Effects Of Overfishing

For most people, the ocean is something that has always been there. After all, Earth is covered in a lot of water. But not everything is as fine as it seems. Although it may look like everything is doing well, the truth is that the ocean, and the marine life it sustains, is actually dying. Now, this doesn’t mean that the ocean is going to disappear anytime soon, but it does mean that things will change very drastically if nothing is done about this situation. If the ocean is dying, why isn’t everyone freaking out? Well, most people are not aware that the ocean is slowly deteriorating. There are many problems that are all causing this to happen, many of which are all connected. Overfishing, pollution, climate change/global warming, marine …show more content…
Well, losing fish species would be devastating for the human population, seeing as how a lot of people depend on seafood for a source of income and for their meals. Overfishing damages not only other fish species but disrupts other marine ecosystems. Another major problem is that there is too much pollution within the ocean. One type of pollution is toxic pollution. Toxic pollutants occurs when chemicals are dumped into the environment, or when natural chemicals build up to toxic levels. Toxic pollution can cause decreases in wildlife animal population, hurt the ecosystem, and threaten human health. But there are negative effects that are hard to ignore. Toxic pollution has been linked to cases of marine animals getting cancer, lesions, genetic and developmental defects, reproductive failures, sex changes, and death. Keep in mind that these are only the effects that humans are aware of. There very well could be other consequences that we just don’t know …show more content…
If fish migrate to fisheries that cannot support their species, or drive out the fish species already living there, that can also disrupt everything around them.
Similarly, rising sea levels, an effect of the ice caps melting, which is ultimately caused by global warming, is “drowning” wetlands. The sea level is rising too fast and as a result, the wetlands are not growing fast enough to keep up. Also, this affects coral reefs as well as seagrass meadows because they are only able to photosynthesize in shallow water.
But that’s not all. Coral bleaching is caused by warmer ocean temperatures, which is a result of global warming. Mass coral bleaching can lead to other corals starving, shrinking, and dying, which negatively affects the thousands of marine life species that occupy coral reefs.
In 2014, a global coral bleaching event that started in the Pacific Ocean is slowly spreading the western Atlantic Ocean and Hawaii. This is an issue because many tourists come to Hawaii to witness the beauty of its coral reefs, and coral bleaching could potentially destroy an important source of income for this state. According to Ruth Gates, a professor at the Hawaii Institute of