Part 18: Series On Overpopulation In America—fishing our oceans to death

By Frosty Wooldridge

Part 5: Fishing our oceans to death; surface of a haunted ocean

Oceanographer Callum Roberts said, “The oceans of today are filled with ghost habitats, stripped of their larger inhabitants.  Our dismantling of marine ecosystems is having destructive and unpredictable consequences.  With species loss and food web collapse comes dangerous instability. The seas are undergoing ecological meltdown.

“Fishing is undermining itself by purging the oceans of species on which it depends. The wholesale removal of marine life and obliteration of their habitats is stripping resilience from ocean ecosystems.

“Moreover, it is undermining the ability of the oceans to support human needs. Overfishing is destabilizing the marine environment, contributing to the spread of anoxic dead zones and the increasing prevalence of toxic algal blooms. Nature’s power to bounce back after catastrophes or absorb the battery of stresses humanity is subjecting it to is being eroded, collapsed fishery after collapsed fishery, species by species, place by place.

“It is easy to point fingers and say this is the fault of greedy corporations with their factory ships, or faint-hearted politicians overeager to please the fishing industry, or the great masses of poor people reduced to bombing and poisoning their seas to extract the last few fish.”  —Callum Roberts in The Unnatural History of the Sea 

(At 90 million tons of fish annually, the oceans cannot withstand humanity’s onslaught. At some point, like the extinct Carrier Pigeon, untold species of marine life face extinction.)  Photo by Greenpeace

As the human onslaught of the planet accelerates by an added 80,000,000 (million) people, net gain, annually and one billion every 12 years—the natural world staggers back on its heels. 

Fully 80 percent of all life on this planet thrives beneath the surface of our oceans.   This enormous body of water pulses with life-energy, which drives  natural forces that sustain life on this planet.  But in the 21^st century the “Mob of Humanity” wreaks havoc on the foundation of life on Earth.  It hooks, pollutes, skims, nets and daggers untold billions of creatures to death annually.

While Roberts brings his powerful research to the table, most of humankind remains oblivious to catastrophic onslaught raging beneath the waves.  As a 50 year scuba diver, I watched it progress from the Gulf of Mexico into all of our oceans.

With America’s 319 million people devouring ocean marine life such as squid, crabs, shrimp, tuna, salmon, flounder, swordfish and so many other species—take a look at what 7.2 billion humans devour worldwide:

Giant ships, using state-of-the-art equipment throw out 50-mile long drift nets that capture 90 million tons of marine life annually. These industrial fishing fleets exceed the ocean’s ecological limits. As larger fish dwindle in numbers, the next smaller fish species are targeted and so on.  A Canadian fisheries expert Dr. Daniel Pauly warns that if this continues, “Our children will be eating jellyfish.”

(Factory fishing ships with 50 mile long drift nets encircle hapless marine life, killing billions of creatures as “bycatch” while they scoop up endless fish for consumption by 7.2 billion humans)  Photo by www.AndrewWillner.com

For the past 35 years, humans continue their annihilation of all species of sharks by killing them at a rate of 100 million sharks annually.   You must wonder, “How much longer can this kind of a killing spree continue before the sharks and all ocean life reach a point of no return?”  (Source: Life Magazine August 1991; Julia Whitty, OneEarth Magazine)

(Thousands of miles of cut-loose drift nets kill millions of marine creatures unfortunate enough to swim into their deadly grasp.) Photo by ksj.mit.edu

The latest threat grows beyond solving with “carbon footprint” waste from fossil fuel burning at 84,000,000 (million) barrels of oil daily and billions of tons of coal and natural gas annually—to overload our seas with carbon that acidifies the oceans to a point whereby marine life can no longer exist in the toxic ocean water.  It would be like you taking a bath in carbonic acid water.

Another aspect of humanity’s “deadly treatment” of our oceans deals with the phenomenon of “dead zones” at the mouths of all our major rivers worldwide.  For instance, the Ganges and Yangtze rivers exhaust their toxic sewage waters into the world’s oceans 24/7 to create 20,000 square mile dead zones. The water grows so toxic that higher marine life cannot exist in those zones.  In America, the Mississippi River spews chemical waste, petroleum waste and endless sewage waste to create a 10,000 mile square dead zone at its mouth in New Orleans.

WWII major war powers dumped their mustard gas, oil and other chemicals along with radioactive waste into the oceans of the world.  Humanity’s 80,000 chemicals always end up in the oceans as their final toilet destination.

Over time, those toxic rivers exhausting out of Europe, Asia, South America, Russia and North America cannot help but toxically contaminate the oceans of the world. That means all the fish in them bear the chemicals they breathe and eat in their daily existence.  With the latest Fukushima radioactive waste spill of trillions of gallons of toxic liquids, our oceans cannot help but stagger to keep their “Ph” balance.  Fukushima spreading:

http://www.conspiracy-watch.org/fukushima-radiation-is-in-america/

When you include the 100 million ton, the size of Texas, (and growing by 2.5 million plastic pieces per hour), “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, which constitutes a floating plastic island and hangs 1,000 miles off San Francisco—you cannot help but understand that we humans desecrate our nest at blinding speed.  Soberingly, researchers tell us that 46,000 pieces of plastic float on every square mile of our oceans.  Those constitute pretty sickening statistics.

(Is it little wonder that marine life cannot survive the plastic onslaught of their environment?  Ocean beaches around the world feature this plastic filth. I’ve stood in knee deep plastic on some beaches.) Photo by www.inhabitat.com

Plastic killing zone at Midway Island:

http://www.upworthy.com/people-should-know-about-this-awful-thing-we-do-and-most-of-us-are-simply-unaware?c=ufb1

Do the oceans stand a chance when we remain on course to add another three billion of our species within 36 years by 2050? Answer: not a snowball’s chance in hell!

So when you read a sobering series like this that reports on the underpinnings of humanity’s dilemma, what do you think?  What do you do?  How do you do it? When do you start?

It’s my contention that environmental leaders and demographic experts rattle the bars, scream at the media and make some noise in every country around the world.  Silence won’t cut it fellow humans.  You need to engage your courage, your guts, your true grit and your creative energy to move the discussion to the highest levels in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and beyond.  If the Western world doesn’t address this, no one else will touch it!

Finally, your kids won’t be eating jellyfish; they will  choke on seaweed.

Post Script:

Exactly 10 years before, when Newcastle yachtsman Ivan Macfadyen sailed the same course from Melbourne to Osaka, all he’d had to do to catch a fish from the ocean between Brisbane and Japan was throw out a baited line.

“There was not one of the 28 days on that portion of the trip when we didn’t catch a good-sized fish to cook up and eat with some rice,” Macfadyen recalled.

But this time, on that whole long leg of sea journey, the total catch was two.  No fish. No birds. Hardly a sign of life at all.

“In years gone by, I’d gotten used to all the birds and their noises,” he said.

“They’d be following the boat, sometimes resting on the mast before taking off again. You’d see flocks of them wheeling over the surface of the sea in the distance, feeding on pilchards.”

But in March and April this year (2013), only silence and desolation surrounded his boat, Funnel Web, as it sped across the surface of a haunted ocean.

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If you would like to make a difference, please join these organizations for the most effective collective action you can take: www.CapsWeb.org ; www.NumbersUSA.org ; www.TheSocialContract.com ; www.Fairus.org

Join me, Frosty Wooldridge, with Dave Chaffin, host of the Morning Zone at 650 AM, www.KGAB.com, Cheyenne, Wyoming every Monday 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., as we discuss my latest commentaries about issues facing America. You may stream the show on your computer. You may call in at: 1-888-503-6500.

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In a five minute astoundingly simple yet brilliant video, “Immigration, Poverty, and Gum Balls”, Roy Beck, director of www.numbersusa.ORG, graphically illustrates the impact of overpopulation.  Take five minutes to see for yourself:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE&feature=player_embedded

“Immigration by the numbers—off the chart” by Roy Beck

This 10 minute demonstration shows Americans the results of unending mass immigration on the quality of life and sustainability for future generations: in a few words, “Mind boggling!”  www.NumbersUSA.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muw22wTePqQ

This is the best website to start:  www.numbersusa.org ; watch Roy Beck’s “Immigration by the Numbers” at 14 minutes. Bi-partisan and very effective. Become a faxer of pre-written letters to your reps to make positive  change.

Visit www.TheSocialContract.com for the best information on what we face as a civilization as to overpopulation, energy, immigration and much more.

Canada www.immigrationwatchcanada.org ; in Australia www.population.org.au and[email protected]; in Great Britain www.populationmatters.org ; and dozens of other sites accessed at www.frostywooldridge.com.   In Florida, www.flimen.org .

Must see DVD: “Blind Spot” www.snagfilms.com/films/title/blind_spot/ , This movie illustrates America’s future without oil, water and other resources to keep this civilization functioning. It’s a brilliant educational movie! www.blindspotdoc.com

Must see: Rapid Population Decline, seven minute video by Dr. Jack Alpert-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWduFB_RX0

Dave Gardner, President, Citizen-Powered Media ; Producing the Documentary, GROWTH BUSTERS; presents Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity, Join the cause at www.growthbusters.org ; Trailer to his latest movie on overpopulation:  http://youtu.be/KLWxWOcUrVc

Check out this link with Wooldridge on bicycle and Lester Brown and panel discussion:

www.upnorthmedia.org/watchupnorthtv.asp?SDBFid=1631

Tomorrow’s Americaproject on www.youtube.com/contemporarylearning.

Producer: GEORGE A. COLBURNwww.tomorrowsamerica.com

DC: 202-258-4887

Email: [email protected]

Link to www.tomorrowsamerica.com for more discussions on America’s predicament.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.starbrightmediacorp.com

www.tomorrowsamerica.com

Alexandra Paul talks about human overpopulation and saving our world by all women having 1 child only:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNxctzyNxC0

One planet, one child:

http://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/content/one-planet-onechild

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We must come to terms with birth control and stabilizing human population. This three minute video brings the terror of India’s predicament up close and personal by Paul Winn of Australia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZKd_Jvf2_c

This film will rock you:   MOTHER: CARING FOR 7 BILLION  

Dr. Jack Alpert , www.skil.org

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Important books to read and educate yourself:

Life on the Brink: Environmentalists Confront Overpopulation, edited by Philip Cafaro and Eileen Crist, 2012 

The World Without Us, Alan Weisman 2007   A scholarly research on how the Earth will fare after Homo sapiens are gone.

Man Swarm, and the Killing of Wildlife, Dave Foreman 2011  Mankind as locusts.

Take Conservation Back, Dave Foreman, 2013

The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler, what America faces when oil runs out.

Overshoot by William Catton

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

Peek Everything: Facing a century of Declines by Richard Heinberg

Plan B, 4.0, Saving Civilization by Lester Brown

The Population Fix by Edward C. Hartman

America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans by Frosty Wooldridge

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Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as eight times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. In 2012, he bicycled coast to coast across America.  He presents “The Coming Population Crisis facing America: what to do about it.”  www.frostywooldridge.com .  His latest book is: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World by Frosty Wooldridge, copies at 1 888 280 7715/ Motivational program: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World by Frosty Wooldridge, click:  www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com

Live well, laugh often, celebrate daily and enjoy the ride,

Frosty Wooldridge

Golden, Colorado

www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com

6 Continent world bicycle traveler

Order these unique cards today: http://www.howtolivealifeofadventure.com/