Like Shooting Fish in a Barrel: The Ethical Dilemma of Overfishing

Alex Wang

UGBA 107

6 August 2015

Professor Alan Ross

Like Shooting Fish in a Barrel: The Ethical Dilemma of Overfishing

Abstract

From business practices to daily routines, sustainability is a critical imperative that influences the way we act and how we plan our future actions. Recently, businesses and industries have taken the initiative to implement sustainable business models while incorporating responsible practices into their operations. However, not all industries have joined this movement; due to the high cost of removing old technologies, methodologies, and practices and implementing new sustainable alternatives, some industries have forgone these changes, leading them to continue creating excess amounts of negative externalities and damaging the environment and the society around them. Ergo, ethics are often at the center of this cost consideration: unsustainable practices are met with concerns regarding societal damage and environmental degradation, whereas sustainable alternatives are neglected due to high costs of implementation and potential collateral societal damage. This pertinent issue is best exemplified in overfishing within the fishing industry, an industry that has a significant global impact on various economies, billions of livelihoods, and ubiquitous ecosystems. As such, this paper will analyze the context of the issue and the historical background of overfishing and related destructive practices that plague the industry today and will present and evaluate the social, political, and ethical aspects of the fishing industry, particularly the dilemma of overfishing to society as an unsustainable practice as well as a necessary evil to maintain global economies and sustain consumer demand.

Historical Context

        Since the 11th century, when overfishing was first documented in human history, people have gone area to area and hunted specie by specie, only limited by their technological capabilities and geographical reach. As a result of this methodical exploitation of the oceans, warning signs as early as the 14th century of empty oceans and fishless waters gave rise to concerns for future fishing efforts. As businesses played a more dominant role in the wake of the industrial revolution and technology developed faster than the consumer demand for fish, heated discussions were sparked on the sustainability and morality of such destructive practices, citing that fishing in excess was unnecessary for businesses to prosper and continued practice would irrevocably damage the oceans that many depend on for their livelihood. However, with the growth and globalization of modern day economies and the expansion of business might, responsible and sustainable fishing practices were all but noise as the fishing industry scrambled to optimize their catches to ensure large profits and appreciating shareholder value. As small fishing ships turned into vast fishing fleets and humble fishing communities evolved into profit hungry fishing corporations, economic arguments outweighed any and all precautionary warnings to fish only what was necessary.^[1] Consequently, unhindered by technological or geographical limitations, the fishing industry and its destructive operations present a real threat that significantly impacts not only the global community, but also ecosystems worldwide.

What is Overfishing?

As defined by the Marine Conservation Society, overfishing is the practice of “fishing with a sufficiently high intensity to reduce the breeding stock levels to such an extent that they will no longer support a sufficient quantity of fish for sport or commercial harvest.”^[2] Because of its effect on fish populations and global ecosystems, overfishing has become a relevant issue that pressures questions about global sustainability and ethical behavior. However, because overfishing is systemically ingrained into many developing as well as developed economies, nations worldwide continue to permit overfishing practices to keep fish supplies available for global consumer demand. In effect, overfishing presents itself as a complex ethical dilemma: where sustainable practices encourage healthy rehabilitation for fish populations in different waters, current practices ensures the short-term stability of multiple economies all over the world, supporting an estimated 10-12% of the world’s population.^[3] However, despite the outcries for and against the practice of overfishing, what are the effects, both immediate and long-term, that this practice has on the world? Essentially, overfishing produces three primary effects: proliferation of more destructive fishing methods, irreversible ecological damage, and precarious local and global economic conditions.

Effects: Innovating Wanton Destruction

        As fish grew more scare in the oceans, innovation was required to develop new fishing techniques and technologies to maximize low yields and optimize poor fishing opportunities. Many of the innovations created to help fisheries cope with low fish populations devastated the environment and unintentionally harmed other animals. The use of chemicals in fishing, such as Potassium Cyanide fishing, is an example of this practice. Essentially, the Potassium Cyanide functions similarly to an anesthetic as it incapacitates the fish, causing the target to be easily captured. However, this method has devastating consequences as the chemical disturbs all marine life exposed to the formula, thus creating extensive collateral damage. Furthermore, research has substantially shown that Potassium Cyanide, when ingested, creates internal health problems for the host, such as gastrointestinal deterioration, acute brain damage, and eventual death. As a result, all members of a particular ecosystem exposed to the Potassium Cyanide including but not limited to the fish, coral, and Cnidarian populations face life-threatening long-term effects if they survived the short-term effect of capture by fishermen.^[4] In addition, fishing methods such as bottom trawling create broad ecological damage via physically tearing apart the bottoms of oceans. Regarding bottom trawling, ships drag large, heavy fishing nets along the seafloor, capturing vast amounts of marine life, while destroying aquatic plant life and marine ecosystems. In essence, bottom trawling is similar to the act of clear cutting forests, eliminating large populations of marine plant life and disrupting ubiquitous aquatic communities.^[5] Additionally, bottom trawling is all-encompassing in its capture, thus it often captures non-targeted animals, otherwise known as bycatches. Based on a study done by Oceana, an international effort dedicated to reducing bycatches worldwide, billions of pounds of sea life are caught worldwide every year as bycatch. Because bottom trawling catches sea life indiscriminately, diverse sea creatures are captured, oftentimes resulting in the captured animal’s death as they are thrown back to the ocean after suffering physical trauma from the force of the net.^[6] In essence, as catches yield lower quantities, fishing industries are forced to turn to more efficient and destructive methods, often resulting in extensive damages that have negative long term effects and pose significant challenges to future recovery.