What do you understand by unsustainable fishing? Examine its causes and consequences. (200 Words)
Sustainability refers to the endurance or the capacity to last. Sustainable use of natural resources is important for providing posterity with the natural wealth is our very responsibility and also enshrined in the objectives of various global sustainable goals.
Causes:
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- Massive overfishing practices- Specially by advanced countries with better fishing technologies. Japan, USA are good examples whose pacific fishing grounds have been overly-exploited.
- Poor Management practices – inadequate regulations, slack implementation of sustainable fishing and ignoring scientific principles, lack of transparency.
- Economic compulsions lead to excessive fishing by low-income countries of South East Asia who greatly rely on fish for cheap protein food sources.
- Unfair Fisheries agreements by developed nations with poor, developing nations.
- Destructive practices – Advanced Trawlers, Cyanide fishing, Dynamite fishing etc.
- Irrational subsidies to boats, fleets and presence of pirates aggravates the problem.
- Very low extent of no-go areas globally.
- Unnecessary slaughter:- There is massive by catch of other marine species and juvenile fish.
- Lack of regulations in the Marine Protected Areas (MPA).Though many fisheries are declared as MPAs, only 1.2 percent of them are regulated.
- With the flourish of Tourism, number of restaurants in the coastal regions increased. Most of them prefer unsustainable methods to meet their demands.
Consequences :
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- Leads to extinction of several aquatic species and damage natural wealth beyond repair.
- Traditional fishing communities losing ground to giants fishing firms. It deprives them of livelihood and drags them into poverty.
- Scarcity of Fish, a cheap source of protein, will affect the nutrition and consumption of low, middle classes.
- Loss of nation’s natural wealth to developed foreign countries.