Over fishing along the East Coast and what Google is doing to combat it.

All around the world, fisheries are seeing their stocks of fish harvested at an alarmingly faster rate than these species can reproduce. This has caused overfishing to become the global crisis that it is today. Millions upon millions of people rely on fish for food as well as income, so, if this crisis is to continue, we could see copious additional problems arise. Thankfully this issue has come to the attention of the world’s population and as such, big business has taken notice too. Google has partnered with SkyTruth and Oceana to create a product called Global Fishing Watch. This is a system that uses GPS to track fishing vessels, identifying them based off of certain attributes like speed and direction, and tracking them on a global scale. This is an initiative to allow anyone to painlessly see how and why some fisheries are being devastated by overfishing. This article, written in November of 2014, states that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will be closing off cod fishing in most of the US’s northeastern waters, even though cod catch quotas have been significantly reduced over the past few years. This comes after statements that cod populations are at about 4% of what is understood to be sustainable levels. The fact that overfishing is being opposed is great news for many activist groups and, frankly, the world. There are, however, many people negatively affected these laws. Many fisherman are becoming frustrated with the laws being placed on them by groups who do not fully understand the multitude of factors, not just overfishing, that is causing fish populations to decline. In effect, these fisherman’s livelihoods are being jeopardized by laws that may be targeting the wrong symptom. This article coincides well with our course. It explains that overfishing is directly related to the decline of fish populations around the globe. However, it also states there are other factors that could be contributing to the issue. These possible factors are not mentioned but can be many different environmental issues such as: ocean pollution, ocean acidification and climate change, as well as many others. The article also describes what some groups and government entities are doing to combat the overfishing crisis. Lastly, I believe large companies, like Google, who are fixtures in the eye of the public, should stand front and center to stem global issues like this one, but ranging anywhere from environmental and ecological problems to humanitarian crises.

http://globalfishingwatch.org/

Works Cited:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062787/Chinese-fishermen-caught-South-Korean-waters-try-escaping-armed-coastguards--tying-boats-rope.html

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.siena.edu:2048/docview/1625030638