”The fellow I have been talking about criticized those who say that there are not enough fish in the ocean. People just say that there are fewer fish so they can raise the price of fish in the stores. They never consider things such as the fact that people are eating more meat and fish.”
”None of those reasons disprove a lack of fish. I remember an old friend of mine Doctor Jed Gardner who retired from UCLA to a boat and sailed the world for years. He told me that in the earlier days he could drop a line and catch a tuna or a mahi-mahi within an hour, but by the turn of this century he said he could go all day without a nibble. Of course I realize that this illustration is logically fallacious because a single
illustration doesn’t prove the general application of the idea. But the reports of the fishing industry and various scientific agencies indicate that the ocean is definitely fished out in many areas.
“ The UN Food and Agriculture Organization publishes a biannual status of the state of the world’s fisheries and aquaculture.(31) In 2006 it was found that 52% of fish stocks are fully exploited, 20% were moderately exploited, 17% were over-exploited, 7% were depleted, and only 1% were recovering from having been depleted. It was also found that nearly 80% of the world’s fisheries are fully or overtly exploited. And worldwide about 90% of the stocks of large predatory fish are already gone. The report goes on to say that we are not only losing species, but whole ecosystems. As an example in Newfoundland in 1992, there were no cod and the fishing industry came to a complete stop.”
”I would agree with you on that one Wreck. But he didn’t mention the extensive fish farming around the world that is supplying many of the needs of those who eat our finned friends. But then he went on to say something I do agree with, that farm lobbies influence governments to increase subsidies so that farm prices can be more profitable.”
”I’d agree with that, too. But that just affects the prices in the more developed
countries. It certainly doesn’t affect subsistence farmers in adverse weather.”
-”The spokesman for the Freedom Group said that you people who are predicting catastrophe for the years ahead are forgetting that the world is becoming a better place, more babies survive, people are living longer, and more people are surviving into old age. We should be celebrating this, not commiserating with these facts.
Additionally, the replacement rate of 2.2 is being challenged. Many developed countries
are below the level and the more fertile populations are reducing their fertility rates.”