Only 50 years left' for sea-fish

[sorseress]

People are so D***STUPID!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6108414.stm

 

[Animal Mother]

Sad.

 

[monty]

another case of "we assume that we will never get good enough at harvesting limited resources that we can impact the large resource pool."

Having a "human beings are collectively crazy/stuid" moment. sigh.

 

[I am behind you]

One word : ****

 

[DrBatty]

Humans are such dumbasses sometimes.

Monterey Bay Aquarium has a program they're running to pass laws against overfishing in many areas of the world, some trying to ban fishing in areas completely; I believe it also funds admission for children to educate them about overfishing. If you're a local, or not for that matter, it's worth looking at donating to. I believe the program is called Fund for the Oceans. Can't seem to find it on the website, but there's info there: http://www.mbayaq.org/md/default.asp

I donated a bunch this year, and most likely will next year as well!

 

[DHyslop]

John Tierney has an editorial today in the New York Times about the Science article. He believes that over the years as this decline becomes apparent to the fishermen they'll start to switch over to the quota system to cover their own bottom line.

Since its election week, the NYT is generously offering their editorial and premium content online for free. The following link should work:

Where the tuna roam

 

[sharkfin]

NO TRUE

People are so D***STUPID!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6108414.stm

Load of SHEET 50y left.................. maybe that stupid person sould go out fishing in NZ sometime, he knows nothing of NZ sorry to say bad call from the big guys' keep it real plz wake up wake up wake up' pm me i'l take anyone fishing just to prove my point! 50y what a (jok............... e)

 

[sharkfin]

YES PEOPLE ARE SO STUPID

Load of SHEET 50y left.................. maybe that stupid person sould go out fishing in NZ sometime, he knows nothing of NZ sorry to say bad call from the big guys' keep it real plz wake up wake up wake up' pm me i'l take anyone fishing just to prove my point! 50y what a (jok............... e)

YES PEOPLE ARE SO STUPID

 

[pipsquek]

Even if it is a load of crap, by the time 50 years rolls around, the level of the oceans will have risen so much that all of the sessile intertidal species will be devasted from the increased depth. The great barrier reef may survive bleaching, but how will it survive being another 20 to 50 feet deeper. Many species live in certain depths due to light levels, and changing this dramatically is sure to have impact. Same holds true for kelp forest, which means NZ as well.

 

[cthulhu77]

Massive emoticon use aside, I think that 50 years is too optomistic. Talking to the fishermen in the gulf of California, their reduction in numbers is staggering. Classic case of overharvesting an area, and then standing around going "what did I do?"

 

[chrono_war01]

TIME stated in a minor fact it's not 50 years, it's as soon as 2040.

 

[pipsquek]

Massive emoticon use aside, I think that 50 years is too optomistic. Talking to the fishermen in the gulf of California, their reduction in numbers is staggering. Classic case of overharvesting an area, and then standing around going "what did I do?"

To be fair, it is not one generations fault, nor just a couple. Never the less, it is time to own up to the preceding thousands of years of civilization and start to make some massive changes. As I have said elsewhere, the population surge is largely to blame, and part of that comes from the idea of hoarding resources. The more children/followers/citizens that you have, the more human resources you have to produce excess, which allows you to make it though leaner times. Despite this policy though, the Catholic church is losing numbers of faithful and the US government is pissing a lot of people off for it. ( Perhaps this is a sign of some social maturity, although I don't give it very good odds.)

It is a relatively short-sited way of thinking though, because eventually it must come to a head. All of humanity is involved in a massive pyramid scheme and the rest of the planet is now part of it because of our supposed right to use the earth as we see fit. As with all financial pyramid schemes, it is bound to collapse, and the people at the bottom will be crushed.

And as it gets closer, more people will begin to hoard even more, thereby causing the crash to come faster and perhaps unnecessarily, not unlike the market crash before the depression. Instead of focusing on hoarding resources, we should begin to place more emphasis on hoarding ideas and abilities. The internet is great for this, but what happens when a worldwide disaster strikes and it can no longer be maintained?

Doomsday stuff for sure, but I believe that the only way to avoid it at this point is to acknowledge the danger and think about getting through it. And I believe that is why so many scientist are adamant about reporting these kinds of issues, because they have the imagination and understanding to realize what COULD happen. It may be a bit sensationalist at times, and the media surely makes it more so, but how else can you get the attention of enough people to make a difference? The straight truth is often ignored, so blowing it up a bit makes it more noticeable.

We must either embrace sustainability in our population or be aware that we are going to have to find more resources off of our planet. Science fiction is often browbeaten as hard literature, but the nature of the genre is to think of what may happen, and in many cases, predict or guide it to fruition. Star Trek communicator to cell phone is just one example, but numerous others are out there. Many stories involve cataclism and riuned Earth, and the search for something new.

 

[cthulhu77]

Well, I happen to think that you are correct in many areas...but, we are not ready for any expansion beyond our current globe, and so must make do with what we have here for the time being.

You can't blame the United States for this...yes, we use a lot of the world's supplies, and also are responsible for a great number of the discoveries that have aided human existance. You can't build a fire without wood.
That being stated, we, as homo sapiens, have a responsibility to try to protect the planet as a whole from ourselves, and act in a somewhat mature fashion. Many of the fisheries have ignored this, and have continued trawling when they HAD to have seen the great reduction in numbers of their catch...but the almighty $ led them on.
It is not the fisherman's fault. It is our own, for buying the products that gave them the incentive to over-fish.


No one but us to blame.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Don't go telling me the American's invented fire!!

 

[cthulhu77]

I have the patent. You all owe me some serious cash.