Fisheries and you
Although I had been researching for a week the impact of fisheries in the world’s oceans, I still had to spend most of my Sunday perfecting the two-page report we have to present tomorrow. Which is good since it helped me to shape the report and gave me time to hear interviews to specialists in the field. Some of the information I gathered:
– Small, family-owned fisheries account for 50+ % of the fishing of the world and employ 99% of the fishermen (Monterey Bay Aquarium report)
– Since the nice-looking fish are almost depleted, commercial fisheries are capturing uglier fish, selling them with a different name. E.g. The new Chilean sea bass was the Patagonian tooth fish , the new Anglerfish was the monkfish (interview to Professor Daniel Pauly).
– Fish consumption worldwide is growing year by year, and as the purchasing power of developing countries increases, they will want more fish:
World capture and aquaculture production. Source: FAO
As a consequence, the world is losing USD 50 billion per year because of overfishing, almost 30% of the fisheries have collapsed and, according to FAO, the next target of illegal fisheries is the Antarctic krill. Not a very wise move.
But not everything is gloomy in the horizon. There is still hope according to these scientists, thanks to responsible fisheries and decision-makers in governments (a clear example of this is the Peruvian fishing industry).
Now, the million dollar question is, how can Space Technologies help?
This is going to be a really interesting Team Project.