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Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

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Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#31

Post by Wohlf »

sandworm101 wrote: post #14
travisoneill1 wrote: post #4

So if the population collapses, the fishermen will go out of business until the population recovers? Or is it not as simple as that?

After a true collapse, the local stocks may never recover. The removal of one species may impact the ecosystem so strongly that that species is not able to return. Or the lack of numbers may make breeding so difficult/slow that it could take decades/centuries to return to a "normal".

I'm sure there's also food chain considerations with massive knock on effects for the entire ecosystem.

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#32

Post by BucketsMcG »

beached_whale wrote: post #20

We should be fixing farmed fish. When was the last time people ate wild cow. It's not sustainable for a population to be exploiting wild fish, farm properly and learn to do it quickly. As long as we eat meat, we have to do it in the least intrusive way.

Problem is the farmed fish are fed on wild fish, so it's several times less efficient than just eating whatever you would have fed them.

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#33

Post by jeffbee »

dragontamer wrote: post #13
tartuffe78 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean the population would presumably dip low enough to where fishing becomes too difficult to be profitable before total extinction.

I'm sure hunters of the Passenger pigeon thought the same too. Many fish and bird species have shear reprodutive ability as their only defense. In the case of Passenger Pigeons, they had very little defenses against predators, but migrated in huge flocks of hundreds of thousands at a time. No predator could really harm the flock as a whole. Well, until Humans became too good at hunting anyway. (Also, USA used to be c…

I recently read this book which suggests that the abundance of passenger pigeons in America was itself a result of human interference with the ecosystem. The general point of the book is that current people have no idea what a natural landscape looked like, and the places we think of as natural or pristine were themselves already severely degraded by prehistoric people.

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Once_and_Future_Wor...

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#34

Post by jeffbee »

kjs3 wrote: post #30
jeffbee wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or the ecosystem arrives at a different, stable operating point.

Which may be very much less desirable from an ecological or economic point of view.

Indeed, it could consist of 99% slime. We don't have a way to model the outcomes.

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#35

Post by Isamu »

wonderwonder wrote: post #19

With the way the human population is expanding and the rising income of 3rd world nations we are really going to look at a major increase in both genetically engineering food stock to be larger and more nutritious as well as ramping up lab grown meat. Conservation is clearly not going to work as so many nations ignore it anyway and quite often regulations lack teeth due to the fear of killing an industry. Its difficu…

>A science fiction style solution is going to be the only way to feed the world.

I get what you are saying, I just want to clarify: we can feed everybody now, but mostly with vegetables. But yes, shared resources like ocean fish are under too much pressure right now. I feel as though it will take a major worldwide collapse of the fishing industry before there is better enforcement and treaties.

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#36

Post by neckardt »

wonderwonder wrote: post #19

With the way the human population is expanding and the rising income of 3rd world nations we are really going to look at a major increase in both genetically engineering food stock to be larger and more nutritious as well as ramping up lab grown meat. Conservation is clearly not going to work as so many nations ignore it anyway and quite often regulations lack teeth due to the fear of killing an industry. Its difficu…

> Society just wont change to support it.

Maybe this is just me, but I would happily change my diet to be around 50% Soylent or other meal replacement if the cost was cheaper. Currently I eat around 2400 calories a day, with Soylent that costs me $20 a day. I can get Chipotle for ~$15 per day, and between the two Chipotle clearly wins on taste.

From what I can tell meal replacements are often far more environmentally friendly, there might be an environmental win here if the price drops.

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#37

Post by yboris »

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #21
travisoneill1 wrote: post #4

So if the population collapses, the fishermen will go out of business until the population recovers? Or is it not as simple as that?

A good overview of over-fishing and why it's urgent to halt it: https://vimeo.com/43888692

A stellar video! Thank you for the share.

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#38

Post by golergka »

wonderwonder wrote: post #19

With the way the human population is expanding and the rising income of 3rd world nations we are really going to look at a major increase in both genetically engineering food stock to be larger and more nutritious as well as ramping up lab grown meat. Conservation is clearly not going to work as so many nations ignore it anyway and quite often regulations lack teeth due to the fear of killing an industry. Its difficu…

Why science fiction and not plain old fish farming?

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#39

Post by dummydata »

> Of the populations analyzed, 82 per cent were found to be below levels that can produce maximum sustainable yields, due to being caught at rates exceeding what can be regrown. Of these, 87 populations were found to be in the “very bad” category, with biomass levels at less than 20 per cent of what is needed to maximize sustainable fishery catches.

It seems to me that we don't have a clear concept of sustainable commercial fishing looks like (with regards to wild capture). Thankfully, it seems Aquaculture is on the rise to offset increasing demand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishing_industry

Re: Popular seafood species in sharp decline around the world

#40

Post by bosie »

beached_whale wrote: post #20

We should be fixing farmed fish. When was the last time people ate wild cow. It's not sustainable for a population to be exploiting wild fish, farm properly and learn to do it quickly. As long as we eat meat, we have to do it in the least intrusive way.

Can you cite a single type of fish that is currently farmed properly (i.e. sustainably)?
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