"hpeer" wrote in message
m...
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Now my rant....there are many reasons why the ocean is in such rough
shape. But there is one common underlying reason why it is unlikely to
get any better. Simply put, there are too many mouths to feed.

I think, though I can not prove, that the oceans are in worst shape than
agriculture is that agriculture has been propped up by massive inputs of
calories (fossil fuels.) The oceans do not as easily lend themselves to
such manipulation. Thus the collapse you see in the oceans is a future
glimpse of what you will see in agriculture.

In short, we are in deep trouble, as a species. The short term (my life)
will be OK. My daughters life will not. That sucks.

Not meant to be a scientific argument but speaking from my gut and
intuitive understanding.

Agree entirely about overpopulation.
But with agriculture it is not just fossil fuels that have propped it up.
Some of the species that are near the bottom of the sea's food chain and are
therefore vital for the survival of other species are being taken in huge
quantities and rendered down into fish meal to become agricultural
fertiliser. Examples of this are the anchovy fishing off the coast of
S.America and the fishing by Denmark of sand eels in the North sea.
Buried in a small paragraph in my local paper is the news that the fisheries
department here has just raised the quota of sei whales for 2008 by 11% to
247000 tonnes-yes, tonnes!. And that does not include the Japanese efforts.
Who said that there is a moratorium on whaling? You are right about the
future. For me too there will still be a few lions, tigers, bears ,
dolphins, whales etc in the wild for the rest of my life but the future
looks bleak for our descendants.