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MARINE MAGAZINE 2014 JUNE EDITION
Consumers/ Industry
Fish has always been a staple in our diets as humans, dating back centuries. And remains a healthy form of protein. But our rate of consumption has gotten a little out of hand, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 2009 Americans consumed an outstanding 4.833 Billion pounds of seafood, which comes out to about 16 pounds of seafood per person. Now, I love clam chowder as much as any other New Englander, but we need to limit how much seafood we consume or else our oceans will one day become vast, lifeless deserts. The reason that fishermen catch more and more fish each year is because demand keep getting higher and higher. The more seafood we eat, the more seafood will need to be caught to fill our needs. But if we slow down our rate of consumption, than the demand will start to go down and fishermen won't catch as much giving our oceans the ability survive. We need to keep our seafood consumption at a sustainable level. We are currently consuming seafood faster than they can reproduce causing the populations to shrink.
In Japan, The Northern Committee of the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has recently placed new regulations on the fishing of Pacific Bluefin Tuna, a key ingredient in the sushi industry. The committee noticed a steep decrease in the population of the bluefin tuna, according to the WCPFC the current amount of breeding tuna is at 22,000 tons as of 2010, which is less than one third of estimates from 15 years ago5. The new regulation passed early this year was made to restrict the amount of Bluefin caught, forcing each nation that signed to cut back on the amount of fish they catch by 15%.
It is important that local, state, and national government is away of what is happening between the relationship of fishers and their catch. It is the government’s responsibility to control, mandate, and regulate fishing. Some governments have taken on this role, but in many cases it is not as strict as it should be. It is important to keep the pressure on our government to keep track of the depleting biodiversity of our oceans, lakes, and rivers, and create new laws and regulations to help protect these important pieces of our World’s puzzle of life.
Vote with your money!
Support sustainable fisheries to wipe out the bad ones.