[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: The Limits To Growth



Mike Asher wrote:
 
> Speak of misleading!  Your table includes only the species that experienced
> declines; not hard to support your thesis that 'fish are running out'.
> However, culling from the same source as you, the FAO, I pulled the
> following data:
> 
> "World marine fisheries production has increased almost fivefold over the
> past 40 years, rising from around 18 million tonnes to more than 86 million
> tonnes by 1989... The use of fish as a source of food has increased
> steadily, rising from 40 million tonnes in 1970 to 70 million tonnes in
> 1989."

Are you surprised that the fish which declined just happen
to be the ones we eat?  Gee, how did you happen to pick 1989?

"Despite the vastness of the planet's coastal waters, where
 most fish are caught, an unforeseen natural threshold was
 crossed before scientists even knew it existed. The global
 fish catch peaked in 1989 at 89 million metric tons and has
 hovered at around 85 million tons since then. The United
 Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates
 that nearly 70 percent of the world's conventional fish
 species-such as cod, hake and haddock-are already fished
 up to or beyond sustainable limits. 

"Although aquaculture—the farming of fish in either marine
 or inland waters—produces more fish each year, it cannot
 long compensate for the declining availability of fish
 caught wild, according to the report's authors. Under two
 of the United Nations' three projections for world population
 for the year 2050, aquaculture production would have to 
 'exceed' the total wild fish catch in order to maintain
 current levels of per capita fish consumption-a virtually
 impossible achievement, according to PAI."

Catching the Limit: Population and the Decline of Fisheries"
 is available for purchase from:
 Population Action International 1120 19th Street,
 NW-Suite 550/Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-659-1833

Contact: Sally Ethelston 202-659-1833 ext. 133,
sae@popact.org; FAX 202-293-1795 

Patricia M. Sears, Deputy Director,
 Media Relations 202-659-1833 ext.
 131,pmsears@popact.org; ORpmsears@aol.com. 

> Hang your head in shame, Mr. Hanson.

If you pull another one like this, I will no longer respond to you.

Jay


References: