Overfishing

I am here to talk about the negative influences that has been caused by overfishing. Ocean overfishing is basically the taking of wildlife from the sea at rates too high for fished species to replace themselves. Over fishing is a multifaceted argument as we need to eat fish to sustain a healthy diet. But we also need to look at the effects on the environment and if the economy is more important than moral obligations.
The earliest overfishing occurred in the early 1800s when humans, seeking blubber for lamp oil, decimated the whale population. With a large increase of overfishing this is throwing out the balance of the oceanic food chain.
A technique used to fish is bottom trawling this has a destructive impact on the seabed, and especially the fragile deep water coral. This is a vital part of the marine ecosystem which scientist are still beginning to understand. The effect that bottom trawling has on the floor is equilavelant to forest clearing. And the damages can also be seen from space. 95% of damage to seamount ecosystems worldwide is caused by deep sea bottom trawling. The key parts in ecosystems need full protection from destructive fisheries; e.g. the spawning and nursing grounds of fish, delicate sea floor, unique unexplored habitats, and corals reefs which supports unique and a diverse range of fish species.
Ways that we can reverse the damages caused is expanding the marine protected areas. These are areas of the ocean where natural resources are protected and fishing is either restricted or banned altogether. At the moment 1% of the oceans are marine protected areas.
With the collapse of large fish populations in countries borders, commercial fleets are having to go deeper in the ocean and travel further down the food chain for viable catches. This is called “fishing down” and is triggering a chain reaction that is upsetting the ancient balance of the seas biological system. A study of catch data in 2006 predicted that if fishing rates continue at...