ACADEMIC SHOWCASE Third Form Persuasive Speech Overfishing: Our Oceans’ Biggest Danger by Felicity Hill (Third Form, Gascoigne) So, what is overfishing, and why are we not talking about it? Overfishing is the removal of marine life from a body of water at a rate that cannot be replenished. You might have heard of it, you might not have. Either way, I can assure you it is a bigger issue than you think. In a recent study, scientists predicted that by 2048 there will be virtually empty oceans and no fishable marine life left. That is twenty-seven years. Twenty-seven. But why is this the case? Plastic? Oil spills? Well, the greatest cause of this rapid deterioration is fishing. In David Attenborough’s book A Life on Our Planet, he states that 90 percent of the fish population are either overfished or fished to capacity. This is not acceptable. You may have a hard time believing this, but it is true. To put it in perspective, 2.7 trillion fish are caught a year: that is 5 million every minute. We must not sit back and let governments and fisheries get away with this. We are running out of time to put a stop to this, to make change, because in only a matter of time, it will be too late to go back. The damage will be done.
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In addition, another massive issue for the fishing industry is bycatch. Bycatch is the process of marine species being caught unintentionally while trying to catch another type of fish. Unfortunately, this is one of the
biggest issues marine animals face. On average, 650,000 marine mammals are caught per year due to bycatch and a horrific 7.3 million tonnes of marine life. This is disgusting. These animals do not even die for a cause, their deaths are just the consequence of bad fishing methods. Why do we do it then? And what about the dolphin safety labels you see on tins of tuna and other supermarket fish? StarKist officials, according to court documents, say ‘it is unrealistic for consumers to expect that the label means zero harm or injury to dolphins or other wildlife because bycatch is an unescapable part of any fishery.’ Anywhere from one to twelve dolphins (on average) can be killed for just one can of tuna. Just one. So, your answer: the market is overconsumed, fisheries are desperate for any kind of catch, no matter the consequence. But the way we fish does not just increase the issue of overfishing, but also many other marine crises. Just a few examples include the plastic crises (specifically the Pacific Garbage Patch). You all know about the dramatic issues plastic can cause to our environment, but did you know that 46 percent of the Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of plastic fishing nets? On top of that, bottom trawling has a huge impact on our coral reefs - reefs we desperately need. Bottom trawling is a specific type of fishing that scrapes fishing nets along the seabed. This method of fishing is extremely damaging. Data has shown that bottom trawlers wipe out 3.9 billion acres a year: that’s equivalent to losing 4,316 football fields per minute. Scientists predict that if we carry on at
this rate of unethical fishing, by 2050, 90 percent of our coral reefs will be dead. Dead. Coral reefs are home to millions of marine animals and are also extremely helpful to us. Over half a billion people depend on coral reefs for food, income and protection. In addition, coral reefs provide massive protection against tsunamis, storms and overall erosion. This issue does not just affect marine animals. It affects everyone. You. Your friends. Your family. Everyone. The ocean takes up 71 percent of the earth’s surface; this means it holds incredible power. Power that is crucial to our survival. An investigation into the ocean’s CO2 levels revealed that 93 percent of our planet’s CO2 is stored in the ocean. This means that losing just one of the ocean’s carbon stores - just one - would be equivalent to releasing the emissions of 97 million cars. Losing just a fraction of the carbon would cause mass devastation not just for the environment, but for us as well. Changes need to happen. We need to increase Marine Protected Areas now. Today. Unfortunately, only five percent of the ocean is part of a Marine Protected Area and, on top of that, many MPAs still allow fishing. Stricter laws need to be enforced by every government all over the world. We need to be the ones who demand the change because our governments have let us down. If you are not going to do it for the marine animals, then do it for us. Our planet. Our survival. Because the environment, especially the ocean, is our lifeline.
