My Organic Market’s ER

Recent conversation around my dinner table at home has been leaning in the direction of extinction and the depletion of the world’s natural resources. The one fairly new to the conversation plate, alongside our sunchokes and rice or spaghetti squash, is the recent announcement by scientists that the world’s seafood will soon be depleted. It is crazy to think that entire species that we depend on for food will be wiped out by 2048.

The prediction came after a four year study based on effects of pollution, overfishing and other environmental factors. All these things combined could spell extinction for popular fish species that fill our plates and bellies, as well as hamper the ocean’s ability to produce and filter enough nutrients to keep the stocks up and the spread of disease down among commercial and non-commercial fish alike.

It’s hard to imagine that in a world that is comprised of over two thirds water, which is filled with so much diversity, wonderment, and the backbone of so many cultures, that it could come to the point that soon the only seafood that will be available will be that raised in hatcheries. But it makes sense, right? We are living in the 21st century where now more than ever people are eating more healthy and are encouraged to fit fish into their diets. According to recent reports, we are consuming more seafood than ever before, and harvesting faster than the species have a chance to repopulate. Add on top of that pollution, global warming and human ignorance, and we have a recipe for catastrophe.

As someone who likes to keep an open mind, I, along with the scientific predictions, could be wrong. Nature could suprise us. (Probably not.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 10:19 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.