IN THE fish market of Puerto Princesa, Palawan two years ago, a dorado fish – one of many they say – had a belly full of plastic wastes such as bottle caps, candy wrappers and a yellow plastic spoon.
This shocked customers in the fish market. Other fish vendors said they frequently find similar plastic trash in the fish.
Besides pollution, there are big losses to small-scale fishers in coastal communities in recent years due to the proliferation of commercial fishing fleets and factory ships of other nations. Not only is China grabbing the fishing grounds of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations but huge fishing fleets run by corporations dominate the ocean. They are destroying the oceans by irresponsible “bottom trawling” and many fish species are needlessly killed.
The ships drag huge nets along the ocean floor destroying everything in their paths, destroying corals and ecosystems and habitats of fish. The commercial fishing industry kills between 0.97 and 1.97 trillion wild fish worldwide every year. This is called “by-catch” and “accidental take.”
For example, every hour 30,000 sharks are killed. That is 50 to 70 million sharks every year, hauled on board, fins cut off and they are thrown back to die, all to delight diners with shark fin soup. This is barbaric attack against nature and unsustainable.
The shark is a magnificent creature, evolved after millions of years of evolution into the perfect ocean hunter and essential to maintaining balance in the ocean’s wildlife. This mass killing has caused a 70 percent decline in shark populations globally over the past 50 years, making them an endangered species.
Having watched the well-made and convincing documentary on the state of our oceans by researcher Ali Tabrizi called Seaspiracy shown on Netflix and excerpts on YouTube, we can see how the oceans are under threat. It has caused many people to question the methods of the commercial fishing industry that result into over-fishing the oceans.
What is revealed is so shocking. It is enough to cause people to stop eating fish and turning to organic plant-based food, this writer among them.
We need to stop eating so much meat and fish to save the planet and the oceans. The oceans are vital to life on earth as they make up 71 percent of the planet’s surface. They are the greatest absorbers of CO2.
Phytoplanktons are the micro-organisms, the microscopic plants, that make up the basic food of the ocean’s food chain and they are rapidly diminishing. Forty percent has been lost since the 1950s, studies show. This is due to the warming of the oceans due to climate change and global warming.
These micro-organisms are responsible for absorbing CO2 and giving off oxygen for us and the animals to breath. They are more effective than all the trees on the planet and now they are threatened by human activity.
We, humans, refuse to save ourselves and stop burning coal, oil and everything that burns. We are the world’s most dangerous arsonists. (To be continued)/PN
