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Marine Life
Despite the fact hunting was the key to survival in ancient civilizations, modern societies refuse to give up hunting and focus on farming as more effective, easier, and less cruel method of getting food. The majority of people ignore the fact that amoral behavior, continuous chase for “marine delicacy”, and inhuman methods of killing sharks, dolphins, whales, turtles, and other rare species have resulted in massive extinction of marine life. Nowadays, oceans are on the brink of a deadly catastrophe that can wipe out marine animals. The given paper aims to shed light on marine life as a commodity. In addition, much attention will be paid to various ethical, environmental, and health factors that should motivate humans to change their behavior and give up killing, buying, and consuming marine animals.
The global panel of scientists warns that one human generations leads to unprecedented losses and massive destruction and extinction of rare species of marine life, including hammerhead sharks, shrimps, turtles, and many other species (McCarthy, 2015). For instance, the researchers claim that seas and oceans are degrading far faster than any person has predicted (McCarthy, 2015). In other words, numerous threatening human-made environmental stressors, especially sea-water acidification, climate warming, oils spills, and dangerous chemical pollution lead to massive distinction of marine species.
Dr Alex Rogers, expert in the sphere of conservational biology at Oxford University and a member of International Union for the Conservation of Natureclaims that irrational behavior of the humankind will definitely lead to a dramatic decrease in ocean health and marine ecosystems (McCarthy, 2015). For example, according to the estimations of the researchers, dangerous coral bleaching that was caused by significantly raised ocean temperatures and global warming in 1998, resulted in extinction of approximately 16% of coral reefs in the entire world (McCarthy, 2015).
Therefore, the researchers insist on the increased danger of chemicals and synthetic substances that are easily absorbed and ingested by marine species living in the ocean, including bottom-feeding fish. Dan Laffoley, one of senior advisors working at IUCN, stresses that numerous regional bodies and the UN should implement severe penalties for pollution of seas and oceans by plastic articles or marine litter that release toxic chemicals that endanger marine animals (McCarthy, 2015).
Many scientists are alarmed by drastic seafood deformities because eyeless shrimps as well as fish with lesions are becoming increasingly common (Jamali, 2012). Some of the researchers predict that these deformities and mutations might have been caused by BP oil pollution and tons of chemicals and toxic dispersants released during dangerous BP’s disaster in 2010 (Jamali, 2012). The researchers in the sphere of marine nature conservation differentiate so-called “deadly trio” that includes acidification of oceans, global warming, and, finally, absence of oxygen that negatively impact mass distinctions of ocean ecosystem (McCarthy, 2015).
Overfishing is also included to the list of serious environmental concerns that threatens marine animals (Our endangered oceans, 2007). Nowadays, overfishing is a severe threat to marine biodiversity because it is a severe form of marine life exploitation that exceeds acceptable levels and results in depletion of resources. According to the estimations of the researchers, overfishing is a serious threat as it may cause critical depensation, when huge population of fish is killed and is not able to sustain further living (Our endangered oceans, 2007).
In addition, according to the data provided by the World Wide Fund for Nature, above 50% of fisheries are classified as fully exploited and approximately 32 % are either depleted or still recovering from depletion (Unsustainable fishing, 2013). Overfishing that is usually caused by insufficient fisheries management, abundance of pirate fishers that neglect fishing agreements or laws, massive bycatch, and other damaging fishing practices, may cause the collapse of fishing by 2048 (Unsustainable fishing, 2013).
The ethics of fishing provides convincing arguments that killing marine life should be banned by the government on local, national, and international levels (Michael, 2014). Many researchers claim that modern catching methods are not environmentally friendly as they negatively impact selectivity of fishing and its breeding life (Michael, 2014). For example, a fish aggregation device that is commonly referred to as FAD and was initially created to kill various types of tuna, threatens the life of other types of fish, especially dolphins, turtles, marlins, and even rare species of sharks such as silky sharks and mako sharks.
Numerous shocking Greenpeace videos available on the internet prove that FAD method used by many fishing companies is very dangerous because it has detrimental effects on rare species living in seas and oceans (Michael, 2014). Many Greenpeace ocean campaigners lay the stress on the fact that fish aggregating devices should not be used for fishing because of the simple reason that they kill diverse sorts and species of marine life. Instead fishing companies should use eco-friendly and less dangerous “pole and line” methods in order not to harm dolphins, turtles, and sharks that usually swim together with tuna (Michael, 2014).
Finally, the researchers assure that pollution that is recognized as the most dangerous threat to oceans and marine life also menaces human health (Jamali, 2012). Regardless the fact that fish should be an integral part of a healthy human diet, many scientists state that fish and other types of seafood may harm human health because of the increased contents of contaminants (Jamali, 2012). For example, water contamination, oil pollution, and distribution of hazardous chemicals cause mutations of fish, shrimps, crabs, and other marine organisms, and, consequently, can make seafood very dangerous for human consumption (Jamali, 2012).
As a result, having determined and evaluated numerous environmental, ethical, and health concerns connected to marine life that has crossed the threshold of extinction, it is possible to sum up that in case this trend continues, numerous endangered species of marine life, especially sharks, turtles, and dolphins will become extinct. Numerous environmental and ethical factors prove that unreasonable behavior of humans will sweep away ocean beauty that is hiding beneath the waves. Effective conservation practices, reasonable fishing, sustainable seafood choices, and ocean-friendly behavior should be the priority for modern civilizations because if people don’t learn to treat oceans and marine life with respect, humans will one day become extinct.
