A new study published in the journal Science, finds that unless we reverse a long-term trend, our planets oceans will be largely fished out in my lifetime. Preserving marine biodiversity is the key, and the study calls for improved fisheries management and establishment of marine reserves.
The marine reserve concept should be familiar to all of our Ocean Defenders, since it is the overall goal of the Defending Our Oceans global expedition. We've got a long way to go though. Only a very tiny percentage of the world's oceans are currently protected.
But what we could get THIS MONTH is a moratorium on unregulated high seas bottom trawling. This would buy scientists and regulators enough time to protect vital deep-sea ecosystems.
Here's what Boris Worm, the study's lead scientist, had to say to the BBC about bottom trawling:
"But you also have to have good management of marine parks and good management of fisheries. Clearly, fishing should not wreck the ecosystem, bottom trawling being a good example of something which does wreck the ecosystem."
... snip ...
"I'm just amazed, it's very irrational," he said.
"You have scientific consensus and nothing moves. It's a sad example; and what happened in Canada should be such a warning, because now it's collapsed it's not coming back."
Click here to tell the Canadian government to stop dragging its feet on bottom trawling.
Nobody is going to solve this problem unless we insist that they solve this problem.
**Note from Adele: Picture shows co-author of the report Dr Boris Worm dressing up as a tubeworm on Halloween to emphasise his support for a moratorium on bottom trawling**