The Fishy Nature of Industrialized Fishing
Yevene Hwang
March 28th, 2022
March 28th, 2022
Walk into a Starbucks or just about any other coffee chain and you might encounter a poster that reads, “say no to plastic straws and plastic cups.” According to The NewYorkTimes, the act of curtailing the use of plastic appliances to help marine life has gone viral, even becoming a trend in 2011. To me, this zero-plastic movement has only been the cause of minor inconveniences such as soggy straws. Nonetheless, sorry to break it to the VSCO girls of 2019 who thought they could save the turtles by using steel straws, the more pertinent problems affecting marine life that should be dealt with urgency should be those of the fishing industry.
Industrial fishing drives fish and sea animals from their natural habitats – especially the act of trawling, or scraping of fish, sea animals, and their habitats from the sea grounds, as it does not target a specific species. This becomes a problem as more species and organisms are caught than needed.
On top of that, fishing gear is often left behind by fishermen. This gear is called “ghost gear.” It is not only the most prominent source of ocean pollutant–more than plastic straws or cups– but also the killer of 300,000 small cetaceans annually.
The possibility of entanglement in fishing gear poses a substantial threat to the number of whale populations. An estimated 300,000 whale, dolphin, and porpoise deaths are reported every year as the consequence of getting entangled in fishing gear. The threat of fishing gear is exceptionally more perilous for smaller whale species that populate fisheries and fishing grounds.
Additionally, other threats are posed by the deafening engines of fishing boats. Noise pollution from ship engines hinders the low-frequency sonar waves of marine animals, damaging the prey-predator interactions and sometimes even destroying them completely.
Believe it or not, when the population of more sizable marine animals declines, the marine food web starts to fall apart.
By removing apex predators (whales, dolphins, and sharks) from their natural environments, fishing industries allow the smaller prey to thrive. As the prey, including small fish, squid, and more, thrive, prey population eventually declines. This cycle repeats itself until the entire marine ecosystem is wiped out.
The demolition of the marine food web does not only affect marine animals – it also affects humans and the environment. Whales act as “carbon sinks”: during their lifetime. A single whale accumulates nearly 33 tons of carbon in its body – more than 1,350 times what a tree does each year. When the whale dies, the whale sinks to the ocean floor, withholding the 33 tons of carbon, locking the carbon away for hundreds of years.
“When Dolphins and Whales die, the ocean dies,” said director of the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy, Ali Tabrizi. “And if the oceans die, so do we.” Despite the upsetting reality that estimates that the ocean will die, or be virtually empty of life, by the year 2050, with enough effort, the ocean can be auspiciously rehabilitated and rejuvenated by the same year.
This should be a wake-up call for everyone. If the ocean dies, humanity will collapse with it.
If the fishing industry is the problem, should one take drastic measures to remove seafood from his or her diet? While fishing industries are indeed destructive of the environment, fish cannot be completely eliminated from everyone's diet. Alternatively, one could try to moderate and reduce fish intake. One must also raise awareness about overfishing and boycott fishing industries that are known to overfish and/or leave ghost gear behind.
Sources
bbc.com/news/science-environment-55987350
nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-ban-fact-check-nyt.html
bbc.com/news/science-environment-52122447
worldwildlife.org/threats/bycatch
wwfwhales.org/news-stories/protecting-whales-is-climate-positive
Industrial fishing drives fish and sea animals from their natural habitats – especially the act of trawling, or scraping of fish, sea animals, and their habitats from the sea grounds, as it does not target a specific species. This becomes a problem as more species and organisms are caught than needed.
On top of that, fishing gear is often left behind by fishermen. This gear is called “ghost gear.” It is not only the most prominent source of ocean pollutant–more than plastic straws or cups– but also the killer of 300,000 small cetaceans annually.
The possibility of entanglement in fishing gear poses a substantial threat to the number of whale populations. An estimated 300,000 whale, dolphin, and porpoise deaths are reported every year as the consequence of getting entangled in fishing gear. The threat of fishing gear is exceptionally more perilous for smaller whale species that populate fisheries and fishing grounds.
Additionally, other threats are posed by the deafening engines of fishing boats. Noise pollution from ship engines hinders the low-frequency sonar waves of marine animals, damaging the prey-predator interactions and sometimes even destroying them completely.
Believe it or not, when the population of more sizable marine animals declines, the marine food web starts to fall apart.
By removing apex predators (whales, dolphins, and sharks) from their natural environments, fishing industries allow the smaller prey to thrive. As the prey, including small fish, squid, and more, thrive, prey population eventually declines. This cycle repeats itself until the entire marine ecosystem is wiped out.
The demolition of the marine food web does not only affect marine animals – it also affects humans and the environment. Whales act as “carbon sinks”: during their lifetime. A single whale accumulates nearly 33 tons of carbon in its body – more than 1,350 times what a tree does each year. When the whale dies, the whale sinks to the ocean floor, withholding the 33 tons of carbon, locking the carbon away for hundreds of years.
“When Dolphins and Whales die, the ocean dies,” said director of the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy, Ali Tabrizi. “And if the oceans die, so do we.” Despite the upsetting reality that estimates that the ocean will die, or be virtually empty of life, by the year 2050, with enough effort, the ocean can be auspiciously rehabilitated and rejuvenated by the same year.
This should be a wake-up call for everyone. If the ocean dies, humanity will collapse with it.
If the fishing industry is the problem, should one take drastic measures to remove seafood from his or her diet? While fishing industries are indeed destructive of the environment, fish cannot be completely eliminated from everyone's diet. Alternatively, one could try to moderate and reduce fish intake. One must also raise awareness about overfishing and boycott fishing industries that are known to overfish and/or leave ghost gear behind.
Sources
bbc.com/news/science-environment-55987350
nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-ban-fact-check-nyt.html
bbc.com/news/science-environment-52122447
worldwildlife.org/threats/bycatch
wwfwhales.org/news-stories/protecting-whales-is-climate-positive
