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 dev...