[bushbotbasher]

Because it makes sense to me:

World Population, 1950: 2,556,517,137

World Population, 2005: 6,451,058,790

(US Census Bureau)

2.5x the population. Has the population of Tuna, Swordfish, etc increased at the same rate?

Can't we assume that populations of fish (and other food sources) are being depleted just because of the sheer size of humanity?

I think another posted somewhat sarcastically, that we're due for a pandemic or a nuclear war. He's got a point. In terms of evolution, species that grow faster than their food supply are often decimated by disease, cannibalism, and out and out starvation, to bring things back into harmony.

Why should we expect man, an animal in its own right, to be any different?

[SJackson]

Can't we assume that populations of fish (and other food sources) are being depleted just because of the sheer size of humanity?

Yes. As others have noted, we'll have to grow fish. A relatively simple task which American's will do. And if we have to reduce the tuna or swordfish catch, fine, no one will starve and other countries will harvest them for us.

[A Balrog of Morgoth]

He's got a point. In terms of evolution, species that grow faster than their food supply are often decimated by disease, cannibalism, and out and out starvation, to bring things back into harmony.

If our food supply consisted only of fish, you might have a point.

[manwiththehands]

You just signed up to use that screen name, didn't you?

Welcome to FR from a kindred spirit.

[phil1750]

Because it makes sense to me: World Population, 1950: 2,556,517,137 World Population, 2005: 6,451,058,790

You failed to post the figures from 1900-1930-1950. The same was said back then. This planet can't hold anymore people. Guess they were wrong back then, huh?

We'll just add more dolphin and sea turtle to our diet.

Circua 1880: The world will soon be dark as the whale oil is soon to be depleted.

[Old Professer]

How much salt, pepper and tartar sauce do you have?

[truthpls]

Doesn't Mother Nature usually handle this problem? Tsunami's, earthquakes, famines, wars, etc. It's not a pretty picture, but in the past, it seems to have kept things in balance. Perhaps with our new technologies, it may work some other way, which I have no inkling of, but it is sure to surface at the right moment, or there will be no discussing it at that time. That may be one good reason to support the space program. We may need to evacuate to another place at some time in the future or at least have a place for excess humanity to exist on. Just 'what iffing'.

[Paloma_55]

What goes up, must come down!

Put a bacterium in a sterile petridish with Agar and watch it grow. Lacking any natural limits, it grows exponentially until its own waste, and the lack of clean nutrient causes a precipitous drop in population.