?Mind-boggling stupid? prediction about the future availability of seafood
It’s the typical scenario that insults our intelligence but is craved by the popular press. A study in Science reports that “the loss of biodiversity is profoundly reducing the ocean’s ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants, and rebound from stresses such as over fishing and climate change.”
“It looks grim,” reports the news article. “Projections into the future are even grimmer.” “The results reveal global trends.” We must “fundamentally change the way we manage all the oceans.”
Enough already! Let’s get some perspective.
“I’m worried about some areas of the world,” counters Ray Hilborn, a University of Washington professor of aquatic and fishery sciences who is also the source or the quote in the title. “But other areas of the world have figured out how to do effective fishery management.”
For example, “most of the harvests in the North Pacific off Alaska … are not in sharp decline.”
Furthermore, the study does not consider that the science of aquaculture (underwater agriculture) supplies about one-third of the fish and shellfish sold today, and is likely to increase in coming years.
Illustration: Aquaculture Online
11/4/06 09:43 JR
