Fishing
:
Lots of creatures live off
fish – including me and my
seabird friends. Until recently, people shared some
of the fish with the rest of us because they only
had simple ways of catching them: lines and hooks
or hand nets. Then came fossil fuels and modern
technology which meant people could build powerful
boats (called trawlers) and spot fish shoals (using
sonar – a
way of 'seeing' underwater with sound, just as dolphins
do). Then they could just sweep them up out of the
sea by the millions of tons. Another disaster for
us animals who depended on the fish for our food
because soon there were none left in some of the
once-rich fishing grounds. And
people haven’t learned from their mistakes. Having
ruined some of the best fishing grounds, they’re
now doing the same with the remaining ones [3].
If that wasn’t bad enough, humans are now catching
the tiny creatures (krill) that the
fish and some whales in the great southern oceans
depend on to live. Krill eat tiny floating plants
(phytoplankton) and are a basic part of the food
chain in these oceans. The USA has banned krill
fishing off its west coast.
Modern industrial fishing is on quite a different scale to someone with a net or a rod and line [1]:
1.
Bycatch, WWF
2. "Birds nosedive", New Scientist vol 184 issue 2473 - 13 November
2004, page 4. Also New Scientist, 24/11/98, 13
3. New Scientist, 31/3/01, 19 - "Gotta catch them all". The Europeans
want to increase their catch from the ocean off West Africa by 60%. This is
one of the world's last great fishing grounds but already the fish are in serious
decline. I'm afraid it just shows people never learn by their mistakes... well,
not where there's money involved anyway.