Centuries of Overfishing Push Ecosystems to the Brink

Scripps Institution of Oceanography ^ | Mario Aguilera

[cogitator]

Centuries of Overfishing Push Ecosystems to the Brink

An article I recommend reading. Two excerpts:

"Essentially, by overfishing our coastal oceans for centuries, we are doing uncontrolled experiments and witnessing the transformation of the global coastal ocean," Jackson said. "We’re witnessing the disappearance of large organisms and the increasing ascendancy of small invertebrates and microbes throughout the coastal ocean. We don’t know how easy it is to reverse the process, assuming we have the will to do it."

and...

"He points to ship logs from Christopher Columbus’s voyages, describing Caribbean waters so abundant with green turtles that crewmen feared their vessels might run aground on the turtles’ backs. Old colonial records from Jamaica confirmed these reports and allowed Jackson to calculate a "conservative" estimate of the 30- to 50-million giant green turtles thriving in the Caribbean during the 1600s. "With each turtle weighing 100 to 200 kilograms (200 to 400 pounds), that’s more biomass than all the large animals in East Africa," Jackson observed."

[cogitator]

There's a lot of talk about global warming, but overfishing and the degradation of the coastal oceans is a much more pressing concern.

[SteveSenti]

Yeah, and the Hole in our Ozone Layer was supposed to be growing larger... Oh, wait, It's growing smaller now.

Gee, maybe the scientists should collect more data! first, and then generate a Hypothesis based on Facts not voo doo environmentalism.

[mg39]

Excellent article. More people need to pay attention to this "strip-mining" of the oceans.

[Willie Green]

There's a lot of talk about global warming, but overfishing and the degradation of the coastal oceans is a much more pressing concern.

In many of our states, hatcheries have long provided a successful means of replenishing freshwater species that are overfished by sportsfisherman. The oceans are mighty big, but I wonder if a similar approach might be practical for at least some of those saltwater species that are overfished for food.

The technology isn't really all that expensive or high-tech: basicly a bunch of huge fish tanks with plumbing, filters, pumps, etc. etc. And all ya gotta do is raise the fry long enough that you significantly improve their chances of surviving to maturity in the wild.

It would take quite a few hatcheries to impact ocean populations, but those could easily be spread around the various fishing nations to share the load. And while governments may pay the cost of original construction, operating costs could be paid by a fee tacked onto commercial fishing licenses.

Not a panacea, just an idea that is worthy of consideration IMHO.

[jdege]

What we're dealing with is a typical case of the tragedy of the commons.

There's no economic incentive to manage the resource wisely.

The solution, of course, is privatization.

[wbill]

I have several points to make:

We’re witnessing the disappearance of large organisms and the increasing ascendancy of small invertebrates and microbes throughout the coastal ocean. We don’t know how easy it is to reverse the process, assuming we have the will to do it."

Check your food chains. An abundance of small invertebrates and microbes (food) will lead to an abundance of 'higher' predators. As food is easier to obtain, reproduction and survival rates for predators increase. It's seen all the time in nature.....cycles for rabbits and bobcats mirror each other, for instance.

He points to ship logs from Christopher Columbus’s voyages, describing Caribbean waters so abundant with green turtles that crewmen feared their vessels might run aground on the turtles’ backs

Anecdotal evidence. I would wonder about any exaggeration, as well. In my own circumstance, for instance, stories about my fishing trips, the casual observer would think that massive trout were so commonplace that I could scoop them out of the water with my bare hands. I rarely talk about all of the fishing trips that I got skunked.

Jackson to calculate a "conservative" estimate of the 30- to 50-million giant green turtles thriving in the Caribbean during the 1600s. "With each turtle weighing 100 to 200 kilograms (200 to 400 pounds), that’s more biomass than all the large animals in East Africa," Jackson observed."

This statistic is utterly meaningless. It's just a large impressive number. That's all. Read 'How to Lie With Statistics'. It's a real eye-opener.

Personally, I am willing to discuss environmental topics, but only facts, not wild guesses.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[jz638]

exactly. The best way to save a species is to start farming it. Chickens aren't endangered, nor are cows or trout.

[Willie Green]

The solution, of course, is privatization.

Would you care to elaborate more specificly how you would do this?
Or are you simply chanting a mantra?

[expatpat]

I think that's a good approach.

I don't think the analogy with freshwater fish works, though. A lot of freshwater fishing is catch-and-release, but most salt-water fish are kept and eaten if they're big enough.

[eastsider]

Wolfgang Berger, a Scripps research paleogeologist and another coauthor of the report, has been studying sediments from the Santa Barbara Basin that date back more than 1,000 years. "We tend to be more familiar with historical records in terrestrial systems," Berger said. "If you don’t understand the time scale of changes to an ecosystem—whether it’s the chaparral on land or marine life in the sea—then you don’t really understand the ecosystem...."

"You can’t understand the Balkans without understanding what happened 100 and 200 years ago. And you can’t understand rockfish populations on the California coast if you don't know what's been going on there over the last 100 years or more."

Thanks for posting this.

[AndyTheBear]

There's a lot of talk about global warming, but overfishing and the degradation of the coastal oceans is a much more pressing concern

There is a relation between the two that is ironic considering that alledgedly "green" groups are trying to limit CO2 emmissions. As humans consume more food and take up more space, the increased CO2 from our cars increase the plant densisty which mitigates some of the losses the rest of the ecosystem suffers.

The Enviorment is too serious an issue to leave in the hands of modern "Enviormentalists".

[dead]

Rather than building enormous tanks, we could use parts of the big one we already have - the oceans.

The problem is, what carrot and/or stick do you use to get sovereign nations to agree to a plan to leave enormous fisheries untapped?

[Willie Green]

The best way to save a species is to start farming it. Chickens aren't endangered, nor are cows or trout.

Well private enterprise has already pursued offshore fish farms, so I suppose we're OK with the cows and chickens.
So I suppose I'm thinking more along the lines of trout, which just get dumped back into the water and are free to swim around whereever they please until they get consumed by a predator (whether the predator is man or another fish).

[Teacher317]

Odd that sensitive ocean species like lobster and sea scallops are still about $10.00/lb (here in Indiana... think shipping costs). If the ecosystem was failing, they would be among the first to decline. If they declined, their prices would increase (darn those greedy capitalist pigs!). Last month the grocer had a new tank full of lobsters for $7.50/lb. (We ate well that night.)

Let's use the shrill liberals' line on Iraq: where's the evidence?
Christopher Columbus' logs from 1492 probably won't convince many that there are problems 511 years later.

[Willie Green]

Rather than building enormous tanks, we could use parts of the big one we already have - the oceans.
The problem is, what carrot and/or stick do you use to get sovereign nations to agree to a plan to leave enormous fisheries untapped?

That's no problem. It's exactly why I proposed building the big tanks just like the freshwater hatcheries.
IMHO, all you've suggested is "don't build the hatcheries" then wondered how it's gonna work.

If you ever try to prune a tree, be mighty careful which side of the limb you're sitting on before you start to saw.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Global warming has pushed our ecosystems to the brink, but I got a fridge full of beer and the NFL playoffs start this weekend.

[dead]

Finding a way to stop exploitation of natural fisheries is alot more economically feasible than your idea of building tanks so large or numerous that they could actually have a significant affect on the world's ocean fish population.

Or are we going to pay for this with a surcharge on our big-government magnetic train windfall?

[Double Tap]

"He points to ship logs from Christopher Columbus’s voyages, describing Caribbean waters so abundant with green turtles that crewmen feared their vessels might run aground on the turtles’ backs. Old colonial records from Jamaica confirmed these reports and allowed Jackson to calculate a "conservative" estimate of the 30- to 50-million giant green turtles thriving in the Caribbean during the 1600s. "With each turtle weighing 100 to 200 kilograms (200 to 400 pounds), that’s more biomass than all the large animals in East Africa," Jackson observed."

Let's also remember that they believed in "SEA MONSTERS" and Mermaids at this time to. And had regular sightings of them.

[jdege]

FENCING THE OCEANS
A Rights-Based Approach to Privatizing Fisheries