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Over Fishing

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Over Fishing
International problem: Over fishing

Fishing once thought of as a leisure activity is now causing serious issues on the marine environment. Fishing, when taken to the extreme can cause species to deplete in numbers and over turn the natural food chain. Many people are involved in over fishing all over the world. The reasons they take part in the practise are also altering. However many of the fisherman are from poorer countries and they see it as, the more fish they return home with the more they will be paid. There have been many measures introduced to help prevent over fishing occurring although we could do more. Over fishing is a serious global issue which needs to be addressed before it is too late and we loose the many different species of fish we love in our oceans.

Over fishing occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an un-acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans. Over fishing is a serious issue to the ocean and its natural food chains as it can result in the depletion of a species of fish to the level of extinction. This may not seem like such a major problem. However if a type of fish species was to become extinct it would result in a domino effect. The producers, which are photosynthetic organisms like plankton, have a key role in the food chain as they the base and all of the energy for the system comes from them. These producers are then eaten by the consumers like small fish. These small fish aren’t always the fish which are hunted by humans but they do play a major part in the food chain as these are the animals which are eaten by the big fish. The bigger fish are however the type of fish we do prey upon for food. If these animals are over fished and there numbers are depleted to the crisis level, it can affect the food chain astronomically. By the number of little fish becoming out of control because they aren’t being eaten by the big fish, the little fish will then exhaust the numbers of

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