Raja Ampat is an archipelago consisting of over 1,500 islands and the most biodiverse coral reefs on the planet. The waters around it home sea creatures that are found pretty much nowhere else on Earth. The islands stand about two degrees south of the equator, causing the reefs around them to bask in constant sunshine. As well as that, they lay where the Indian and Pacific oceans meet, making the variety of marine life even greater. They stock the surrounding waters with billions of new fish per year. The Raja Ampat oceans should be a great place for fish, coral, and all sorts of sea creatures to live, right? No. There’s one main setback- overfishing.
Overfishing is to deplete the stock of fish (using fishing, of course) in a body of water so much that the sea creatures are unable to reproduce. This can lead to vulnerability or even extinction of entire species. It’s one of the many underestimated problems in the world. Each year, about 90 MILLION TONS of wild fish are captured globally. If we don’t start acting NOW, all the world’s seafood could be gone by 2048! Overfishing doesn’t only affect fish, but other marine life as well. Lots of practices meant to target fish can destroy the lives and habitats of shellfish, clams, manta rays, sharks, and pretty much every other animal out there that lives in the ocean. For example, let’s take bottom trawling, the act of dragging large, weighted nets along the seafloor. While it’s meant for fish, clams, and sometimes crabs or shrimp, it can destroy entire coral reefs and leave what used to be lively ocean habitats ghostly barren. Overfishing isn’t about boatfulls of fishermen determined to wipe out Nemo and Dory- it’s about the complete and absolute destruction of the ocean and everything that’s in it.
Now that you’ve learned a bit about overfishing, what are the impacts? Yes, I know, fish and sea creatures get wiped out off the face of the Earth never to be seen or brought back EVER again, but that’s not all. I’m pretty sure that plenty of people eat seafood at least once a week, if not a LOT more – so what will we do once it’s gone? As you’ve probably heard, fish is a GIANT source of protein. In fact, let’s not talk about our diets here. How many (sustainable) fisher(wo)men will lose their jobs once the ocean’s empty? According to World Wildlife, about three BILLION people depend on the sea to survive. That’s more than a quarter of our current world population of 7.8 billion people! Another example is China, home to the most seafood consumption in the world. The seafood market there is valued at, wait for it… 150 BILLION US dollars! Yes, 150 BILLION! Once the fish is gone, all that will go with it! Overfishing affects not just the environment, but the world economy too.
While it’s a major roadblock, overfishing isn’t the only issue concerning sea life. Bycatching, shark finning, fish farming, and catch-and-release fishing – those are only a few of the many problems regarding our world’s ocean and its content. Let’s start with bycatching, which is the act of catching other marine organisms while aiming for a different, specific one. Bottom trawling, as mentioned earlier, is one of the plentiful suppliers of bycaught life. Fish and other sea creatures that are victims of bycatching are either thrown out into the ocean or killed and, well, thrown out. There haven’t been many instances where the bycaught sea life is found useful. You would think that the creatures thrown into the ocean would have a better chance of surviving, and they do, but not by as much as you might think, with fish who have been captured before having shown to have suffered and died from shock, which also happens with victims of catch-and-release fishing. Some also died from injuries from the hooks, lines, or nets they were caught with, but they mostly died from shock and stress. That’s right – Goldie isn’t so different from Spot and Her Majesty the Cat Queen and Feline Empress after all! (What? Cats are quite… queen-ish.)
The next problem I’m going to talk (write?) about is shark finning. It’s when sharks are caught, and their fins are cut off. Shark fin soup is a delicacy in some places. Humans eat weird things, don’t we? From cow tongues to pig ears… Anyways, back to the topic. Usually, yes, the sharks are released, but finned sharks mostly don’t survive, because their fins help them stay upright. When sharks get flipped on their backs they go into a state called “tonic immobility”. This causes, you guessed it, immobility, and makes it much harder for them to get food. I mean, have you ever tried to hunt when you were paralyzed?
After that is fish farming, which is when fish are raised for food in special designated areas. Some might think that this is a better alternative to wild fishing, but it’s not. Farmed fish can escape and mate with wild fish, causing the native population to decrease. A better option is offshore farming, which is where specified areas are left, well, offshore. These often look like large bubbles suspended in the water. As there is more space to place the farms, this option also prevents overcrowding, which is common in onshore farms. A way to practice offshore farming is by using Aqua Pods, which are pods made of recyclable material and metal, which prevents too much algae formation. More natural fish AND the reusing of materials- it’s a win-win for the environment!
You literally just heard about Aqua Pods, but that’s what the pros are doing. What about you? What can you do? (Don’t worry. This isn’t, like, one of those corny online tutorials full of things that you can’t do at all. I mean, how in the world do you plant a tree without your parents’ permission? These are things you can actually do.)
1. Okay, this one you’ve definitely heard. Don’t litter. I don’t care if you’re in the middle of Asia, but anything can get to the ocean. It’ll take way too much time for me to name all the times that I’ve seen a plastic bag or piece of tarp just floating through the air.
2. Use reusable plastic. Ask your parents to switch to fabric bags. You’ll be surprised at what a simple switch can do.
3. Be creative about saving the earth! Pause and take a look around. Stare (and by stare, I mean STARE) at every single square inch of the room you’re currently in. Let your mind wander.
Katherine Duan