The Next Great Extinction Crisis Is Under Way Under the Sea

Gotta love the Doom-Porn, ATS! The World Wildlife Fund and researchers at the Zoological Society of London have compiled a report that paints a pretty dire picture for the future of Mankind from his own un-doing. According tp the report, the next great extinction is already underway due to a massive decline in fish populations since 1970. This decline is said to be due to over-fishing, habitat destruction, and climate change.

That’s what has happened in the world’s oceans, according to a new report that finds that global populations of marine species have plummeted 49 percent since 1970.

Certain fish that people rely on for food suffered even steeper declines: Populations of tunas, bonitos, and mackerels dropped by 74 percent, according to the study, which was compiled by the World Wildlife Fund and reviewed by researchers at the Zoological Society of London.

By compiling data from 2,337 individual sources, including population estimates from scientific studies and databases, the researchers were able to estimate the changes in species populations from 1970 and 2012.
The researchers linked industrial pollution and plastic contamination of the oceans with the degradation of marine habitats and the death of endangered sea turtles and other wildlife. The burning of fossil fuels is accelerating the acidification of the oceans, destroying coral reefs that sustain a plethora of fisheries as well as 400 million people.

The world’s coral reefs, which support 25 percent of marine species, could be wiped out if ocean temperatures continue to rise at their current rate, according to a 2011 report from the World Resources Institutes.

Forget suicidal Asteroids or Comets, it looks like the thing to take Man out is.....Man. It looks as if our short-term methods for survival is leading to our own long-term destruction. How do we solve this problem without destroying ourselves in the process? We need to act immediately but any immediate options could lead to the breakdown of society.

Change happens, I get that. However, this change has built up and accelerated over the years due to human activity. How do we reset without destroying ourselves? What says ATS?


news.yahoo.com...

Yep, this is real doom here and getting worse by the day. Jared Diamond wrote about it in his book how the populations of breeding age fish had declined as well as the coral reefs and kelp bed ecosystems that support such great diversity. The actual doom factor involved in nearly half the world's protein for humans is taken in the form of seafood. Every country that depends heavily on seafood for their people is going to be in big trouble. It will affect the entire world and island nations are at greatest risk.

a reply to: lostbook

We need to learn to live with nature or we will be killed off by nature... Sad what is happening to the oeans we are causing long term damage with unknown side effects..

Well overfishing hasn't helped and the North Sea Cod stocks were on the brink of entering an endangered species. However, stocks have been increasing so much, due to quotas being introduced, they claim it could be considered a sustainable fish within the next five years.

www.theguardian.com...

Yup, and we've downed 50% of the world's forests too. 40% in the last fifty years alone. Meet Homo blattodea

The Next Great Extinction Crisis Is Under Way Under the Sea

And as the oceans become increasingly warmer, the currents change it will get even worse.

Increased pollution like the BP spill will finish off a tragic situation.

And the conservatives will whine...."why didn't someone warn us"

The root cause of this and most of our other environmental issues is overpopulation.

It's only going to get much much worse.

Don't worry.The middle east is about to explode.We're well on our way to causing our own extinction.

This is actually old news. There's even a wikipedia page about it.

Holocene extinction

The Holocene extinction, sometimes called the Sixth Extinction, is a name proposed to describe the currently ongoing extinction event of species during the present Holocene epoch (since around 10,000 BCE) mainly due to human activity. The large number of extinctions span numerous families of plants and animals including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and arthropods. Although 875 extinctions occurring between 1500 and 2009 have been documented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources,[1] the vast majority are undocumented. According to the species-area theory and based on upper-bound estimating, the present rate of extinction may be up to 140,000 species per year.[2]

Why isn't anyone talking about Fukushima? It has never been fixed. Irradiated water has been steadily polluting the Pacific since the tsunami damaged it. No one is forcing Japan to do anything about it. Radiated water has already reached California. Yet not a peep in the news...

Articles like this make me so sad. What's worse is a lot of people will read this and will not care. Humanity is slowly losing touch with nature which I believe will be part of our downfall. It reminds me of the story posted a few days ago about how an overwhelming amount of tourists flocked to that beach when a wave of pregnant sea turtles started coming ashore to lay their eggs. I do not know the truth behind such a statement but it was reported that some people had their kids sit on the turtles as they were coming in, digging the nests, or laying eggs for photoshoots. It was a gross and horrendous thought and caused some turtles to retreat back into the ocean without laying their eggs.

a reply to: sunqueen30

Because some of us need to be killed off. The people in charge of things don't care about us. They have their own sources of good clean food and water so it doesn't effect them directly. They are risking the global impact of it vs. the global impact of too many people and too much resource consumption. Some of us have to go and so certain things are left without being fixed to help with that. Tens of thousands of people die every day and tens of thousands more are born. We're are staring extinction dead in the face already, it's only a matter of time so why stop it???

I've spend my life in e very save and protected area, free from terrorism,war and any other possible crap. I've never been abused physically or mentally.
Unfortunately I started to subconscious abusing and destructing myself after the death of my little brother, grandfather and the father I deeply cared for who was never around. with that said....

I started using the internet and came across all the atrocities man does to themselves and nature, my heart broke
I lost total faith in humanity and our role in it, although some people make it look like there still is a little hope left.
The destruction of habitats and extinctions caused by man are terrible, but like all man we make mistakes. However...
It seems to me like nothing or anyone is taking the issue very seriously or we would not be in this situation.

Not only sea life go's instinct by over fishing and pollution, Dangerous animals are gunned sown as well, and ocean floors are destroyed by crawlers who left desert floors instead of life giving habitats.

These few examples of what is happening to the world under human influence and might part be the reason why I've just giving up hope. I became an addict what I can't recommend anyone.

I found a little hope back by the way and I'm no longer an addict and follow regular therapy, because the only one that can doe something about anything is you, but you have to strong and willing, open to form alliances with others that feel the same way, even if you disagree about issues, the goal is still the same, and only when we join forces there is a change to help ourselves by helping nature get healthy again.

originally posted by: MisterSpock
The root cause of this and most of our other environmental issues is overpopulation.

It's only going to get much much worse.

Population grew on cheap energy and is likely to contract as energy becomes more expensive, but its not the population that is causing havoc, its our economic system. Its much cheaper to fish the oceans than invest in fish farms. Cheaper to chop down forests for wood than to build homes from dirt. Instead of marching head first into never ending materialism we need find a new direction for humankind. Hopefully one that brings us all more happiness.

originally posted by: sunqueen30
Why isn't anyone talking about Fukushima? It has never been fixed. Irradiated water has been steadily polluting the Pacific since the tsunami damaged it. No one is forcing Japan to do anything about it. Radiated water has already reached California. Yet not a peep in the news...

Cognitive dissonance.

a reply to: lostbook

I am not posting this to demean your post, but take some solace in this... WARNING GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

a reply to: lostbook

i have an idea , let them stop canning sea food or even chicken and beef , let there be fresh food for demand not shelves piled up with canned food.

a reply to: Dr UAE

I get what you were going for, but this has the potential to be even more devastating to the ecology. Over harvesting would continue. The fish would still be dead. And those that were unsold become waste. Also, without canning/preserving, it becomes much easier to starve out an area. My recommendation is military action against the companies, globally. This is no longer a profit issue, it's survival. Force the companies to either make farms or be absorbed by other companies. Allow the sea to repair itself. Many lumber companies have started using the sustainable forest, growing the trees and harvesting again. It's probably going to take a world effort, but the same could be done for the oceans. I just don't see that the governments are going to do this. Much easier to just start a war.