Very sad if it is... www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/

DJ

A bit over the top IMO...I went fishing for a week once & caught heaps - went again years later & caught very little...went again & caught heaps again!

I agree that the techniques used on many trawlers is appalling & should be changed, but who is going to police it? Bag limits and Quotas are in place, but seem to simply make it easier to keep the best fish & dump the by-catch.

(I'm going to get flamed for this one) - Population increases of GW sharks & especially seals & other predators due to protection laws mean that additional to the over fishing (that is mainly done by our neighbours), there's also an element of 'natural' overfishing by the predators that are protected.

100 years ago sharks, seals, whales were killed for their meat/skins/oils, less predators encouraged smaller baitfish to thrive and larger fish to breed and source the food, whilst the fishing trawlers did only small journeys (in their small boats) in order to bring back fresh fish .

50 years ago, the human population still ate fresh fish, not frozen fish caught from the other side of the country. If you lived in the centre of Aus or any mainland, ocean fish was an extreme delicacy...now it's on every menu.

30 years ago we began to rape/pillage the oceans - we exported fish but not to the extent that we do today. Fish-finding technology was still mainly in the head of the fisherman who's family had fished the same water for decades.

10 years ago...although technology caught up, local fishing laws limited what the local fishermen could catch...GREAT! (Except that law didn't extend to international fishers, and even if it did - they know that they can avoid penalty easily)...and here we are, upset that our oceans are depleted from fish yet the laws have never been more strict.

(Local) Commercial Fishermen are a dying breed and will soon be pushed out of the industry completely - to open the floodgates to supertrawlers from all over the world that have an aim to maximise catches and prices. Sadly, the only fish we'll be able to eat will be the fish we catch ourselves with a rod/reel, although with tightening up of sizes and bag-limits we'll struggle to be allowed to catch enough fish to feed our families. Marine Parks and protected waters close to the shore will become more prolific, making it difficult to catch a fish, and licenses will make it a non-viable option.

We'll be left with buying only fish that is supplied to our supermarkets in Aus, (Hake or other scum-eating species probably caught in the Ganges & sold as whiting) whilst our fresh stock of fish from our oceans feed the masses...Shark attacks will increase as the population of sharks won't balance with the food source - our coastline will stink from the excessive seal colonies that will clean up what's left of the fish close to shore.

Now that's how you paint a picture of a depressing outlook for the future of our oceans.

DavidJohn said..

Very sad if it is... www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/

DJ

The sad part is people still want to put their heads into the sand over the issue

How come the ocean and beaches around Australia seem to be basically the same as what they where 10, 20 or 30 years ago? Basically in my lifetime I have not seen much differences. A big difference though is 30 years ago I never ever saw a whale off the beach. However they are quite a common sight now. Back when I was a kid I probably saw more coconuts washing up on the beach than I do today but I went to the beach when I was a kid than I do now.

^^^You have a good memory and must be doing well for a 120+yo!

400kms isn't really far inland but you're right, there was seafood transported over 100yrs ago but not to the same level it is now. My parents have often commented on how good the "fresh" seafood smorgasbord is at the Wentworth Club - about 600kms inland/north of the nearest ocean. That's the problem - instead of eating seasonal and local food, we want what we want... now! Mangoes, strawberries and oranges in winter, Barramundi in southern states, fresh 'oysters natural' in Alice Springs etc.

Sailhack said..

^^^You have a good memory and must be doing well for a 120+yo!

400kms isn't really far inland but you're right, there was seafood transported over 100yrs ago but not to the same level it is now. My parents have often commented on how good the "fresh" seafood smorgasbord is at the Wentworth Club - about 600kms inland/north of the nearest ocean. That's the problem - instead of eating seasonal and local food, we want what we want... now! Mangoes, strawberries and oranges in winter, Barramundi in southern states, fresh 'oysters natural' in Alice Springs etc.

jsut a good memory for interesting advertisements in old newspapers whilst researching other stuff