THE WORLD'S OCEANS ARE AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE and face a bleak future if nothing is done. Large-scale industrial fishing takes too much ocean wildlife from the water; land-based industries, meanwhile, put too many pollutants back in – and the laws meant to check the destruction are ignored or selectively enforced. The result: declining fisheries, destruction of marine habitat, pollution of coastal waters and poisoning of seafood are threatening the Earth’s largest and most important natural system, as well as the tens of millions of people who depend on the sea for livelihood and sustenance.
Collapsing Fish Populations
90% of the big marine predator fish are gone. Although there are more and better-equipped fishing boats in the water, there are fewer fish, and the global seafood catch has been falling since the 1980s. Instead of using technology to more efficiently target and catch fish, commercial fleets use technology to catch more fish and life they don’t want or need – scientists have estimated that up to 25% of all the fish caught in the world is waste.
Global Contamination
Many of the fish that are left – including remaining tuna, swordfish, and marlin – are so contaminated with mercury (from industrial pollution) that they are no longer safe to eat. Seafood is the primary source of mercury ingested by humans. In the U.S., an EPA scientist estimates that one in six American women now has enough mercury in her blood to cause neurological damage to a developing fetus.
Critical Habitat Under Siege
27 % of the world’s shallow-water coral reefs had been destroyed by 2000. Another 32% are likely to be destroyed within 30 years unless stresses are removed and large areas of reef are protected. In deeper waters, bottom trawlers are tearing up cold-water coral (that could take centuries to grow back) in a desperate search for fish.
Casualties -- Marine Mammals, Sea Turtles, and Other Ocean Life
28 of 30 marine mammal species (more than 20%) are included on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. All six species of sea turtle are listed as endangered or critically endangered (“facing a high risk of extinction”) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Populations of sharks and rays have been decimated worldwide.
Small-Scale Fishing: Becoming Extinct
Local fishing cultures and jobs are disappearing at alarming rates – displaced by larger, less selective, more destructive industrial fishing fleets. Traditional fishers in Chile are literally going hungry for lack of fish (and fishing revenue).
