Fisheries Depletion: Bigger than just fishes

Sunday, February 1st, 2009
by fwanchang

My father, as a teenager, was one of the first people in Korea who were qualified to teach recreational scuba diving. “My life before marriage was all about scuba diving”, he told me, and that passion I have inherited from him. Because of my father’s exceptional interest in underwater life, I grew up to be a swimmer, scuba diver, and a person who cared a lot for marine ecology. In fact, although I admit that my father’s influence and persuasion existed, I once thought to become a marine biologist and tried to “prepare” myself by reading books, watching documentary films about underwater world. Due to this interest of mine, I can proudly say that I do have more knowledge in marine ecosystem than most of my peers and I know that the recent happening depletion of fisheries can be a more serious disaster than most people think.

Like any other ecosystem, underwater ecology is a world which is very complicated and co-dependent system. What if the fisheries are completely depleted? Micro-organisms that are food to all the fishes will grow and the common phenomenon known as “red tide” occurs. Not to mention the larger predators who feed on fishes as well, sharks, for one, cannot survive without abundant supply of fishes. Up to this part, most people would know. But it does not end here. Due to the increase of microorganisms, water temperature will rise and cause “el nino” which provides not suitable environment for the local organisms and population of fishes and others will decrease even more. Under the surface, the current that flows along the underwater cliff will change and destroy all the coral system that are not used to the new flow of current. It is bad enough that beautiful underwater coral garden does not exist anymore and it gets even worse when broken pieces of the corals flow into shiny, golden, beaches. Fisheries and the beauty of coral and beaches, we take advantage of the marine system so much. If they are gone, the impact on our life is predictably large.

Being a person who is able to appreciate the aspects that underwater life gives us, I cannot stand that I will not be able to feel all the things that I have got from marine life anymore. It is a big problem, fisheries depletion is, but it can be stopped by a little thing – stop the overfishing now. It is a chain-reaction that fisheries depletion to become a disaster and it truly can be prevented if we put on the first button right.

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