90 Percent of the Big-Fish Stocks Have Disappeared
(National Geographic News, May 15, 2003)
Only 10 percent of all large fish -- both open ocean species including tuna, swordfish, marlin and the large groundfish such as cod, halibut, skates and flounder are left in the sea, according to research published in today's issue of the scientific journal Nature. . . . Since 1950, with the onset of industrialized fisheries, we have rapidly reduced the resource base to less than 10 percent -- not just in some areas, not just for some stocks, but for entire communities of these large fish species from the tropics to the poles. . . . The impact we have had on ocean ecosystems has been vastly underestimated. These are the megafauna, the big predators of the sea, and the species we most value. Their depletion not only threatens the future of these fish and the fishers that depend on them, it could also bring about a complete re-organization of ocean ecosystems, with unknown global consequences. . . . The researchers collected data representing all major fisheries in the world, calculating population size and composition of large predatory fish communities from four continental shelves and nine oceanic systems, from the beginning of exploitation to the present. . . . "The longlining data tell a story we have not heard before. It is coherent and consistent throughout, and it comes from a single source," said Daniel Pauly, a fisheries scientist from the University of British Columbia. It shows how Japanese longlining has expanded globally. It is like a hole burning through paper. As the hole expands, the edge is where the fisheries concentrate until there is nowhere left to go. Because longlining technology has improved, the authors estimates are conservative. If the catch rate has dropped by a factor of ten and the technology has improved, the declines are even greater than they are saying." . . . Another cause of over-exploitation, Earle said, was billions of dollars governments spent subsidizing their fishing industries, trying to protect jobs and a way of life of communities. "But what is not realized is that when the fish have gone, the way of life will come to an end anyway. What's happening is not sustainable," she said. . . . These great fish are not only declining in numbers, but with intense fishing pressure they can never attain the sizes they once did. "Where detailed data are available we see that the average size of these top predators is only one-fifth to one-half of what is used to be. The few blue marlin today reach one-fifth of the weight they once had. In many cases, the fish caught today are under such intense fishing pressure, they never even have the chance to reproduce," said Myers. . . . "We are in massive denial and continue to bicker over the last shrinking numbers of survivors, employing satellites and sensors to catch the last fish left," said Myers. "We have to understand how close to extinction some of these populations really are. And we must act now, before they have reached the point of no return. I want there to be hammerhead sharks and bluefin tuna around when my five-year-old son grows up. If present fishing levels persist, these great fish will go the way of the dinosaurs." . . . We will never get back to what we had in the oceans 50 years ago, but we still have a small window of opportunity to save the last few big fish before they are exterminated.
[COMMENT: Isn't it interesting that the big fish are almost all gone at the same time as Pisces (whose sign is the fish) comes to an end?]
posted by Lorenzo 2:30 PM
Statement of the Traditional Hopi Elders
These are the End times and the people must know the truth, share what we have taught you. There can be no more secrets now if we are to survive as a thinking species through these times. This must be done because the dream of humanity can only be preserved through the combined efforts of all peoples, and the joining and merging of all cultures into a oneness.
As told to Cho Qosh Auh Ho Oh, a Chumash/Yaqui/Maya Indian
posted by Lorenzo 12:00 PM
