[realfan87]

There may be no more commercial fish stocks left in the sea by 2050, according to a new study cataloguing the global collapse of marine ecosystems.
It blames not just over-fishing, but also mankind’s wider attack on the health of ocean ecosystems, for instance from pollution. “Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working eco-systems, then this century is the last century of wild food,” says Steve Palumbi at Stanford University in California, US, who carried out the four-year investigation with colleagues.
The study is the biggest and most all-embracing effort yet to understand the productivity of the oceans and predict their future. Uniquely, it combines historical data on fish catches, some of it going back a thousand years, with analysis of marine ecosystems and experiments to bring marine life back to protected areas.
The authors, from five countries, reviewed hundreds of individual studies covering every scale from whole oceans to marine plots of a few square metres. They say the same pattern emerges at every scale. Rich ecosystems with many species can survive over-fishing and other threats well – but once biodiversity is lost, the entire system, including fish stocks, goes into exponential decline.

Accelerating pace

A healthy ecosystem keeps fish healthy and............................... Continue Reading

[RokgroofeTeme]

Oh, and the sky is falling too!! [beta]

[EmpokemyMok]

Well that's help me decide what I'm having for dinner tonight. Get them before they run out. I'm going to tell my fish shop to put a "Last Few Fish!" sign in the window.

Seriously though, I am.

[naturaherbal]

Ehm by the 2050 the world's population and average wealth will be so high that we'll have huge factories making arteficial food all over the world. Meat wont be caught but bred in huge quantities, and plants will be mass produced with the energy of nuclear fusion. We have started this super food production already, look at farms nowadays, and greenhouses.

Also without arteficial manure we couldn't produce even near enough food to feed the world's population today. Just read that in my chemistry book.

[Kolokireo]

Well I know what I'm having for dinner tonight! Sushi!

In a non laughing matter this sucks! Why does it all of a sudden seem like the world is really taking a dive? I'm not sure if I should be concerned or just go about not caring. Is the media toying with me?

I'm not sure if I should panic and try to make things better, or just live it up for what is left?

[realfan87]

Meat wont be caught but bred in huge quantities

You do realise that every animal you eat is mobile, actually lives some type of life and the results of that are shown in its meat. it would be an incredible feat to be able to create food out of thin air, but sadly humanities survival however long or short will be seen through with the consumption of livestock

plants will be mass produced with the energy of nuclear fusion

I dont even know where to start with that [rofl] but power requirements arent much of an issue when growing plants. hydroponic systems will not function any more effectively if you feed them excessively large amount of energy. Our ability to gain a higher yield from plants/ crops does not come from the electricity used to power hydroponic regulation systems.

[Nicihntm]

hmm, sounds like crap to me

[GroosteFoessy]

a fishy tail if ever i heard one.

[AngegepeM]

OMG world ending.

Economics teaches us that, even if we do run out of seafood, people will simply stop paying for the ridiculous prices that merchants will charge for the low supply of it. People will change. Technology will change.

More media panic mongering, all it is.

[DuesTyr]

OMG world ending.

Economics teaches us that, even if we do run out of seafood, people will simply stop paying for the ridiculous prices that merchants will charge for the low supply of it. People will change. Technology will change.

More media panic mongering, all it is.

And on another note....over 100 new aquatic speces were recently discovered in Hawaii. I am sure we can eat some of them.

I am not saying we shouldnt do all we can to protect our environment..but I agree with others who think this is the usual sensationalism done by scientists who want big grant money and newswriters who want headlines.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061102/...sc/new_species

[Kolokireo]

And on another note....over 100 new aquatic speces were recently discovered in Hawaii. I am sure we can eat some of them.

I am not saying we shouldnt do all we can to protect our environment..but I agree with others who think this is the usual sensationalism done by scientists who want big grant money and newswriters who want headlines.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061102/...sc/new_species

Thanks for that perspective.

But thats what I'm talking about..... I feel like I'm in some kind of media cage and I'm being toyed with.[cursing]
Hmm which cheese will he go for?

I'm tired of trying to be rational. Its taking more and more effort all of the time.

[Liaptoono]

-Deleted-

[Liaptoono]

I would like to add two points to this dicussion. Firstly, we ran out of food 150 years ago so who cares if we run out again?

Malthus's views were largely developed in reaction to the optimistic views of his father and his associates, notably Rousseau. Malthus, also was known for his pessimistic views and his secret sex change. Malthus's essay was also in response to the views of the Marquis de Condorcet. In An Essay on the Principle of Population, first published in 1798, Malthus made the famous prediction that population would outrun food supply, leading to a decrease in food per person. (Case & Fair, 1999: 790). He even went so far as to specifically predict that this must occur by the middle of the 19th century, a prediction which failed for several reasons, including his use of static analysis, taking recent trends and projecting them indefinitely into the future, which often fails for complex systems.

Secondly, global warming is going to kill us all by 2050 so who cares about what happens then anyway?

[Garry Hovard]

OMG world ending.

Economics teaches us that, even if we do run out of seafood, people will simply stop paying for the ridiculous prices that merchants will charge for the low supply of it. People will change. Technology will change.

More media panic mongering, all it is.

not at all

by reducing the size of the population, the sustainable yield gets lower from year to year and it's quite possible, that some species die out completely


ECONOMICS DO NOT PRODUCE ALWAYS AN EFFICENT OUTCOME, I thought this was common knowledge but obviously it is not

[PypeDeft]

That’s one hell of a false title! I don’t see why this would affect farm raised seafood, and before you go and yell that there will be no way to produce enough for general populations remember about supply and demand. Farm raised fish might reach $50 a pound or something but there will always be people that can afford it and will want to buy it. All these “WORLD ENDS!”, “WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF AIR!”, “HOLY CRAP THE PLANET IS GOING TO SPLIT IN HALF!” crap never seems to think about what new technologies and inventions we might have by then. Sure if everything was at a stand still for the next 40 some years maybe we would be out of this and that, but since when have humans stopped doing anything progressive?! We’re already trying to lab grow meat for consumption, and while I’m sure it sucks right now and is still down on the cell level or something, give it 40 years and see where it is.

[Nicihntm]

good point arcaney, they do have farms for fish just like cattle

[Abofedrorobox]

1) Without being a marine biologist and personally going through study data, and by just reading the article, it's impossible for one to say what's correct and what's not. Heck I'm guessing the extrapolation may be somewhat dodgy.

However,

2) The article does not say that humans will run out of food, but rather that wild-caught seafood is at risk. Is that so implausible?

3) Totally screwing up the ocean ecosystem to the point that most naturally occuring fish is gone cannot be a good thing. Some of you act like that would be acceptable as long as fish farms or synthetic foods can meet consumption demands.

[Kolokireo]

1) Without being a marine biologist and personally going through study data, and by just reading the article, it's impossible for one to say what's correct and what's not. Heck I'm guessing the extrapolation may be somewhat dodgy.

However,

2) The article does not say that humans will run out of food, but rather that wild-caught seafood is at risk. Is that so implausible?

3) Totally screwing up the ocean ecosystem to the point that most naturally occuring fish is gone cannot be a good thing. Some of you act like that would be acceptable as long as fish farms or synthetic foods can meet consumption demands.

[yes] Exactly!

Synthetic and farming= Yuck! I would prefer the real thing. I know farming is becoming more and more common with shrimp and salmon, but I still would like to know the real thing is out there available and uncontaminated. If this is a possible feat then I would like to pursue it with maximum effort! If not lets start farming.

[pepBarihepe]

hmm, sounds like crap to me

Agree, more of the usual doom and gloom from the libs it seems.

If this is reallyyyyy going to happen I better make sure I hit up Capt D's tomorrow and start consuming more seafood because I want my damn share of it!

[Kolokireo]

Agree, more of the usual doom and gloom from the libs it seems.

[rofl][rofl] WTF?!

Can we all start thinking from the middle from now on? I so hate this lableing crap![cursing]
It gets no where! Registered Republican here!![yes]

I want free markets and I want accountability!