Currently there are 96 kinds of fish that are already extinct, including blue pike and silver trout.¹ The barndoor skate, once a popular catch, is just about gone.² And salmon? Both Atlantic and Pacific salmon are seriously threatened, through irresponsible fishing and political decisions.

But in 42 years, they could all be gone. This may not affect me, because I'm a boomer and I'll be part of the ecosystem by then. But what about my children and grandchildren? And yours?

Fish extinction is not only possible, it's well on the way.³

Over fishing, especially by high-tech, computerized fleets, is partially responsible. These ships have locating (including cutting edge sonar and spotting planes) and harvesting devices (including giant vacuums), that destroy massive quantities of sea creatures indiscriminately, including diving sea birds. What they don't vacuum, they catch with enormous nets. Some of these nets are large enough to hold 12 jumbo jets each.⁴ The unwanted species are thrown back into the sea, but they are often dead by that time.

And despite the "dolphin safe" label on cans, some tuna fishing still kills dolphins, along with sharks, turtles, and swordfish.⁵

Pollution is poisoning the earth's fish and sickening many people who eat them. We've all heard that tuna contains unsafe levels of mercury. This is true.

We also consume PCBs when we eat salmon, swordfish, and lake whitefish. PCBs were used by industry until they was outlawed in 1976 for being carcinogenic. They were evidently dumped into our waterways⁶, along with bacterial pollutants, pesticides, agricultural chemicals, and industrial and municipal wastes.

This is an ecosystem event.

Bears in the northwest are starving because they can't get enough salmon. People are shooting each other in the open sea, over fishing territories. Essential predator/prey relationships are being destroyed. Delicately balanced chains of systems are being disrupted; even bugs and weeds play an important part in planetary health.

We don't need to be scared. But we do need to take action. Complacency is what will kill us. Each individual can do something - small or large - that can eventually, well, Save the Fish.

What can we do? You and me?

1) Cut back on seafood consumption.

2) Cut back on meat and dairy. (Both industries create toxic wastes that end up in our waterways.)

3) While we're at it, have you considered becoming a vegetarian?

4) Donate money and/or time to your favorite environmental groups.

5) Talk about these issues with family and friends. Call, write, or email your state and federal representatives, let people know what's going on.

6) Blog, write letters to editors, circulate petitions.

7) On a larger scale, we must convince our world's governments to put more restrictions on the big fishing companies, to build new marine reserves, and to more aggressively identify, penalize, and police those who are polluting.

Researchers agree that we can turn the situation around. Let's all stay informed, and let's all take action.

∞

November 4, 2006

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1 ExtinctAnimal.com

2 Jill M. Casey (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Ransom A. Myers (Dalhousie University, Halifax), as reported in Science July 31, 1998.

3 Dr. Boris Worm et al, from Science magazine, Nov.3, 2006.

4 Carl Safina of The Blue Ocean Institute

5 Carl Safina as reported in EarthSave

6 Consumer Reports, Feb 1992