5) Seafood crisis?

Mr. Rumage mention in our first class that by the year 2048 (or was it 2058?) there would be no fish left in the sea. After this I remember calling up my mom and saying I would eat as much seafood as I could because we never know how much we will have left and seafood is my absolute favorite food. With the news of genetically modified salmon come to light in recent weeks it makes me thoroughly disgusted to think this is what we have come to and how the future of seafood is uncertain and its replacement is already in the works. An article I found on nationalgeographic.com talks about there being too many hooks in the water. Fishermen remove more than 170 billion pounds of wildlife a year from the seas and a recent study by Daniel Pauly suggests that the world catch is neither stable nor fairly divided among the nations of the world. Japan catches less than 5 million metric tons of fish a year, which is a 29% drop from 1996 to 2006, but it consumes 582 million metric tons. China's massive population gives it the world's biggest seafood print although the average Chinese consumer eats smaller fish than the average Japanese.

A study notes that in the 1950s much less of the ocean was being fished to meet our needs but nations increasing demands exceed the capacities of their zones. As a result, more of the world's oceans had to be fished to keep supplies constant or growing. A report by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently concluded that the ocean doesn't have nearly enough fish left to support the current onslaught.

The solution? Perhaps to reduce the world's fishing fleets by 50 percent, establish no catch zones, and eat more farmed fish than wild catch. I think regardless of the many solutions that people can come up with, for no catch zones and protected ocean areas, it would take years for fish to reproduce and increase in numbers and us humans are too used to our diet to change it or give it up. In my case I love seafood and will continue to eat it because no matter if I stop or don't stop, there will be no more fish to catch at some point, so why not enjoy it while we have it?

Link to site: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/10/seafood-crisis/greenberg-text/1