kept to a minimum.

GRID-Arendal. Rapid Response Assessment In Dead Water

MarineBio Sustainable Fisheries