FISHING AND ITS IMPACTS

"Ecological extinction caused by overfishing precedes all other pervasive human disturbance to coastal ecosystems, including pollution, degradation of water quality, and anthropogenic climate change."- Jackson at al. 2001 (1)

Many fishing practices are extremely destructive on marine ecosystems. "As a result of overfishing, 53% or the world's fisheries are fully exploited, and 32% are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion (2)". The fisheries proficiency, and demand for fishery products, has caused a series of collapses throughout the past few decades. Fishing and the related removal of living marine resources at any level affects the targeted species and their associated habitats, species assemblages, community, and ecosystem to some extent. Thus, as we can see, the world's oceans are in great trouble and is in dyer need of protection.

Marine conservation deals mainly with the concerns that are associated with fishing activities. These fishing activities, whether it be directed or accidental, cause increased mortality of specific or nonspecific species, along with the degradation and alteration of surrounding habitats- such vital fish breeding grounds like coral reefs and seagrass meadows (1). Also, the consumption at one trophic level due to fishing, results in a series of changes in species abundances and species compositions at other trophic levels, causing the ecosystem to become degraded (3).

This figure shows the declining abundance of Newfoundland and Labrador cod stock. (COSEWIC Status report (2003)). Retrieved from: http://www.mun.ca/serg/issues.html​ (4)​

This picture demonstrated the drastic effects bottom trawling can have on deep sea cold water corals off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Retrieved from: Edinger lecture (3)