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What will happen to the planet, oceans, and people if we do not act? While nothing is certain (except possibly death and taxes), their there is overwhelming scientific evidence to suggest severe consequences of inaction: we're the world is facing potential extinction of fish stocks and the subsequent collapse the entire ecosystems (Worm et al., 2006); widespread human costs due to job loss, cultural decline, and nutritional deficiencies, the latter of which will most dramatically impact the poorer developing nations (Ahmed et al., 2003); and climactic changes so extreme that the entire globe will feel the effects.
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Evidence from global fisheries data and a plethora of experiments point to the the catastrophic impact of biodiversity loss in human-dominated marine ecosystems. As populations shrink and species die off, the ocean's food chains, water quality, and recovery potential are adversely affected. This adds to the stability instability of the ecosystems, which are already under strain from climate change and pollution, but the information available also suggests that we can still reverse these trends (Worm et al., 2006). With estimates placing the collapse of fisheries and all seafood species by the year 2050 (ScienCentral, 2006), we have little time to take action and save the oceans and global fisheries from unprecedented crises.
Figure MEC-1. From the Environmental Investigation Agency. Hunting down the food chain causes severe repercussions in ecosystems. Pilot whale hunt, Faeroe Island.
Human Impact
Job Loss
This concept is simple: if fisheries continue to overfish, consequently resulting in species or ecosystem collapse, the entire industry will flounder. According to the United States Department of Labor, as of 2004, there were approximately 38,000 people working as fishermen in the United States (US Labor, 2006). Greenland and Faeroe Island produce 85 kilograms of fish per capita per year - second only to Iceland, at 90 kilograms, and the Maldives, where production tops out at 190 kilograms of fish and shellfish per capita per year, placing an extraordinary amount dependence on the productivity of our oceans (NMFS, 2006). The outlook is bleak for nations and individuals dependent on the oceans: for each fisherman out of work, there is a family with an unemployed provider, an out-of-work factory employee, a bankrupted boat company, a boarded up restaurant, and several other affected industries. Though our plan will necessarily call for an overall decrease in fishermen and new job training, we hope to relocate the fishermen to new occupations, thereby avoiding greater unemployment while still retaining a fishing industry.
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A large criticism of our solution is that it negatively impacts fishing cultures worldwide. While our solution does call for necessary decreases in whaling and fishing, the other options provide even less cultural sensitivity. Japan's culture is The culture and customs of countries like are tied to the oceans and fisheries inextricably, which has been a major concern of Mission 2011. We hope to preserve national and ethnic culture, and the best way to ensure the survival of these vibrant fishing cultures is to save their source of identity: the oceans.
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What does this mean for fisheries? Generally, as marine habitat conditions change, they will disrupt the species living in the habitat in a negative manner, since species are already adapted to the habitat in which they reside (Mathews-Amos & Berntson, 1999).
Specifically, projected climate changes will affect the following aspects of ocean environments:
1. Decrease/change in paths of ocean currents -: ocean currents depend on specific thermo-haline circulation patterns. Changes in temperature threaten these patterns, both directly and by decreasing salinity due to polar ice cap melting . (Harley, 2006). Most marine fishery ecosystems depend on the conditions these currents provide.
Current ocean circulation patterns. "Line W" refers to a "critical junction" between ocean waters that is being monitored for climate change by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Mike Carlowicz, 2007).
2. Sea level rises - : thermal expansion of water (90% of effects) and melting of glacial ice will destroy very depth-dependent ecosystems, such as coral reefs, as well as displace people in coastal cities across the planet.
3. Water composition - : Warming seawater can hold less dissolved CO2 and O¬¬¬2, O2 and will have is less salinity salty due to the melting ice poplar caps. Increased CO2 levels threaten species by decreasing pH, while increased O¬2 O2 and decreased salt directly threaten species dependent on specific compositions (Harley, 2006). Also, as the oceans warm they no longer act as a sink for carbon emissions, thereby increasing the rate of warming.
Projected changes in ocean acidification by the year 2099 ("Antarctica does Acid - global warming, ocean acidification, and the Southern Ocean," 2006).
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Worm, B., Barbier, E.B., Beaumont, N., Duffy, J.E., Folke, C., Halpern, B.S., Jackson, J.B.C., Lotze, H.K., Micheli, F., Palumbi, S.R., Sala, E., Selkoe, K.A., Stachowicz, J.J., Watson, R. (3 November 2006). Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services. Science Magazine, 314, 787-790. Retrieved 19 October 2007, from http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/314/5800/787
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