SocraticGadfly: Fish depletion and biodiversity loss

May 09, 2010

Fish depletion and biodiversity loss

Two studies headlined by World Science shows just how far downhill we have gone on ocean depletion.

First, it takes British trawlers 17 times as much work today to catch an equivalent amount of fish as in the days of sail.
“Over a cen­tu­ry of in­ten­sive trawl fish­ing has se­verely de­plet­ed U.K. seas of bot­tom liv­ing fish like hal­i­but, tur­bot, had­dock and plaice,” said Si­mon Brock­ing­ton, head of con­serva­t­ion at the U.K.’s Ma­rine Con­serva­t­ion So­ci­e­ty and co-au­thor of the stu­dy.
And, the same problems are presumed to be true around European fisheries, which is why the latest round of CITES talks' failure to put a cap on bluefin tuna hauls is so disconcerting.

Meanwhile, in the sea, on land, and in the air, world governments have failed to address biodiversity decline.

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