Oceans' fish could disappear in 40 years: UN

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 5/17/10 | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

NEW YORK (AFP) – The world faces the nightmare possibility of fishless oceans by 2050 without fundamental restructuring of the fishing industry, UN experts said Monday.

"If the various estimates we have received... come true, then we are in the situation where 40 years down the line we, effectively, are out of fish," Pavan Sukhdev, head of the UN Environment Program's green economy initiative, told journalists in New York.

A Green Economy report due later this year by UNEP and outside experts argues this disaster can be avoided if subsidies to fishing fleets are slashed and fish are given protected zones -- ultimately resulting in a thriving industry.

The report, which was opened to preview Monday, also assesses how surging global demand in other key areas including energy and fresh water can be met while preventing ecological destruction around the planet.

UNEP director Achim Steiner said the world was "drawing down to the very capital" on which it relies.

However, "our institutions, our governments are perfectly capable of changing course, as we have seen with the extraordinary uptake of interest. Around, I think it is almost 30 countries now have engaged with us directly, and there are many others revising the policies on the green economy," he said.

Collapse of fish stocks is not only an environmental matter.

One billion people, mostly from poorer countries, rely on fish as their main animal protein source, according to the UN.

[Mike Darancette]

If things are that bad then nothing that man can do will make one bit of difference (as if they ever did).

[PATRIOT1876]

I think that the people at the UN, NationalEnquirer, Mad Magazine, and the Onion are all the same people.

The UN reports are just more subtle about it. (Although their “spy vs spy” is almost as good as Mad’s version)

The UN publishes stuff just to see if we are dumb enough to believe it!

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

The UN has no clue, no freaking clue, how vast the oceans are. No freaking clue.

Not that it matters. They aren’t concerned about saving fish, just killing off man and destroying our societies. They aren’t fooling anybody.

[PATRIOT1876]

“It’s at least 10 billion times worse than what we think!!!”

[PATRIOT1876]

“So long, and thanks for all the fish!”

I've hard that song running thru my head since I started reading this post!

[hinckley buzzard]

Yes it is. The North Atlantic cod population collapsed and has been preserved only by means of severe restrictions. It is nowhere near what it was, even so. The orange roughie you used to be able to order at run of the mill restaurants is about gone. Those were 60 year old fillets you were eating. Roughies are rare and grow oh so slowly, what's left of them, in the deeps off new Zealand.

The Tragedy of the Commons is most perfectly illustrated in the ocean fishery industry.

[jimfree]

UN Expert is an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp.

Actually I have seen some very large shrimp. On the other hand, ...

[Celerity]

More :

http://news.discovery.com/earth/oceans-fish-fishing-industry.html