In recent years, the oceans have faced some of the most dramatic changes
in all of its history.
But to really begin understanding how vital the oceans are for life on Earth,
and how we as humans are impacting it, we have to start looking at
some of the smallest organisms that live there: phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton are microscopic marine plants
which produce up to 80% of the world's oxygen.
That means, that for every ten breaths that we take,
eight of them have come from the ocean.
In just one cup of seawater, there may be up to 100 million individual phytoplankton.
Huge plumes of these microscopic plants can even be seen from space,
as they divide, multiply, and move with the currents around the globe.
These microscopic life forms are so crucial to creating the necessary
conditions for other life to thrive, that if they were to ever go extinct,
all other species would die with them.
Oceanic pH and flow of water are essential for these invisible plants
to thrive and produce oxygen as well as take in carbon, where they then sink to
the bottom of the sea for thousands of years.
They also happen to be the primary food source of small marine animals,
and form the base of the marine food web, which has a knock-on effect on
larger predators.
In other words, the healthier the oceans, the more phytoplankton there will be,
and the more phytoplankton there is, the more sea animals there can be.
One example of a symbiotic relationship is with whales.
Their diet consists of fish, krill, plankton and other small marine animals,
and they often hunt in the dark depths of the ocean.
Due to the fact they must return to the top of the ocean to breathe in air again,
they end up bringing those nutrients back to the vital topsoil-like layer of the sea
where phytoplankton can then utilize the iron, nitrogen and sunlight again.
Blue whales, for example, defecate up to three tons into the sea every single day.
Iron and nitrogen rich fertilizer which provides food for the phytoplankton,
which then provides food for the zooplankton, fish, and then ultimately,
the whales again.
This vertical movement of animals up and down the oceans, which mixes up
the sea, is astonishingly roughly the same amount of mixing caused by all the world's
winds, waves and tides.
Humans, on the other hand, take everything from the ocean and give nothing back.
Fishermen claim that the whales and the seals are eating all of THEIR fish,
and so they cull these animals, not realizing that to have more fish in the sea,
the oceans need to have more whales, more seals and other predators
to keep this symbiotic relationship in balance.
Humans are the cause of this species depletion.
Scientists have now estimated that as many as 650,000 whales, dolphins and seals
are killed by fishing vessel per year, and yet still most people will continue
to think that this will have little to no impact on the marine ecosystem.
When really, they play a vital and irreplaceable role
in the oceanic life cycle.
And those aren't the only animals we are driving to extinction.
An estimated 200,000 sharks are killed every day for the shark fin industry,
which equates to roughly 73 million sharks every year.
All the while, 140 different species are listed as endangered,
threatened, or near threatened by extinction according to the
Oceanic Preservation Society.
Sharks are the apex predators of the ocean,
who have shaped the evolution of thousands of marine species,
and have been around for 400 million years.
Their extinction would, without doubt, dismantle the entire ecosystem.
They have survived the previous five mass extinctions, and are now going extinct,
thanks to humans.
But it's not only the Asian demand for shark fins, that sell for $400 per pound,
that is to blame.
Around 50 million sharks are pulled out of the ocean per year as bycatch
all around the globe, by accident.
Often by so-called "sustainable fishing" methods.
So if people are to really be against the killing of sharks, and want to protect
biodiversity in the oceans, we must stop fishing altogether.
Another endangered species with dwindling spawning numbers is
the Pacific bluefin tuna, which has had a 96% reduction in global stock levels.
However, Mitsubishi, who in 2009 held 35-40% of the worldwide market for
bluefin tuna, is reported as having a fifteen year supply of frozen
bluefin tuna in its warehouses, yet continues to fish these threatened species regardless.
They could effectively stop fishing tuna for the next fifteen years to give enough
time for some of the population to replenish, yet refuse to take such action,
as the scarcity for bluefin tuna has driven its cost up exponentially.
Approximately 2.7 trillion fish are taken from the sea every year,
40% of which is discarded as bycatch, and another third of which is often used
to feed the animals which people eat for meat, dairy and eggs.
In fact, so much fish is ground up into pellets and fed to livestock that
pigs, cows and chickens are now the world's leading oceanic predators.
Whilst the sewage that these land animals produce, have created over 500
nitrogen flooded dead zones around the world in our oceans,
and comprise more than 95,000 square miles of
areas completely devoid of life.
So any meaningful discussion about the state of the oceans
must always embrace as a priority frank discussion about land-based
animal agriculture, which is the exact opposite of what virtually every
conservation group, like WWF and Oceana, are doing.
They are still hooked on the romantic notion of promoting "sustainable fishing",
which although makes consumers comfortably unaware about the true
exploitation and cost to the oceans and the animals, can never take away
from the fact that leading environmental researchers and scientists say that
"sustainable fishing" is virtually impossible when keeping in mind the overwhelming
debt we already owe to the ocean.
Out of all the species that humans take from the ocean, none is as devastating
on marine animal populations as shrimping.
Currently, shrimp make up about 2% by weight of the animals taken from the sea,
yet make up for a third of global bycatch.
In some cases, for every one kilogram of shrimp caught, up to 20 kilograms of other
animals can be caught as bycatch in the process.
Not only that, but since land-based fish farming has been on the rise in
recent years, many vessels at sea are targeting so-called "trash fish", which
are made up from juvenile fish from environmentally important species,
to then grind up into fish food.
In this way, almost four tons of wild-caught fish can be used to produce
just half a ton of shrimp, which ends up in supermarkets and restaurants
across the US, Europe, and Asia.
This has severely impacted the ability for many species to replenish,
mature and mulitply. The knock-on effect of this devastation is almost never-ending.
In some regions of the world, such as Southeast Asia, the oceans are so exploited
that although fishermen are working several times harder than in the past,
they are catching fewer and fewer fish.
This is especially the case in Thailand, where fishermen are catching 14%
of what they used to 50 years ago.
This has led to a loss of profits, increase in illegal fishing in marine sanctuaries,
persistent fishing methods that allow no time for spawning, and also resulted in
large rates of slave labour, as young men and women are kidnapped on land,
drugged, beaten unconscious, and taken on ships where they may be forced to work
relentlessly for years, so as to reduce the cost of the operations for the criminal
ship owners.
This is shocking to know, seeing as around 33% of fish are coming from
developing countries, where not only is regulation of fishing practices and
working standards almost non-existent, but also happen to be in regions
of the planet where endangered species reside or migrate to.
Large-scale commercial fishing kills vast amounts of fish,
and also destroys many ocean habitats.
Bottom trawling has been linked to mass deforestation,
as marine research of Brien Brett states.
Imagine if you used a fleet of tractors to drag 30 tons of gear over a 150 meter
wide swath of land for most days of the year, you would wipe out
the New Forest in a few months, and the rest of the countryside
not long after that.
Yet that is what we are doing to the seabed around Britain, even worse,
the boats keep going over the same key areas.
The seafloor gets no chance to recuperate. It is tragic.
Before being slaughtered, fish are sometimes stunned.
One of the following methods are used: a blow to the head,
electrical stunning, cold water immersion, and carbon dioxide gassing.
Carbon dioxide gassing is where the fish enter water that has been
saturated with carbon dioxide. This rapid change in their environment
irritates their gills. Fish struggle for several minutes
before they become immobile from exaustion and lack of oxygen.
There is no evidence that the fish are anaesthetised at this stage,
so they are not unconcious when their gills are cut.
There are a number of different methods used to slaughter fish,
whether from farms or caught in the wild.
These include asphyxiation, where the fish are removed from the water
so that their gills collapse, and they suffocate to death.
It can take some fish, such as trout, ten minutes
to die from this method. Tearing of the gill arches
so that fish bleed to death is another method.
It can take up to 4 minutes for the fish to die.
Hoisting the fish from the water with the hook, and then
forcing a spike through their brain is often used on tuna.
Decapitation is another method, while some fish are even sold alive
and killed by the user, such as a restaurant or a consumer.
Some will try to justify the consumption of fish, based on their
apparent lack of intelligence, memory, and ability to feel pain.
Research has shown that several fish species have accurate memories
that can last several days, or even years in the case of
migrating salmon. Some fish will migrate across
thousands of miles of ocean, returning to spawn at the location
where they themselves were spawned.
Fish respond to threats and stress through changes in their colour,
or in their movement, such as swimming more rapidly,
becoming immobile, or even swimming at different depths.
Research has shown that some fish, particulary trout, show fear
and avoidance behavior towards unknown or unfamiliar objects,
and have been found to take their time before approaching
these objects, sometimes even avoiding them altogether.
Because fish and shellfish live in increasingly polluted environments,
toxins from the water accumulate in their bodies.
Studies have shown that most of the fish throughout the world
contain dangerously high levels of mercury.
In the Faroe islands, where the local population
frequently slaughter and consume pilot whales, which there is
little to no data for to see if they're endangered or not,
body mercury levels are sky-high.
Researchers had also found that for every one gram of whale meat,
there was 2 micrograms of methylmercury, the most toxic form of mercury.
Exposure to this metal has serious health consequences,
including increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and even death.
Fish also contain unsafe levels of polychlorinated biphenyls,
which are danregous chemicals that have been linked to neurological problems,
and birth defects in babies who have been exposed.
A plant-based diet automatically reduces your exposure to these chemicals.
Touted as a health food, fish has a reputation for being heart-healthy.
People who opt for fish to try and protect their hearts may not realize
that fish is often high in cholesterol. While an three ounce T-bone steak
contains 70 miligrams of cholesterol, just three ounces
of shrimp contain a 161 milligrams.
Numerous studies have shown that dietary cholesterol consumption
corresponds with an increased risk of artery blockage.
While fish contain omega 3 fats, most of the fat in fish is not healthy.
Between 15 and 30% of the fat in fish is actually saturated fat,
which stimulates the liver to produce more cholesterol.
High fat foods are associated with poor heart health outcomes.
The good news is, that by eliminating foods that contain cholesterol, like fish,
and opting for more naturally cholesterol-free plant foods,
people can reduce both their cholesterol levels and their risk of heart disease,
because research has shown that every one percent reduction
in cholesterol means a reduction in heart disease risk by two percent.
Fish is not a sustainable, kind or healthy food source for today or the future.
There's no reason for us to continue in this destructive way of
animal farming for the sake of our nourishment.
The science has proven, without doubt, that it is not necessary to our survival
to consume animals, and in fact, it is quite the opposite.
Not only is the elimination of animal products healthy for us,
but it is hugely beneficial for the planet, and for the other animals
that inhabit the sea and the earth with us.
Becoming vegan and reducing your body count and environmental footprint is easy.
For more help in progressing to a vegan diet and making
the transition you can visit these websites for more information,
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