Oceans of Nothing

By: Chevaughn Bolden and Ryne Oshiro 

With the population of fisherman being on the rise, the number of fishes in the ocean have been rapidly decreasing. Nowadays fisherman have been getting careless and not respecting that there is no need to overfish and instead of taking only what is needed, they have been taking more leading to the decline. This hasn't been a all of sudden type of instance. Since 1999, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program in California has been handing out pocket guides that list sustainable harvested seafood.  This may be a good thing for the United States, but this isn't only occurring here. Other countries such as Japan, India, China, and England have also been struck with the overfishing. It is a work in progress for the Aquarium, but as they raise awareness it needs to go WORLDWIDE.

Over the past 30 years, the fish export has grown with incredible numbers. The trade has about 30 million tons which is made to about $71 billion dollars. Within the numbers, about 90% of big predators  in the ocean (cod and tuna) have been out of existence. Industry analyst Howard Johnson stated "There's now a global effort to reduce or eliminate fishing practices that aren't sustainable. With that increased awareness, these projections just aren't realistic." This world has evolved  to everything having to be sustainable. Johnson is right about raising awareness for this topic. More than 29% of fish species have already collapsed and the trend is increasing. Stores and restaurants such as Wal-Mart and Red Lobster have been making commitments to sell sustainable harvested seafood. And so you can "Seafood differently".

People need to understand that fishes in the ocean are decreasing, it not only starts in the U.S but should start spreading to around the world. As stated by Brian Halweil, "it would be wonderful if everyone started eating sustainable seafood." Although this is the very beginning of spreading awareness, this will become a huge deal if they spread awareness and statistics will show whether or not that they are doing a good job or not. Something as big as this topic should be shared worldwide.