Environmental Impact
The impact of overfarming and deforestation on the environment is becoming more and more apparent. Other threats to the environment, such as overfishing, are harder to see in our day to day lives. This lack of visibility, however, does not mean that they do not affect us. The ecosystems on land rely on the health of the oceans’ animal and plant life. Overlooking this connection will have devastating impacts on the human population, as well as ecosystem as a whole, if left unchecked.
What is Bottom Trawling?
Bottom Trawling is a method of fishing in which large, often miles long nets are dragged along the ocean floor to catch fish. It is employed for its efficiency in capturing fish for consumption. The process, however, causes extreme damage to the environment. The net uproots the undersea plant life it is carried through, as well as destroys natural structures such as coral reefs.
Many animals not intended to be caught, such as other kinds of fish, or animals like turtles and dolphins, often end up in the trawling nets. These animals rarely survive their time out of water, and their carcasses are cast back into the ocean, further disrupting the ecosystem. Even Bottom Trawling’s efficiency harms the environment by removing too large a population of fish from the environment at a time, making it difficult for the species of fish to repopulate.
What Needs to Change?
Bottom Trawling, like most standard practices in the meat industry, is carried out to keep up with the rising demand of fish meat. A 2017 calculated that the average American eats 16 lbs of fish and shellfish, over a pound more than the year prior. In order to combat the effects of human interference with the environment, one of the simplest things someone can do is to lower their intake of fish and shellfish. Lowering the demand for these animals would make processes like Bottom Trawling inefficient due to their overwhelming waste.
Other things that could help would be supporting local fishermen. This is because local workers often catch far fewer fish, and often catch what fish are in season, rather than what are in demand. This helps sustain the environment.
In Conclusion
Climate Change is a large, far reaching process that impacts different parts of the world in different ways. Many of the contributing factors to climate change require large changes to major industries. These large changes can be helped by abstaining from harmful practices, such as overfishing. While the impact of your choices can be hard to see in the short term, with enough effort, these can help create a healthier planet for everyone.