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The Effects of Overfishing

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Photo by Meritt Thomas

Overfishing is becoming a widespread problem. Overfishing is already a problem but is becoming more and more of a serious issue. Whether you agree with industrialized fishing or not, everyone will eventually have to face the consequences if we do not do something about overfishing. It is beginning to become a global issue and will eventually affect everyone due to damage done to our climate, as well as the economy. It also needs to be controlled and we should fish responsibly to ensure a more sustainable future. Overfishing needs to be controlled because it negatively affects our economy and everyday people, negatively affects biodiversity, and we will eventually reap the benefits if we begin fishing responsibly.

The effects of overfishing on our economy could eventually be problematic and affect everyone. Although uncontrolled industrialized fishing is beneficial to our economy at the moment, it will eventually hurt our economy. This is because we will eventually fish to the point that there is not enough fish to even catch. This means that we will lose a valuable resource. We will no longer have a healthy ocean and its generous number of fish. This will also cause many people to lose their jobs due to a lack of fish to fish. According to Dr. Malti from IJSR, “All the world’s equipment combined is enough to fish on 4 Earth-like planets” (Malti, 2017). That means that we currently have more fishing boats than we even need. On the other hand, industrialized fishing allows for more jobs and a source of healthy food. Fish can also easily overpopulate our oceans which would also cause a crash in our oceans ecosystems, and later economy. An article by Asia-Pacific Economic Blog says that “Seafood has also become a staple for many economies all over the world and the more demand that there becomes, the more supply that is needed” (Apecsecadmin, 2015). This means that the more people that depend on seafood, the more fishing that is required. This is why it is very important that we find a middle ground. This will ensure that we can keep fishing and keep supplying ourselves with a healthy supply of food, as well as protect the ecosystems on which we depend.

Biodiversity is a crucial part of keeping our ecosystems healthy. Biodiversity is what allows our ecosystems to stay balanced due to the diversity of their organisms and food chain. The more balanced the food chain, the healthier the ecosystem. This is why overfishing is such a big problem. Overfishing damages the biodiversity of our oceans and causes an imbalance. According to an article by RESET, “As larger fish and predators, including sharks, fall victim to overfishing, smaller, plankton reliant fish begin to overpopulate and are then targeted by resource-starved fishermen, making it even harder to replenish disappearing species of the larger variety” (Anderson, 2018). This is known as “fishing down the web” and can cause a lot of damage to an ecosystem’s biodiversity. One solution that would most likely have the greatest impact would be to restrict where fishermen can fish. This would mean that fishermen would only be able to fish in certain areas, which would be much smaller than what is allowed now. This would allow the restricted areas to heal and replenish, assuming that at least 50% to 60% is restricted. This would however give big industries even more power than before. This is because the big industries would out-compete smaller or more localized fishermen due to there being fewer places to fish. This could also potentially turn the sections of oceans that are set aside for fishing to become somewhat like wastelands due to a concentration of fishing. This is also why finding a middle ground is so important and why we need to find a balance between economy and nature. Finding a middle ground will allow not only our ecosystems to thrive but in turn our economy and everyday people.

We will benefit greatly if we begin to fish sustainably. We may not reap the benefits immediately, but we will eventually have an endless supply of food if we continue to fish sustainably. Finding solutions to something like bycatch would be beneficial. We could engineer nets that allow everything but the targeted species of fish to escape or pass through. This will help prevent bycatch (accidentally catching non-targeted fish or animals in fishing nets) so that we do less harm to not only the biodiversity of our oceans but so that we can catch more fish that we actually want to catch. Another possible solution to overfishing is to shut down big industries and to only allow small or more localized businesses to fish on a somewhat large scale. There will be some negative effects of this; those being a loss in jobs and a negative effect to our economy due to there being less fish caught at first. Eventually, we will have many small-scale fishing companies instead of a few big corporations. This will not only eventually help the economy but the ocean’s ecosystems as well. According to an article by Ocean INFO, “ There are several significant effects of overfishing that must be noted in order to fully understand the problem and its complexities” (Baldwin, 2021). The problems brought up in the article were, “Environmental Damage, Alea Growth, Coral Reef Health, and Financial Loss” (Baldwin, 2021). All are very important when trying to understand the real consequences of overfishing. Environmental damage due to overfishing is one of the main problems and is what causes uncontrolled algae growth, damage to coral reefs, and financial loss. Due to a decrease in certain species of fish, fewer algae are consumed. Due to a lack of fish that can control the growth of algae in our oceans, algae will eventually grow out of control and smother our oceans. Coral reefs are prime spots for biodiversity. Not only are coral reefs damaged by nets and fishing equipment, but are also damaged indirectly due to a decrease in fish that usually feed in these areas. The main solution would be to only allow fishing companies to fish in sectioned-off areas. If we were to only allow fishing companies to fish in 40% of our oceans or less, the rest would bounce back. If we allowed this to happen, we would be able to, to an extent, fish as much as we want. This would be because the larger section of the ocean that is off-limits would eventually be so abundant with fish that there would potentially be an overflow of fish from the off-limits areas to the sections that are set aside for fishing.

Overfishing is a problem we will eventually all have to face. Hopefully, this article has opened people’s eyes to the real consequences of overfishing and to help combat it. Finding more sustainable ways to fish is crucial if we wish to keep a healthy planet. It is also crucial if we want to have a healthy and productive economy that allows everyone to flourish. The better the economy, the better the people. This is why everyone should be concerned about overfishing and why everyone should feel motivated to combat it. Think of what we can do if we are to take this kind of thinking and implement it into all food production. If we are to make all food production as efficient and sustainable as possible, our planet will be healthier than ever Combating overfishing and making it sustainable is just the start of making a more sustainable future for us and our future generations. Something most people may not understand is that the healthier the planet, the healthier we will be. This is because we rely on our ecosystems to grow and flourish, so if we are to take care of our ecosystems and allow them to flourish, we will in return.

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