Warmer seas, over-fishing spell disaster for oceans: scientists

The future food security of millions of people is at risk because over-fishing, climate change and pollution are inflicting massive damage on the world’s oceans, marine scientists warned this week.

The two-thirds of the planet covered by seas provide one fifth of the world’s protein — but 75 percent of fish stocks are now fully exploited or depleted, a Hanoi conference that ended Friday was told.
Warming seas are bleaching corals, feeding algal blooms and changing ocean currents that impact the weather, and rising sea levels could in future threaten coastal areas from Bangladesh to New York, experts said.

“”People think the ocean is a place apart,”” said Peter Neill, head of the World Ocean Observatory. “”In fact it’s the thing that connects us — through trade, transportation, natural systems, weather patterns and everything we depend on for survival.””

Marine ecosystems and food security were key concerns at the Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, an international meeting of hundreds of experts from governments, environmental groups and universities.

“”There is a race to fish, but in wild capture fisheries right now we can catch no more,”” said Steven Murawski, fisheries chief science advisor at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“”We catch 100 million metric tons per year, and that’s been very flat globally. Our only hope is if we conserve and rebuild stocks,”” he said, adding that sustainable aquaculture could help make up the shortfall.

The current plunder is risking long-term sustainability with “”too many fishing boats taking too many fish and not allowing the stocks to regenerate,”” said Frazer McGilvray of Conservation International.

“”Once the oceans are gone, we’re gone. The oceans sustain the planet.””

Tehran Times