Cnews (Canada): Dolphins, sharks and other large marine species around the world are going hungry as they seek out dwindling supplies of the small, overlooked species they feed on, according to a new study that says overfishing is draining their food sources. In a report released Monday, scientists with the international conservation group Oceana said they found several species were emaciated, reproducing slowly and declining in numbers in part because their food sources are being fished out."This is the first time that we're seeing a worldwide trend that more and more large animals are going hungry," Margot Stiles, a marine biologist at Oceana and the author of the report, said from Washington, D.C. "It's definitely starting to be a pattern."
The researchers looked at the health of prey species stocks, like herring, pollock, mackerel, squid and anchoveta, to determine what effect overfishing is having on the larger predators that feed on them. Using data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, they found that the majority are over exploited by the fishery. Only 20 per cent of the prey species being fished can sustain the larger predators.
In Canada, scientists said Atlantic cod in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are becoming skinny because they are having more trouble finding reliable sources of small prey like capelin. In Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, striped bass are turning up emaciated because of shrinking supplies of herring and anchovies….
Atlantic horse mackerel, from Nordisk familjebok (1919), vol.28, p.282
1 comment:
To me fishing seems like a very unwise idea. Why can't we just farm our own fish instead of relying on the nature to provide us with tons of fish every day. Fishing needs to be limited to a number that will only stabilize the number of each species preventing a huge outbreak of one species over another. Other than that we need to build our own fish farms. That would solve many problems with some of the fish going extinct.
Take care, Elli
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