"Dave" > wrote in message oups.com...
>
> pearl wrote:
> > > "Dave" > wrote in message oups.com...
> >
> > > > > Pearl wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > 'Two years ago, he and Mr. Worm used the same
> > > > > data to show that commercial fishing had depleted
> > > > > the world's oceans of 90 per cent of the overall
> > > > > abundance of big fish that flourished 50 years ago.
> >
> > > There is no ecological problem with fish
> > > eating per se, just killing fish faster than they can
> > > reproduce. There are responsible fisheries that
> > > moniter their impact on the marine environment.
> >
> > 'What was natural in the coastal oceans?
> > Jeremy B. C. Jackson*
> > Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California
> > at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; and Center for Tropical
> > Paleoecology and Archeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research
> > Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama
> > ...
> > '(1) No wild Atlantic coastal fishery is sustainable at anything
> > close to present levels of exploitation.
>
> That is an argument for reducing our consumption, not necessarily
> ceasing it entirely.


Too much damage has already been done.
The marine ecosystem now needs to recover.

> > Coastal marine ecosystems
> > already have been changed beyond recognition because of direct
> > and indirect effects of overfishing. Most fishing is unsustainable
> > because (i) inexorable growth of the human population drives
> > increasing demand,
>
> Creating more pressure on the land and at sea or leave the
> sea completely alone and create even more pressure on land
> resources.

We can use some sea vegetables. Certain algae provide
EPA and DHA,- the long chain fatty acids found in fish.

> > (ii) development of mechanized fishing
> > technologies severely damages the environment,
>
> That's why I advocate handlining.

'And the fact is, a large number of small-boats concentrated
into an ecosystem can do as much damage to fish stocks and
marine ecology as a fleet of larger vessels. Too many boats
chasing too few fish always adds up to a race to ecological
disaster and economic ruin.'

Too much damage has already been done.
The marine ecosystem now needs to recover.

> > (iii) cheap and
> > rapid transportation makes even the most distant populations
> > vulnerable to exploitation,
>
> Good. That allows us to spread our pressure more evenly
> throughout the marine food chain.

Too much damage has already been done.
The marine ecosystem now needs to recover.

> > and (iv) management has consistently
> > failed to conserve depleted stocks (9, 15, 16, 33, 43, 77, 90, 98, 99).
> > Evidence for ecological transformation and loss of fisheries
> > resources on Western Atlantic coral reefs, seagrass beds, bays,
> > estuaries, and the continental shelves is scientifically sound, and
> > the burden of proof belongs on those who would still fish rather
> > than the other way around (133)
>
> That's why I promote the MSC label.

Too much damage has already been done.
The marine ecosystem now needs to recover.

> > . Monitoring is a basic tool for
> > management, but no more monitoring is required to know what
> > we have lost. Scientific efforts should be redirected toward
> > evaluating options for restoration of resources rather than
> > perpetuating the myth of sustainable fisheries. It is hard to
> > imagine how increasingly sophisticated and frequent
> > environmental monitoring and micromanagement could do a
> > fraction of the good of simply stopping fishing. There is no
> > rational scientific basis to continue fishing of wild stocks
> > along the Atlantic coast of North America or in the Caribbean
> > for the foreseeable future.
> > ..
> > http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/98/10/5411
> >
> > The same applies virtually everywhere. See;
> > http://www.pewtrusts.com/a-v/oceans_map_flash.swf
> >
> > 'Not only have many major fish stocks been depleted, some
> > even collapsing completely such as cod off Canada's east
> > coast but excessive fishing pressure is placing many other
> > marine animals at risk. From the north Pacific and Atlantic
> > Oceans to the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, marine
> > mammals, seabirds, sharks and key fish species in the
> > intricate web of marine biodiversity are being overexploited,
> > caught and killed as 'bycatch', or threatened by the
> > industrialized fisheries for species that are critical links in
> > the marine food web.
>
> Which is why I don't propose indiscriminate fish eating.

Too much damage has already been done.
The marine ecosystem now needs to recover.

> > Fisheries analysts at the United Nations Food and Agriculture
> > Organization (FAO) report that virtually 70% of the world's
> > fisheries are fully- to over-exploited, depleted, or in a state
> > of collapse.
>
> IOW 30% of the world's fisheries have potential for growth
> at the expense of the other 70% if we start to treat the
> marine ecosystems with the respect they deserve.

'(i) inexorable growth of the human population drives
increasing demand,'

Too much damage has already been done.
The marine ecosystem now needs to recover.

> > ..
> > Dr. Pauly's team of scientists used a mountain of data
> > compiled over 50 years by the UN Food and Agriculture
> > Organization on more than 200 distinct species caught in
> > the world's oceans and seas. They catalogued how in one
> > ocean after another fishing has caused the depletion of
> > the biggest, most valuable stocks, and then worked its
> > way down the marine food web, catching more and more
> > of the smaller species. Dr. Pauly warned that at the current
> > rate of exploitation many stocks could be eliminated within
> > 25 years. "You can end up with the sea full of jelly fish,"
> > said Pauly. He summed up his concern in a gloomy prediction:
> >
> > "The big fish, the bill fish, the groupers, the big things will
> > be gone. It is happening now. If things go unchecked, we
> > will have a sea full of little horrible things that nobody wants
> > to eat. We might end up with a marine junkyard dominated
> > by plankton."
> > ..
> > And the fact is, a large number of small-boats concentrated
> > into an ecosystem can do as much damage to fish stocks and
> > marine ecology as a fleet of larger vessels. Too many boats
> > chasing too few fish always adds up to a race to ecological
> > disaster and economic ruin.
> > ..'
> > http://archive.greenpeace.org/oceans...deadahead.html
>