SDG 14 Life Under Water: How can we win the fight against overfishing?
1-What is overfishing?
The fishing and/or removal of species of fish in an area at a rate which does not allow the fish to replenish the population. This results in underpopulated species of fish in areas. Currently, countries that overfish the most include: China, Indonesia, Peru, India, Russia, United States of America, Vietnam, Japan, Norway and Chile.
2-Why is it happening?
- Population increase-higher demand
- Changes in diets over the years
- A huge source of income for millions across the globe
- No awareness
3-What does it lead to?
- Water pollution affects sea meadow growth
- Huge fishing nets drag along the bottom of the ocean and destroy anything in their path
- Destroying marine food chain by overfishing predators
- Interfering with production
- Changing the size of ‘mature’ fish
- Create financial hardship for seaside communities
4-What are the possible solutions?
- Collaboration with governments and industries
- Education and spreading awareness of the consequences of overfishing
- Consumer labels which let the consumer know the source of the product and encourage industries to change methods
- Fish Farming
5-Protected Areas- the best solution! No-take (fully protected) ocean areas can increase species richness by 20%, the total fish number by 600% and organism size by 25% compared to nearby unprotected areas.
S64GEOENA – S6IT / EEB1 Uccle
