Have you ever thought about where the sushi on your plate came from? Or
where the little fishies in your fish tank came form. Well now all of our
aquatic friends are quickly disappearing because we are hunting to many of
them. In the article Observing Wild Fisheries written by an anonymous
author in 2012 on the Natural Resources Defense Council it describes how we
are overfishing to much, polluting and destroying the habitats of many of
our favorite fish like cod, tuna and snapper. In the article it says “Without swift action, ocean ecosystems will continue to deteriorate --
and so too will the sustenance, jobs, and recreational pleasures they provide.”
If we don’t do something now the fish population will cease to exist.
This decrease in fish population will affect the ecosystem
in the ocean extremely. The animals that eat these fish will die off because
they have no food. Also the things that the fish eat like small sea creatures
and sea plants will soon overpopulate. Not only will the decrease of fish influence
the ecosystem in the ocean but it will also affect us. We will lose the food we
get from fish, the jobs we get from fishing. Also when you go out fishing for
fun it will not be so fun with no more fish in the water.
There is a way to fix this though. If we enforce laws and
certain restrictions then soon the fish population will get bigger. It says in
the article that the United States enforced laws and restrictions on fishing
and in the past two decades they have seen lots of progress. Because of this
rebuilding of the laws on fishing the amount of money earned from fishing has
went up close to 30%.
I found out
that there are things I can do to save the fishes to. I can spread the word to
people and making sure that our lawmakers abide by the laws set forth for
fishing. I can also eat sustainably caught seafood.
In an article related to this piece it talks about seafood
that should be eaten and seafood that should not be eaten. This article is the Sustainable
Seafood Guide which is also on the same website as the other article. It
says that seafood is good for you because it has lean protein, which has great
health benefits. In science class we talked briefly about how fish can affect
you. Also it says that fish can cause illness because it contains high amounts
of mercury. Because lots of the large fish that we generally eat are decreasing
in population you might consider eating seafood that is smaller like mackerel,
sardines and squid.
In both articles it states that America has more laws on
what fishes you can catch and the way you do things. American fish is usually better
to buy since America has stricter fishing laws that other parts of the world. Another
big thing to look out for when looking for fish to eat is learn how it was
fished. When it is fished with a hook the fisherman can throw things back and
it does not disrupt the ocean floor. In the other way they use huge nets that
drag and may disrupt large areas of organism. Also it catches unwanted sea
creatures that are not needed and are just put to waste. Something really
interesting that I read was that you should look for specific packaging. You
should get seafood that is in flexible pouches because it is more environmentally
friendly. That is it for now but remember fish are friends not food.
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ReplyDeleteMatt I liked how you not only mentioned the environmental issues that would come of catching to much fish but the economic issues that would be presented. It was very good how you listed the kinds of fish that are disappearing from ocean ecosystems. It was very interactive when you said what you can do to help with this issue personally. I do agree that we need to increase the strictness on fishing laws in order to protect our fish populations. I also loved your title! Next time just watch for minor grammar/spelling mistakes.
ReplyDeleteMatt over all I liked your post a lot. The thing I liked the most about your article was that you explained the different effects of over fishing the seas. Also I liked how you used two articles I think it realy did make the post that much better because they both contained a lot of information. There was not much wrong with this article but there are some minor grammer and spelling mistakes. I found your article fun to read and very informational.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I believe this was a very well chosen article. I would not have known about this issue if you had not posted about it and I realize this can be a very big problem. I enjoy eating fish but I never would have guessed that people have been overfishing. I think that using hooks would be a better way of catching fish for that catch and release reason and I next time I eat it I will try to figure out how it was fished. Though in your post you talked about the fish’s prey overpopulating, and then I realized wouldn’t the fish then start to regain their population or at least increase? I do believe we need to stop overfishing but that is just a thing to think about. This was a well written summary and it had good facts and examples.
ReplyDeleteYour amusing title quickly caught my eye! Your point that killing one type of fish can greatly affect the ecosystem reminded me of what we learned about Vernal Pools and how fragile ecosystems can be. Part of your post connected back to the concept of biomagnification as well. It's consoling to know that America has strict fishing laws; we could set an example for the rest of the world. What kind of laws would govern what kinds of fish people catch and eat? Minor grammatical errors aside, an excellent blog post, Matt Starble
ReplyDeleteMatt , your title was awesome which made it very easy to pick this post. It saddens me to see so may species of fish get hurt and killed from large nets scrapping the ocean floor when they were not even trying to get caught by the fisherman. It was interesting to hear that flexible containers of fish are more environmentally than others. You did a great job describing how fragile the ecosystem is if we take out one fish species it could affect other organisms and other fish who need that fish for food. By adding a way to fix the problem made me feel very hopeful that we could stop the problem now before it gets any worse. How come there are so many problems in our earth right now environmentally? How much have we contributed to the oceans? These questions I hope to be answered and solved in the near future. Great article Matt.
DeleteI really liked your title Matt, I also think that the fish population is in danger because of all the the fish they have been getting lately. It also made me feel really good when you gave the examples on how you can fix the problem with the fish population decreasing. I will also try to spread the word about the decreasing fish populations and spread the world how we can fix it. Overall, i really liked your article and i feel like this is a very important article.
ReplyDeleteMatthew, I think you chose a great article to post about. This hot topic is all over the world and with the verge of fish having a future of extinction, many are trying to figure out ways to stop this decrease in population. Your post was very thorough, interesting and kept me engaged the whole time. You stated the problems clearly, and also included and few solutions to this world wide problem. Great job explaining how sensitive aquatic ecosystems can be. Great post and keep up the good work!
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