Overfishing goes back 1000 years

"We are discovering that human pressure on marine life was much earlier, much larger and much more significant than previously thought," says Poul Holm, an environmental historian at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. "We now know that there was major commercial exploitation of fisheries, doing huge damage to fish populations, back in medieval times and even before. The idea that it is only modern fishing technology that has done damage turns out to be completely wrong."
Human fishing spree goes back 1000 years

The sea has long been exploited, but not to the degree previously imagined. These are the findings being discussed at The Oceans Past II conference in Vancouver, Canada, part of the decade-long Census of Marine Life, due to be completed next year.

One particular quote I like from the NewScientist story quoted above:

…in 1153 a Moroccan geographer called al-Idris wrote that the north Atlantic Ocean contained "animals of such great size that the inhabitants of islands use the bones and vertebrae in place of wood to build houses".

Fisheries, not whales, to blame for shortage of fish

You knew that, didn't you? Japan, Norway, and Iceland are trying to tell it differently - that whales are to blame for the world's declining fish stocks. Not so.

“It is not the whales, it is over-fishing and excess fishing capacity that are responsible for diminishing supplies of fish in developing countries,” said fisheries biologist Dr. Daniel Pauly, director of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre.
“Making whales into scapegoats serves only to benefit wealthy whaling nations while harming developing nations by distracting any debate on the real causes of the declines of their fisheries.”

also

“The decline of the mean trophic levels of fisheries catch over the past 50 years is a signature of fishing down marine food webs and leaves marine mammals exonerated,” the report said.

You can read the full story here.

Help save the whales. Send this story around to everyone you know.

Help Give Our Oceans a Break

Our oceans are in trouble. How about giving our President a hint about what can be done to keep them from further decline. Of course, much more than this needs to change, but starting here is progress.

From the Care2 Petition Site:

Our oceans are on the verge of collapse. Ninety percent of the "big" fish, such as tuna, marlin and swordfish, are gone. And now, scientists estimate that the world's commercial fisheries may collapse by the year 2048.

Already, 29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed, meaning their catch has declined by 90 percent. Time is running out for our oceans - but it's not too late, if we act now. And yet, the Bush Administration continues to under-fund critical ocean conservation, research and management programs.

Tell President Bush to protect our oceans so that the next generation can also enjoy their bounty. Please urge President Bush to fully fund ocean programs and make a commitment to protect and restore our endangered ocean ecosystems.

Take action here, please!

Pigeon Cove

Just above Rockport is Pigeon Cove. Much of the granite of early New England was quarried here. Preserved now as a state park, it's a rocky, wild area at the very edge of the Atlantic whose deep quarrys are now filled with fresh water.

Town of Rockport

Rockport, MA, on little Cape Ann, is an hour northeast of Boston. It becomes a nice tourist trap in the summer, but a year round fishing town for the working folk.

It's a little early for the lobster season, otherwise all the lines you see would be hanging onto a lobster trap in the cold, deep blue. But try a fish caught from these boats just two hours prior, and you'll taste heaven.

Fishing boats move with the tide. This afternoon is very low tide.