Monday, April 18, 2016

Nothing But Net: The UN says 85 percent of global fish are in danger of extinction

This headline and story from Alternet do not surprise me at all, sad to say:
Global Fisheries Are Collapsing—What Happens When There Are No Fish Left?
 

According to the U.N Food and Agriculture Organization, 85 percent of global fish stocks are "overexploited, depleted or recovering from depletion."

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 85 percent of global fish stocks are "overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion."

To see more stories like this, visit "Planet or Profit?"

Yet despite these alarms having been sounded loud and clear, life in the oceans is continuing to deteriorate at an ominously rapid pace.

Fisheries for the most sought-after species of fish have already collapsed.

I lived through the Atlantic Cod Moratorium of the 1990s, when the Canadian government enacted a complete ban on cod fishing for ten years.  Scientists had said just one more year of regular fishing could render the species extinct.  Some Atlantic fishermen and their advocates ignorantly claimed "There have always been enough fish and always will be!" Others said, "If you close the fisheries, how will we make a living?" completely oblivious to the fact that there would have been nothing to catch in a year anyway.  A ten year ban was enough to allow the species to repopulate itself.

Why are the oceans being overfished?  Because of an ever increasing number of humans demanding food to eat.  There are people who claim to be environmentalists and concerned about climate change, claim to be concerned about declining fish and animal species, who STILL think we don't have to do anything to control or address human overpopulation.  There are STILL people who think "Everyone should go vegan!" will solve this problem.

There are people who STILL falsely conflate voluntary birth control with forced euthanasia.  And their response to the messengers is, "If overpopulation is a problem, why don't you kill youself?"

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