The purpose of this blog was to highlight a major global issue that is happening in the world today, and then to propose a viable solution that could be put in place to fix the problem.  Specifically, the problem being discussed on this blog is the overfishing of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, and by reading this blog you will be able to learn extensively about the problem and the solution we have proposed.

Solutions

     There are several possible solutions for solving the Atlantic bluefin tuna problem. The first is a four-step program proposed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Step one is to reduce the Atlantic and Mediterranean combined catch numbers from 13,500 tons per year to under 6,000 tons per year. Step two is to ban purse seine boats, which can catch whole schools of fish at once. Step three the WWF wants to create no fishing areas were it is known the bluefin tuna mate. The fourth is that the WWF wants the international Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, the organization charge of overseeing catch limits, to enforce payback rules. These rules entail that if a country exceeds its catch limit one year, the amount that it went over will be subtracted from its allowed total the following year. The over all goal of the WWF is to reduce the combined catch numbers from 13,500 tons per year to under 6,000 tons per year in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

     The next possible solution is fish farms. This would consist of either a land based farm or a large sea net. There are some problems with this because it up to 12 years before bluefin tuna reach an age of sexual maturity. This would require a large investment with little payback for at least 12 years. Currently there are small-scale operations involving large sea nets. There have been some problems with bluefin not reproducing in captivity. This could be eliminated if the farm was and based. Then the fish could be injected with hormones to cause them to reach sexual maturity quicker and make sure they produce eggs. As time goes on there will be new discoveries of different things to help smooth over the process of raising the bluefin in captivity. This could with time switch the bluefin tuna industry from catching wild tuna to only relying on farm raised bluefin tuna.

http://endoftheline.com/files/83501244478256bluefin-tuna-report-roberto.jpg

http://www.hauteliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Tuna1.jpg

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Causes

     The first cause is the fishing style of long lining. This method is extremely efficient. Long lining involves deploying 60 miles of baited hooks designed to catch bluefin tuna, which is a migratory species. This style of fishing also leads to a high by-catch of varies creatures such as sharks and sea turtles.

     The other cause is the style of fishing known as purse seining. This involves boats that deploy and drag a large seine net that is capable of being pulled closed at the bottom, similar to a drawstring bag. This causes the fish with the reach of the net to be forced to the center and prevents them from escaping from the bottom. This method is capable of catching whole schools of fish, which rapidly depletes the population.

     These two methods combined with sport fishing in the Atlantic have caused a population loss of 70% over the last 30 years. The Atlantic bluefin tuna industry has decreased from a $10-20 million industry to just $1.7million industry. If a solution is not found soon this industry will collapse completely and the Atlantic bluefin tuna will become extinct. 

Ryan Jordan

Over Fishing

90% of large fish such as tuna, swordfish, cod, marlin, flounder, and halibut have been removed from the oceans. 70% of global fisheries are overexploited or have crashed. 25% of U.S. fisheries are known as stable. 3 billion rely on fish as a source of food. 72,000 fishing jobs have been lost in the Pacific Northwest due to the decline of salmon stocks. Bluefin tuna populations in the Atlantic Ocean have declined over 70% in the last 30 years, yet because seafood is a global commodity being flown into markets around the world.

            Long-lining is the main method of fishing bluefin tuna. This method is dangerously efficient. This method also gets unwanted by-catch like sharks and sea turtles. The Atlantic and Indian is becoming a more overfished ocean because the Asiatic oceans have already been fully exploited. Most of the catch are sent to Japan and European nations. Long-lining deploys 60 miles of baited hooks to catch the bluefin tuna which is a migratory species.

            There two different stocks of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic, the western Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Both of these stocks have been rapidly declining since the 1970’s. The estimated level of the current population of the bluefin in the Atlantic is at 29% of what it was in the 1970’s.

Possible Solution- Catch Shares

Fishers get an economic incentive to help fish populations recover. The fishers get a share of the allowed catch, which would increase with a recovering fish population. There has been a 400% increase in fish populations under catch shares over 17 year period. For example, in 2007 the catch share program for Red Snappers in the Gulf of Mexico went into effect. Since then, the Red Snapper population in the Gulf has increased by 60%, and the value of Red Snapper has increased by 86%.

http://www.edf.org/oceans/numbers-oceans-crisis?s_src=ggad&s_subsrc=overfishing&gclid=CKfh2vepyK4CFeURNAodLX8eBw

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/overfishing/

http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/eoen/tuna/casestudy.html

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/atl_bluefin_tuna.htm

Contamination of Drinking Water in Sub-Saharan Africa

            Clean drinking water is an issue that affects almost everyone on Earth.  Here in America, there are government agencies that regulate water quality and ensure purity, so there is less of a problem with unsafe drinking water in the modernized western world than in many other areas.  However, in many regions across the globe the water that people drink is often contaminated with industrial and domestic waste, bacteria, and countless other pollutants that are harmful to anyone who consumes tainted water.  One area in particular that has a high level of contamination in drinking water is southern Sub-Saharan Africa.  In countries like Zimbabwe, there are very few regulations put in place to protect the purity of water sources, so in many cases drinking water is contaminated with industrial waste like runoff from mines, fecal matter from people and animals, and harsh chemicals often used in agriculture.

            The source of many of these contaminants is untreated runoff from major population and industrial centers.  In an article in Gibbs Magazine, Sifelani Tsiho cites the heavy pollution of Lake Chivero, the main source of drinking water for the city of Harare, Zimbabwe.  The lake is the terminus of all the drainage pipes and runoff of the city, and thus almost all the cities waste flows directly into the lake.  This is the case in many African regions, the same water source is being used to drink from and dump in.  For this reason, the increasing industrialization and urbanization of some parts of Africa has lead to worsening quality of drinking water. 

            The health problems associated with the pollution of drinking water are severe.  Water polluted with bacteria from domestic waste can cause such diseases as typhoid, dysentery, and cholera.  Chemical contaminants can cause a wide range of ailments including increased cancer risk and developmental problems.  

Ocean Trash Patches Research

     The global topic being studied is the "trash islands" in the Atlantic and Pacific. These are giant accumulations of plastic waste that s brought together by ocean currents in the north Atlantic gyre and north Pacific subtropical gyre. The Atlantic island is located in the Sargasso Sea, south and east of Bermuda. The Atlantic patch's existence was confirmed in 2010. It may contain up to 500,00 pieces of plastic per square mile in some areas. This would rival the patch in the pacific, which was discovered in the 1990s. The pacific patch or the great pacific garbage patch is located in the north pacific. Holly Bamford director of NOAA's Marine Debris Program described the patch as a galaxy of garbage, which is made up of billions of small trash islands that could be hiding under the water and spread out over many miles. It has been described as big as twice the size of Texas. It is located between the Hawaiian Islands and California.

     These trash patches are formed mostly from plastic waste that can come as far away as the interior of continents. It is washed into sewers and rivers by rain. It eventually finds it’s way to the ocean were it joins other trash that has been washed off of beaches and costal areas. It then takes about 7 years for it to reach the garbage patch depending on how for away it started. Other debris such as fishing nets is lost at sea and picked up by the currents. Another source are cargo ships. They occasionally lose containers during storms and high seas. The most famous of these being a container carrying 28,000 rubber ducks in 1992. They are still washing up on beaches around the world today.

     The main surface particles in these trash patches are resin pellets. These are transported around the world to factories to be melted down into different things. They are easily lost along the way due to their small size. These small particles wreck havoc on sea birds. The birds eat them and other floating trash and then feed it to their chicks. The chicks eventually die of starvation or ruptured organs. These pellets only degrade through the process of photodegradaton, which takes thousands of years.

Sources

http://www.globalgarbage.org/blog/index.php/2010/07/17/fishing-for-pollution-in-the-atlantic/

http://bernews.com/2010/12/real-bermuda-triangle/

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/what-is-the-great-pacific-ocean-garbage-patch