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  1. #1
    Nidhogg
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    Seafood faces collapse by 2048

    http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11 ... index.html

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Clambakes, crabcakes, swordfish steaks and even humble fish sticks could be little more than a fond memory in a few decades.

    If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, the populations of just about all seafood face collapse by 2048, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

    "Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world's ocean, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems," said the lead author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Watch how the seafood on your plate may become a thing of the past -- 3:10)

    "I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are -- beyond anything we suspected," Worm said.

    While the study focused on the oceans, concerns have been expressed by ecologists about threats to fish in the Great Lakes and other lakes, rivers and freshwaters, too.

    Worm and an international team spent four years analyzing 32 controlled experiments, other studies from 48 marine protected areas and global catch data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's database of all fish and invertebrates worldwide from 1950 to 2003.

    The scientists also looked at a 1,000-year time series for 12 coastal regions, drawing on data from archives, fishery records, sediment cores and archaeological data.

    "At this point 29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed -- that is, their catch has declined by 90 percent. It is a very clear trend, and it is accelerating," Worm said. "If the long-term trend continues, all fish and seafood species are projected to collapse within my lifetime -- by 2048."

    "It looks grim and the projection of the trend into the future looks even grimmer," he said. "But it's not too late to turn this around. It can be done, but it must be done soon. We need a shift from single species management to ecosystem management. It just requires a big chunk of political will to do it."

    The researchers called for new marine reserves, better management to prevent overfishing and tighter controls on pollution.

    In the 48 areas worldwide that have been protected to improve marine biodiversity, they found, "diversity of species recovered dramatically, and with it the ecosystem's productivity and stability."

    While seafood forms a crucial concern in their study, the researchers were analyzing overall biodiversity of the oceans. The more species in the oceans, the better each can handle exploitation.

    "Even bugs and weeds make clear, measurable contributions to ecosystems," said co-author J. Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.

    The National Fisheries Institute, a trade association for the seafood industry, does not share the researchers alarm.

    "Fish stocks naturally fluctuate in population," the institute said in a statement. "By developing new technologies that capture target species more efficiently and result in less impact on other species or the environment, we are helping to ensure our industry does not adversely affect surrounding ecosystems or damage native species.

    Seafood has become a growing part of Americans' diet in recent years. Consumption totaled 16.6 pounds per person in 2004, the most recent data available, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That compares with 15.2 pounds in 2000.

    Joshua Reichert, head of the private Pew Charitable Trusts' environment program, pointed out that worldwide fishing provides $80 billion in revenue and 200 million people depend on it for their livelihoods. For more than 1 billion people, many of whom are poor, fish is their main source of protein, he said.

    The research was funded by the National Science Foundation's National Center for Ecological Synthesis and Analysis.
    Everytime there's a new report like this it sends a chill down my spine. Not just that it's happening, but that it's happening right now, and we'll see the worst of it in our lifetime.

  2. #2
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    shit, now i'm hungry for some crab cakes

  3. #3

    I talked to my oceanography proffesor about this a while ago and he confirmed that our generation is pretty much fucked, huzzah.

  4. #4

    This study didn't account for the fact that mankind will destroy itself well before then.

  5. #5
    Banned.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    This study didn't account for the fact that mankind will destroy itself well before then.
    Should be pretty much destroyed by 2012

  6. #6

    The fact that someone, let alone more than one person shares my cynicism and pessimism makes me morbidly optimistic.

  7. #7
    CoP Dynamis
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylia
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    This study didn't account for the fact that mankind will destroy itself well before then.
    Should be pretty much destroyed by 2012
    Really? I bet everyone will just nuke everyone at the same time and only the cockroaches will remain.

  8. #8

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylia
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    This study didn't account for the fact that mankind will destroy itself well before then.
    Should be pretty much destroyed by 2012
    that's a little early, i figure that Emo will become a political party by about 2020 and by 2025-2030 the world will crumble.

  9. #9
    Nidhogg
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    Median projection for total world population by 2050 is supposed to be around 9.6 billion

  10. #10
    Old Merits
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylia
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    This study didn't account for the fact that mankind will destroy itself well before then.
    Should be pretty much destroyed by 2012
    that's a little early, i figure that Emo will become a political party by about 2020 and by 2025-2030 the world will crumble.

    The Mayans predicted Dec 10(i think) 2012

  11. #11
    Demosthenes11
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    Not faith in humanity eh?

    We will find a way, always have, always will

    Doubt the human race will go extinct for another 1000 years or so

  12. #12
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    i guess all that real estate i bought on the moon wont be worthless anymore!

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xiona
    i guess all that real estate i bought on the moon wont be worthless anymore!
    Xiona wins the thread yet again!

  14. #14

    Quote Originally Posted by Slapper
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylia
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    This study didn't account for the fact that mankind will destroy itself well before then.
    Should be pretty much destroyed by 2012
    that's a little early, i figure that Emo will become a political party by about 2020 and by 2025-2030 the world will crumble.

    The Mayans predicted Dec 10(i think) 2012
    While i won't discount the advanced civilization of it's era, they didn't do to well predicting their own demise...i don't think i'm going to take their word for it on this one.

  15. #15
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    I live in Baltimore, crab cakes are my life!

  16. #16
    Black Belt
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    stuff them down while you can.

  17. #17

    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylia
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    This study didn't account for the fact that mankind will destroy itself well before then.
    Should be pretty much destroyed by 2012
    that's a little early, i figure that Emo will become a political party by about 2020 and by 2025-2030 the world will crumble.
    sigh...
    haven't you guys seen what happens in Terminator 3 rise of the machines?

    duh

  18. #18
    Melee Summoner
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slapper
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaylia
    Quote Originally Posted by Skyylya
    This study didn't account for the fact that mankind will destroy itself well before then.
    Should be pretty much destroyed by 2012
    that's a little early, i figure that Emo will become a political party by about 2020 and by 2025-2030 the world will crumble.

    The Mayans predicted Dec 10(i think) 2012
    it's friday, december 21st, 2012. and it's not as much of an ending, as it is a changing of the cycles, which may or may not include the extinction of mankind.

    the collapse of seafood isn't as big of a problem as the lack of potable water will be. there will still be land based foodstuffs, but a lack of water is a lack of life.

  19. #19
    BG is my LJ
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    i heard this like last week in my Ecology & Evolution class >.> lol

    stop breeding motherfuckers

  20. #20
    I Am, Who I Am.
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    Good, I hate seafood.

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