by Andy Rew

Created on: November 21, 2008

Global Overfishing: Problem, or Propaganda?

There are countless issues facing the inhabitants of our Earth today, and a great number of these concerns stem from the area of environmental resources and their repercussions when resources are lacking.
While crude oil and natural gas reserves are an integral part of human society, they are clearly not essential for basic human life; nay, only two sources of metabolic sustenance are required for humans to "live off the land"food, and water. In these economically pressing times, the killing-off of certain foodstuffs has been overlooked in place of the "drying up" of the world's fresh water supply. There is no argument from this end that water is not an essential for life and is becoming increasingly scarce; however, the importance of a reliable source of food is more important throughout the various peoples inhabiting the planetas expressed by the ever-present and increasing problem of hunger in those below the so-called "poverty line." Throughout time, human beings and countless other creatures alike have relied upon the piscine organisms of both freshwater and marine environments for life-giving energy and an important way of life. While fishing for food as a necessity has always been an integral part of human culture, throughout recent decades new technologies and methods have been developed which have made the "culture" of fishing into a big-business industry concentratedfor most of the "big business aspect, that ison simple production and not the environmental ramifications of its actions. In this way, because of increased demand due to human population increase as proportionate to fish population decrease and more "efficient" ways to harvest fish, the environment now faces a challenge to its living progress; that is, the problem of world-wide overfishing.

Throughout the familiar past, fish populations in both marine and freshwater environments have been reduced dramatically; though many cite global climate change and pollution as the main cause of this decline, overfishing is the cause which contributes the most
to the increasing scarcity of fish and other marine life in the world's oceans, lakes, and rivers.

The environmental situation which has perhaps most pervaded the western human psyche is the issue and theory of global climate change and the raise in temperatures "across the board." This phenomenon, whether valid or not, has become a crucial part of intra-national policy and a point of major concern throughout

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