The Wake

I think it’s safe to say that everyone, or at least every Minnesotan has a memory from childhood that revolves around fishing. My memory is of the day my cousin caught about 25 sunfish and stacked them to the brim of a three-gallon bucket of lake water. She enlisted every member of our family for the mission until she had could no longer cram another fish in the bucket; there simply wasn’t any room! Then, in true borderline psychotic behavior that only small children get away with–one at a time she picked each fish out of the bucket–grasping them tightly in a fist. She then poised herself to meet the eyes of the fish and slowly wiggled her pinky finger into their mouth as she screeched loudly, “open sesame!” Most of the bucket fish died, and my cousin didn’t understand what that meant besides that the fish were more compliant with her game. She was naïve and innocent, she didn’t know any better.

The practice of over-fishing takes place all over the world and in fact, more than half of all fish stocks are overexploited. But unlike my cousin, this is not an innocent mistake.

Over-fishing has been happening across the ocean for decades and is predominantly unregulated. Over-fishing is caused when commercial fishing takes too many adult fish from an ecosystem. This damages the fishes’ chance at reproduction and survival. For years, scientists have urged the international fishing community that over-fishing is degrading the health of the ocean and is destroying fish that are a source of food and jobs.

Most fisheries are well aware of the devastating effects of over-fishing. Nevertheless, because of the economically minded commercial fishing fleets, they simply cannot afford to put the environment as a top priority.

Take Newfoundland in the early 1990s, for example. England’s fishing business was booming. The number employed by the fishing industry closed in around 110,000 people. The main sources of income—cod–were piling in limitlessly. Then, disaster struck. The cod fishery was deemed to collapse in 1992 and nearly 40,000 jobs were lost within the community. Even today the cod have not fully recovered. According to a recent reconnaissance of the area, the damaged ecosystem may never fully recuperate.

If you just change the town’s name, the type of fish, and this story, then you will have the same predicament ranging from South East Asia to England. The outcome in each instance, however, is just as unsettling.

An interview from the National Geographic Channel with Dr. Ussif Rasheed Sumalia (Director of Fisheries Economics Research Unit at the University of Columbia) gives an impassioned testimonial to the damage that over-fishing has had upon West Africa’s ecosystems and economy, not to mention its contribution to the perpetuation of poverty.
“This lack of fish leads into impact on the livelihoods of fishing families which leads to the lack of ability to pay for kids to go to school and therefore decreases their opportunities and abilities. It reinforces the vicious cycle.”

Although the repercussions from over fishing are most strongly felt in a local context, this is truly a global problem. In Europe, under the EU, the fishing sector is given subsidies by the government. The problem with these subsidies is that they are providing resources for wealthy European countries to go to developing countries and essentially out-fish the local fishermen. Most of these developing countries do not have the infrastructure or money to enforce laws at sea; and so much of this behavior goes unchecked. This allows exclusively European countries, according to Dr. Sumalia, to “make fishing more profitable than it would be without [subsidies].”

The kinds of fishing ships that are being used today are unlike anything the sea has handled before. Technological advances have made large-scale fishing easier–and consequently–more damaging to ecosystems. Essentially, we as human beings are using our military strength to fight sea animals. The large nets that are used to efficiently catch sea creatures sweep the bottom of the ocean floor and can wipeout 20 percent of area’s ecosystem in the process.

This is cause for concern because biologists estimate that somewhere between 500,000 and 5 million marine species have yet to be discovered. At this rate of marine depletion and careless fishing, in about 50 years the ocean will be virtually sucked dry, erasing many species we will never know.

According to Dr. Sumalia we all need to be worried about this problem. He reminds us that, “we have oceans that are interconnected so what happens in Ghana is not just going to effect Ghanaians, which means you might not get the food, the fish, that you are eating now on your table.”

There have been multiple attempts in high-risk oceanic zones to enforce laws outlawing abusive and harmful activities; but more often than not the laws are too difficult to enforce. Due to under-funding, mismanagement, and ambiguous parameters, these attempts to protect marine wildlife are often unsuccessful. In addition, many countries insist on attacking the problem from the armchair. Making a difference using this method is completely unfeasible.

Despite all of this, according to Dr. Sumalia, “this is not a hopeless situation. If we decide to take action now, the huge chance is that the fish will come back and we’ll get away from the current misery and move on to a more prosperous future.”

If we as a global community stop exploiting our natural marine resources right now we have the potential, in many areas, to completely reverse the damaging effects of over-fishing. Global communication and cooperation needs to be more open and productive, but it is achievable.
Under the Bush administration, a law was passed to guide fishery management in waters between three miles and 200 miles offshore. But again, this is a fragmented attempt at protecting a body of water that wraps around the world and touches every continent.

Fortunately, we all have the chance to take this into our own hands, and don’t worry; it’s simple and free. Just visit www.montereybayaquarium.org for a list of the sustainable fish choices in your region. Individual decisions make the cumulative difference in this fight.