Declining Fish Populations Writing Assignment

Declining Fish Population

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Declining Fish Population

The global fish population is experiencing a rapid biological change and at an unprecedented rate. These changes can highly affect the planet’s ecosystem, especially since marine life has a great impact on the food web structure and species interactions. The decline has been reported for predatory fish as well, including hammerhead sharks and great white sharks, which are noted to have reduced by up to 75 percent (Baum, Myers, Kehler, Worm, Harley, & Doherty, 2003). Approximately two-thirds of the global fish population are having either reached their limit or are overfished. According to reports by the United Nations, almost 70 percent of the entire fish population is fully used or is overused (WWF, 2019). Such declines have begun to affect several organizations and economies, especially in countries that are well known for exporting fish commercially. Fish that have a commercial value such as mackerel, herring, and cod, are known to be greatly affected since they are more valuable compared to other types which have no commercial value. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (2019), although fish which have commercial value are also a great food source for predator fish such as sharks and whales, the contribution of these predators on the declining fish stock is negligible. Moreover, the culling of marine mammals as a means of reducing their intake on other fish has proven to have little effect on the recovery of marine life.

The Primary Cause of Declining Fisheries and its Effect

The main issue in the declining fish stock is the overexploitation of fisheries. For half a century, fishing stocks have gradually increased on a global scale. Currently, more than one-third of the world’s fisheries has surpassed their biological limit. This means that the fishing activity has gone beyond the capacity for fish to reproduce. The problem of overfishing is brought about by various issues, among them being tolerance to illegal fishing and subsidies.

Currently, more than 4 million fishing vessels are available in the oceans, with a majority of them thriving to increase their fishing capacity. The increasing desire to catch more fish is likely to damage the structure of the ocean ecosystem. The rise in illegal fishing has led to systemic overfishing. Illegal fishing is a major problem for the individuals how to engage in such activities mainly target the rare, high-value species. As a result, illegal fishers net close to $36.4 billion every year, which is a huge loss for the fishing industry as well as the ocean environment (Coelho, Filipe, Ferreira, & Pedro, 2008). The lack of a proper government system to regulate and monitor fishing activities has encouraged illegal fishing. As a result, the catches easily move through markets using supply chains that are unmonitored and untraceable. This lack of capacity by governments to manage and regulate fishing even in developed nations has greatly encouraged illegal fishing and is therefore a key factor to the current issues in the ocean fisheries.

Subsidies also result in overfishing. Fishing is considered a commercial activity in many nations and is also intertwined in some of the dietary customs and cultural identities of a majority of the communities that live in coastal areas. Through international trade, fishing also contributes to global food security. Consequently, fishing is considered a highly traded food product. The importance of fishing has led many governments to spend billions in support of the sector. According to Martini (2019), governments spend close to $35 billion in support of the fishing industry, which totals to approximately 20 percent of the cumulative value of the marine fish caught at sea and purchased in the harbors. Nonetheless, the subsidies provided by governments are harming the ocean's ecosystem since it encourages overfishing. More importantly, some government subsidies reduce the costs incurred in conducting fishing activities, which worsens the situation at sea. In such circumstances, governments can reduce the costs of shipping equipment and vessels and fuel. Eventually, governments encourage the growing issue of overfishing, which is affecting the fish population.

The effect of the declining fish population has been experienced on a global scale, mainly because overfishing affects the entire ocean ecosystem. Overfishing results in too many fish being extracted from the ocean, which creates an imbalance that distorts the food web structure and eventually affects other marine life which depends on the fish. Aside from marine life, the fishing sector is a highly complicated industry that incorporates a number of businesses and individuals who depend on the industry for employment. The fishing industry makes up a $362 billion industry globally, with close to half of the global population depending on fish products as the major source of proteins (Sumalia, Alder & Keith, 2006). This indicates that a decrease in fish stocks has a huge impact not only on the environment but also on the world’s population.

Solutions to the Issue of Declining Fish

The issue of declining fish stocks can be solved by eliminating overfishing. The first step is to reduce the number of subsidies offered by governments. Money is a great motiva...