Challenging the current legislative system is an essential step to saving our environment, especially our marine ecosystems. This is exactly what six activists did on March 24th at a gala held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
These environmentalists entered the dining room and instead of handing out menus, they handed out pamphlets entitled "Mismanaging Our Nation's Fisheries: A Menu of What's Missing" to members of Congress and representatives of the fishing industry. The pamphlet calls out the policies of this government agency. It also cites other individuals who fail to create and support laws regulating the fishing industry.
This lack of regulation is causing the staggering decline in fish populations that we are seeing today. In fact, 70 percent of the world's natural fishing grounds have been over fished.
This pamphlet also provides a list of fish species in critical population states and it questions why councils such as the Pacific Council and the Caribbean Council aren't effectively managing and surveying these species.
For example, fish like the Atlantic Cod, Hawaiian Lobster, Yellow Tail Flounder, and Atlantic Halibut are "temporarily unavailable" as a result of unsustainable fishing practices. A countless number of other species such as varieties of Rockfish and Red Snapper are dangerously close to being added to this list as well.
Besides the immediate crisis of overfishing, habitat destruction is also an issue. Locally, the Chesapeake-based Omega Protein fishing industry is harvesting menhaden for fish oils and products at an alarming rate, since there are no regulations to prohibit this.
Menhaden is a source of food for fish species such as the Striper and without it, they are dying. The Chesapeake Bay Oyster has already reached this point and is no longer able to be harvested because of such low population count.
This is detrimental because the oysters acted as a filter for the Bay and cleaned its entire volume on average of twice a week. Now, not only have these oysters drastically declined in number, but industry is constantly polluting the habitat of the remaining ones. With ecosystems being harmed in this way, the disrupted fish populations are negatively affecting populations of larger birds and sea mammals as well.
In recent years, industry has turned to fish-farming as an alternative to avoid these controversies. Unfortunately, this method of raising fish brings its own set of problems.
For example, much of the time, these farms still rely on healthy wild fish populations to be successful, because that is where the fish-farmers obtain smaller fish like anchovies to feed their stock. Fish farms also produce a massive amount of waste in a concentrated area which pollutes the water they are actually living in, causing disease.
To curtail these diseases, fish farmers use chemicals and antibiotics, which further pollute the water.
We, as environmentalists, need to be aware that our choice of food must reflect our concern for the earth.
Until there is a sustainable way to fish and until regulations are made to support healthy marine environments, think again before contributing to this crisis.
