LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
ART STREIBER
Man vs.
Nature
I
N THIS WEEK’S issue,
Tom Zeller looks at the
American fishing industry and three different factors affecting it.
First, there’s global warming. As
ocean temperatures rise, research
suggests many fish species are migrating into deeper waters, upsetting the normal patterns fishermen have relied on and throwing
the marine ecosystem into flux. To
compound the problem, the industry is facing a man vs. nature predicament where man’s domination
has, in a way, backfired. Our mastery of technology — with methods
like GPS and fish-finding sonar
that make it easier and more efficient than ever to harvest fish —
has ravaged entire populations. As
Tom puts it, “humans are extracting fish at a pace that exceeds the
stock’s natural ability to replenish
its numbers.”
Then, there are changes in
policy. America’s commercial fishing business employs more than a
million people and generates more
than $116 billion in annual sales.
But the government has proposed
cuts to the number of fish that
can be harvested, so many fisher-
HUFFINGTON
06.23.13
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