As you (hopefully) know, overfishing is a really big issue. Simply put, because everyone has access to the ocean, but there are only so many fish in the sea, each fishing boat will try and catch as much fish as possible because they want the advantage over another boat. Since people are only motivated by the here-and-now and not concerned with the future stock of fish in the oceans, they are very reluctant to cut down on the amount of fish they catch because they want profits now even if that means suffering severly somewhere down the road (due to drastic decreases in fish populations and so no fish to make money off of).
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Not only are there problems with the way fishing is done (ex. with giant nets and deep-sea trawlers that sweep up anything and everything that gets in its way), because fishing is done so intensively, fish populations are not given enough time to regenerate, and so in everyone's eagreness to catch as many fish as possible, there are fewer and fewer large full-grown fish and so they will catch the next fish, ultimately leading to only baby fish being caught since they are not given enough time to grow into adult fish. This then means there are fewer fish to breed.
An article on the BBC news website highlights this issue in recent politics:
Please take (literally) one minute to read the article.
Please take (literally) one minute to read the article.
Basically, eat less fish people! Or at least, find out which fish are farmed sustainably and which of these are available at your local grocer.
Here's a quick guide - Sustainable Seafood
Also, check out my post on Oct. 15th for a more in-depth explanation.
Here's a quick guide - Sustainable Seafood
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