The ocean may run out of fish

United Nations experts warn humans will not have a chance to see fish in the oceans by 2050 if we do not allow their numbers to recover.

A hunted whale.Photo: uphere.ca.

'If our calculations become a reality, all fish in the oceans will disappear within the next 40 years , ' AFP quoted Pavan Sukhdev, director of implementing clean economic development initiatives. United Nations Environment Program, speaking on May 17.

UN scientists claim that the nightmare of the ocean could be ruled out if governments stop subsidizing fishing vessels and establishing areas to protect them. If people do these two things, the number of fish will increase again.

The United Nations says, one billion people - most of whom live in poor countries - mainly get protein from marine fish. 35 million people on earth are fishing with 20 million boats. About 170 million jobs depend directly or indirectly on the marine fishing industry. Total people with income from fish amounted to 520 million.

But the number of fish in the oceans has decreased by 30%, while fishermen may no longer have the opportunity to catch fish before 2050. Currently only about a quarter of the world's marine fish populations - including not of high economic value - stable quantity.

According to AFP, UN scientists believe that the government subsidies for fishermen to set up large trawlers is one of the reasons why the number of marine fish is decreasing. Meanwhile, very few countries are interested in creating conditions for fish populations to recover in numbers.

Sukhdev said every year governments spend $ 27 billion to support fishermen. Much of this money comes from rich countries. Meanwhile the total value of fish caught by the world each year is about 85 billion USD. The fleets are getting bigger and bigger and the number of fish is decreasing so few fishing fleets operate at full capacity.

Establishing marine animal conservation areas so that females can grow to adulthood and childbirth is one of the necessary solutions to increase the number of fish. Another solution is to reduce the size of fishing boats. Instead governments should encourage fishermen to use small vessels to practice until the number of marine fish recovers.