Hydrosphere
Fishing in the Maritimes
The Problem with Fishing
The fishing industry is one of the biggest industries in the Maritime's, a lot of people depend on this industry for the livelihoods. Over the past several decades the fishing industry has been booming until recently when the population of predatory fishes like cod and tuna have dramatically deceased due to over fishing. During the fishing industry boom people always assumed that the fish population would replenish itself season after season this is not the case, actually it is the complete opposite. With the increase of demand for more fish each year there is more and more fish being targeted thus giving less time for the fish to spawn and reproduce. With the over fishing came a lot more problems then just not enough fish for the people to eat but it also drastically affects the oceans ecosystem as well as the marine life food chain.
But it's only fish ...
There are many impacts that come with the result of overfishing, this is a few on the impacts:
- target fishing is killing fish higher up on the food chain causing an imbalance due to the overgrowing population of fish lower on the food chain
- about 90% of fish higher on the food chain has been captured (cod, tuna etc.)
- many other marine wildlife get caught up in the fishing nets
- families living in these areas are losing their income due to lack of fish
- new fishing methods to catch mass amounts of fish can destroy delicate ecosystems
Save the Fishes!
There are many ways to help save the fisheries, here are a few ways that people can help:
- Setting a limit on the number of fish allowed to be caught
- protection of animal habitats and ecosystem to sustain growth for future generations
- monitoring and enforcing new rules and guidelines
- Inform more people about this issue, become even more informed with the topic
- Only eat fish that are in season
Study Finds Some Ocean Fisheries Are Recovering
Overfishing by Jess k