Economical and Environmental Consequences of Overfishing Essay

Economical and Environmental Consequences of Overfishing - Essay Example The problem of overfishing has its roots in human activities. Human beings have the mandate of taking care of their environments but in most cases, they do not do it. Human activities increase carbon emissions, which is a root cause of the problem is acidification of our seas. According to United Nations Environment as quoted in Ecocentric times, increasing carbon emissions has found its way in our oceans and the PH balance is no longer the same. Although only a few species like the crabs, corals, and shellfish will be greatly affected by acidification of the seas, a broken ecosystem balance will also affect the fish and hence food security (Walsh Web). It is worth noting, with interest, that all forms of life are interdependent and that extinction of one form of life threatens the survival of the rest of the ecosystem either directly or indirectly. On a global scale, the world has enough fish to cater for all its inhabitants and three other planets like earth. This means that the pr oblem is not with less fish in our oceans. According to Koster, â€Å"Worldwide, fishing fleets are two to three times as large as needed to take present-day catches of fish and other marine species and as what our oceans can support† (Koster, 2011, p.1). ...Statistics show that for every five persons, one depends on fish as a source of protein. Monterey Bay Aquarium foundation as quoted in Sea the Sea website clearly shows a great rise in fishing volumes. It is claimed, â€Å"Between 1950 and 1994, total fish caught increased by 400% and this increased in subsequent years† (Sea-the Sea, Web). UN Food and Agricultural Organisation statistics as quoted in Overfishing website depicts that there is no proper balance of fishing habits. That is â€Å"52% of fish fully exploited, 20% moderately exploited, 17% overexploited, 7% depleted, and 1% recovering from depletion† (Koster, 2011, p.1). At times overfishing is caused by corrupt activities of the managers of the se as who fully aware of the stress in our seas allow fishing. First, overfishing is a problem since economically fishing is an activity that supports so many livelihoods who earn a living from it. According to a UN website, â€Å"200 million people in the world depend on fishing worldwide† (Natal, 2006, P.1). Overfishing means that we are risking such millions of people losing their ways of earning a living. This is because fish is a finite resource that depletes over time especially if the stocks of fish left cannot replenish themselves. Secondly, overfishing destroys the normal ecosystem flow of marine species. This occurs after the extinction of one or more species that depend on the other for survival, which means that extinction of one or more fish species will adversely affect other sea species or even cause their extinction too.