Quote:
Originally Posted by cmac2012
No one claimed there are no fish in the sea. But I don't think this fellow's experience is meaningless. Large scale, wholesale fish extraction continues apace. Bottom trawling still goes on. Hard to see things getting better before they get worse.
Wholesale extraction of sharks is is almost certainly leading to an increase in seals and sea lions which will eat more fish that sharks ever dreamed of eating. Overfishing and warming seas have led to a rise in jellyfish which imperil commercially attractive fish species. Overfishing is leading to an explosion of Humboldt squid populations which can lead to further decline in desirable species. It's a vicious circle. We big brained humans are too effective for our own good. Not sure what the answers are but pretending there is no problem is not one of them.
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The writer said
"But this time, on that whole long leg of sea journey, the total catch was two.
No fish. No birds. Hardly a sign of life at all."
While this may be shocking to land lubbers, to those on the ocean on a regular basis it is not. In addition it is one person's account, not to say he is not accurate, but it's a survey of one.
The route he took was where I lived for nearly ten years. Above New Guinea is Palau and to the east is Yap. Above them east on the way to Japan is the Mariana Islands and a nearly mirroring reef system well off to the west. Since the Mariana Islands of Guam and the CNMI are US Insular areas there is no large scale fishing fleets in the almost 500 miles up the chain and 200 miles on either side. Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia do have large scale fleets, plus Palau has illegal boats by the thousands from the PI and other Asian nations.
Being involved in the fisheries there I tend to ignore sensationalist accounts as this is. However that does not mean the fight to stop those commercial fishing fleets should not be taken lightly.