A Wave of Marine Extinctions?

Scientists Fear Oceans on the Cusp Of a Wave of Marine Extinctions

Combined with the environmental costs of raising cattle, this kinda argues for a vegan diet...

"In the past 300 years, researchers have documented the global extinction of just 21 marine species -- and 16 of those extinctions [have] occurred since 1972."

"The large-scale industrialization of the fishing industry after World War II, coupled with a global boom in ocean-front development and a rise in global temperatures, is causing fish populations to plummet."

"Large-scale fishing accounts for more than half of the documented fish extinctions in recent years... ocean fish catches tripled between 1950 and 1992."

Not only the intended catch species are threatened: "...accidental bycatch alone accounted for an 89 percent decline in hammerhead sharks in the Northeast Atlantic."

"...conservationists said NOAA officials are reluctant to classify fish as endangered because it conflicts with their agency's mission of promoting commercial fishing."


How do they produce these numbers? Accounting for catch sizes seems straightforward -- just look at the books for the fisheries. But how does one figure out the total decline in hammerhead shark populations, let alone the fractional causes for that decline?

Still, the article provides plenty of food for thought.