Sam Franks

English Final

Professor Brown

May 2, 2016

The End of the Line: Where have all the fish gone?

“How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when it is quite clearly Ocean”

           

-Arthur C. Clarke

One problem presently occurring across the globe at an alarming rate that  would be a great subject to protest is the issue of ocean overfishing. Overfishing is the exploitation of fish stocks at such a high ratio that the fish population can no longer sustain itself-which can lead to entire marine ecosystems collapsing. National Geographic sites that overfishing is distressing the delicate balance of the sea’s biologic system.A study of catch data on the National Geographic website published in 2006 in the journal Science grimly predicted that if fishing rates continue apace, all the world's fisheries will have collapsed by the year 2048 (National Geographic). Although no large-scale protests on this issue have yet to be created or organized, I believe that through a nation-wide act of a “fish strike,” citizens who want to take a stand against the devastating practice of overfishing can get the attention of the U.S. government to enact legislation to protect the fish populations. Large, profit-seeking commercial fleets need to stop their destructive tactics of collecting fish. This issue is widespread all over the world, but the United States is one of the largest consumers of the fishing industry, so I want to focus on the United States of America and the citizens within ournation who are consumers of fish. 

            While some might think of overfishing as a “modern concern,” it is actually not a new problem at all; in fact, humans have been taking more marine life from the oceans than are ecologically sustainable for hundreds of years (National Geographic). Around the(beginning, end middle, what?) 20^th century, efforts to increase the availability of protein-rich foods, like fish, led to the U.S. government launching a sizeable effort to increase fishing capacity. Soon after, large profit-seeking commercial fleets were born. They aggressively started to comb the world’s oceans in an attempt to extract large amounts of fish at a fast pace, so that the companies could keep up with the growing demand for “wide selections of fish species at affordable prices” (McDermott 1).  During the year of 1989, scientists and environmentalists started to realize the world had a problem. 90 million tons of catch were taken from the world’s oceans, and once prominent populations of fish, such as the Bluefin Tuna and Chilean Sea Bass, collapsed. The Census of Marine Life, during a decade-long international survey of ocean life in 2010, estimated that 90% of the big fish had disappeared from the world's oceans, victims primarily of excessive fishing (Levitt 1). 

            Overfishing our oceans is very problematic because depleting our oceans of it’s fish will not only lead to the collapse of entire fish populations, but also the collapse on the entire ocean’s ecological system.  Marine Science Today cites that “every single aquatic plant and animal has a role to play when it comes to balancing the ecology. In order to thrive, marine creatures require a certain kind of environment and nutrients, for which they may be dependent on other organisms” (Jetson 1).

Additionally, overfishing can wreak havoc on the marine ecology by completely disrupt the food chain. One example from Marine Science is in how herring is a vital prey species for cod. When herring are overfished, the cod population also suffers. If the food chain breaks at any level, it will have a domino effect on all living organisms in the chain (Jetson 1).

            The other dilemma with overfishing that leads to both the collapse of fish populations and other marine life and ecosystems that support them is the method of capturing fish called “trawling,” . Trawling is catching fish through a huge 60 meters-wide net that is dragged through the water, “which traps every creature that comes in it’s way” (Jetson 2). The size of the net’s mesh is exceedingly small, so young fish are captured in the net before they have the chance to pro-create. But besides fish, this net picks up coral, turtles, dolphins, manta rays, and other unwanted fish. The unwanted captured marine creatures are often not thrown back ito the ocean but are instead left to die on the deck of ships. Trawling is also causing irreversibly damage to coral reefs . d. Conservation Letters: A journal of the Society for Conservation Biology in 2010 pointed out that between the years of 2004-2008 upwards of one million sea turtles were estimated to have been killed as by catch in trawling nets (Wallace 131). Marine scientists have repeatedly tried to get the United States to agree to an international ban on trawling and a limit on fishing numbers, but our government has repeatedly failed to listen or comply. Fish species are on the verge of going extinct, and other marine life and coral reefs are in grave danger of forever disappearing from our oceans. What governments, fishing companies, and consumers don’t realize is that if we don’t reduce our catch of fish, we will no longer have any fish to catch and eat. Many scientists say most fish populations could be restored with aggressive fisheries management, better enforcement of laws governing catches, and additional laws protecting fish on the brink of endangerment or extinction (National Geographic). Yet, unsustainable harvesting still plagues the industry, which is why we must protest commercial fleets overfishing the worlds fisheries, and refuse to eat the fish they import into America.

            Looking back on successful protests in our nation’s history, I was very intrigued by the “Montgomery Bus Boycott” of the 1950’s. African Americans, whose demands for equal public transportation integration were not being met, decided to join together and non-violently boycott the bus system (History.com). The protest worked because African Americans represented at least 75% of Montgomery’s bus ridership. Alabama, due to great losses of public transportation revenue, was forced to adopt equal rights protection laws. By taking the Montgomery Bus Boycott as an example, and giving it a more “modern twist”, I can apply the same ideas and concepts to my own concept to protest of overfishing. To join United States citizens together, I would use a digitally mediated protest, which is a protest that uses social media to create a collective identity. Through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, I would create my own trademark hashtag, #boycottfish. This hashtag would be used by anyone who wants to raise awareness through social media platforms on the issue of overfishing. This is also the hashtag that would be used to help spread the word about stopping the consumption of all fish products until the U.S. government agreed to ban the use of trawling nets, and put strict sanctions and regulations on commercial fleets. When the Montgomery Bus Boycott was occurring, townsfolk didn’t have access to the internet, so spreading the word and raising awareness was much more difficult. With a trademark hashtag, it will be much easier to spread the word on the consequences of overfishing. This protest largely uses the rhetoric strategy of logos, as I am attempting to spread the message that if we continue to overfish our seas, soon there will be no fish left for anyone. For future generations to have fish as a food source we need healthy oceans and a healthy fishing industry. Greenpeace reports that due to the fishing industries’ consumption rates, we have lost 80% of salmon and 95% of southern Bluefin and pacific Bluefin tuna (Greenpeace.org). Overfishing has tapped too far into the ocean’s vital resources, and we must do something to stop this problem before the world is faced with an unsustainable ecosystem or empty seas.

Using social media can also be considered a “pro movement,” as I am attempting to get the general public to accept a new idea that fishing our oceans to the point of depletion is a very serious matter. If I had never decided to become involved with animal rights, I would probably never even know that overfishing was even a problem over all the Earth. I honestly feel that most people are unaware of how substantial the negative effects of overfishing are both ecologically and environmentally. By getting the facts of this situation out to the general population through social media, I can help to bring the horrific and shocking effects to citizens on just how fast we are destroying our ocean and its resources.  After #boycottfish goes viral, the date would be set for when American citizens would stop buying fish all over the country. Like the Montgomery Boycott, Americans make up a large percentage of fish consumers.

 National Marine Fisheries Service estimated that in 2013, Americans consumed 4.8 billion pounds of seafood, or approximately 15.8 pounds of fish per person (NOAA Fisheries). You can only imagine what that would do to the fishing industry if all of a sudden almost 5 billion pounds of seafood stopped being consumed. While this protest may affect seafood restaurants and grocery stores who stock fresh seafood, it will most likely get the U.S. government to intervene sooner. If restaurants and grocery stores start to lose revenue and threaten to close down and go out of business, our government will become fearful of another economic recession, and they will appease food chains and protestors by creating bans on trawling and protocols on maintaining fisheries.

This protest will by no means be easy. If a large-scale participation effort of a “fish strike” can be achieved throughout the U.S., then this protest has a chance of seeing positive legislative change. Many fish and marine species are on the brink of going extinct, and we need laws and policies to go into effect immediately if we want to save our marine systems. Solving this problem will not be easy, but by standing together and raising awareness through boycotting the fishing industry and its products, we can hopefully come closer to restoring the ocean’s ecological balance. By cutting back on our harvesting of the worlds fish, we will be able to start a collective effort on replenishing our waters with fish again. We can repair the damage that has been done, but only if we stand together in unity and with strength in numbers demand social change. Although this protest is only in it’s inception stage, it has much potential to bring a transformation in the way that we currently fish. The facts don’t lie-if nothing is done we will be faced with empty oceans and future generations wondering: where have all the fish gone?

*Tiara B. was SUPER helpful to me for these last two papers! I owe her big time-she really helped me with organizing my thoughts and ideas, and also on coming up with a really good artifact and how to outline my artifact analysis. Thank you Tiara!

Explanation: I wrote the conclusion I did because I wanted to quickly go over the main points on why we need to protest overfishing (extinct species/ecosystems), and also that to protect fish for future generations we new need laws and policies. I wanted to emphasize standing together and joining together because I think that really creates a united identity. I feel like people are more willing to protest when there are many other people protesting or standing up to the same issue, so I think its important to mention that we can change overfishing, but only if we stand together. I also just quickly touched on logos because that was the rhetorical strategy I used in this paper.

Main Character Paragraph: Although no large-scale protests on this issue have ever been created or organized, I believe that through a nation-wide act of a “fish strike,” citizens who want to take a stand against the devastating practice of overfishing (This highlighted in yellow is the purpose of my paragraph, which is to talk about how creating a “fish strike” Is a way for citizens to stand up against overfishing) can get the attention of the U.S. government to enact legislation to protect the fish populations and large, profit-seeking commercial fleets to stop their destructive tactics of collecting fish. I understand that this issue is widespread all over the world, but America is one of the largest devourers in the fishing industry so I want to focus on just the United States of America and the citizens within that nation who are consumers of fish.  (The main characters of my protest are the U.S., citizens, the United States government, and commercial fishing fleets)

Works Cited

“Basic Questions about Aquaculture." National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration. Office of Aquaculture, Jan. 2014.

Jetson, Krysten. "Impact of Overfishing On Human Lives." Marine Science Today.

Levitt, Tom. "Overfished and Under-protected: Oceans on the Brink of Catastrophic

Collapse." CNN.

"Montgomery Bus Boycott." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan. 2010.

"Overfishing -- Pristine Seas -- National Geographic." National Geographic. 2012.

Wallace, Bryan. "Global Patterns of Marine Turtle Bycatch." Conservation Letters: A

Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology issue 3 volume 3 pg. 131, 2010.