RE: How Humanity is Changing the Course of Evolution Part 1: Under the Sea
I was almost about to "get mad" when I saw that 90% of bony fish have been wiped out by our fishing industry. Because at first I was thinking, "that has to be a bunch of bullshit, yo!" Then, I got to thinking. I have actually experienced a similar trend with freshwater fishing. My family used to take me to Taylor Reservoir in Colorado for Trout fishing. The first 5-10 years you could go out fishing for just an hour or two and easily catch your limit with almost no effort at all. Then 10-15 years it would take you a day or two to catch your limit. 20 years into it, you are lucky if you can go there and catch your limit in fish in a full 2 week period. That sounds like a 90% reduction in population if I do say so myself. Since I am all about solutions to problems, what do you think we could do to restore these numbers? Is it already irreversible? Will convincing our people to go vegan help at all? Or is it because the catching of fish is profitable? In that case, is the desire for a fiat currency to blame? Thanks for sharing. I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
Nah, nothing to do with currency, fiat or otherwise, really- there's just too many people eating too many fish harvested in an unsustainable manner. The problem's not irreversible- we just need to give fish populations the time and space to recover. Marine wildlife preserves are one excellent way to do so, as are strictly regulated fishing quotas.
And yeah, your personal experience on the Taylor Reservoir sounds like an exact version of the problem in microcosm.
This is even in spite of the fact that the State regularly stocks it with fish. My dad is pretty sure that when those young trout are stocked, that a lot of them are probably gobbled up right away by predator fish such as Northern Pike. All roads leading to that lake back in the day were rough dirt roads so it used to be that place was hardly visited. These days, it is all paved so everyone and their grandma goes there to fish. Personally, I miss the rough dirt roads. Thanks for chatting. <3