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The empty sea

By John Fairfax - posted Wednesday, 1 March 2017


Farmers are blamed for excessive nutrient but farmland runoff only occurs in association with rain.

City and town sewage is dumped daily. Too much nutrient is usually destructive.

Historically unprecedented algae mass is linked to anoxia in ocean dead zones.

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During late 2016 the salmon aquaculture industry in Scotland announced less oil in farmed salmon due to worldwide shortage of oily wild fishfor aquaculture feed.

Not enough oily fish to feed aquaculture forms evidence small fish populations are devastated, worldwide.

Humpback whale stranding and death from propeller strike has been occurring in narrow shipping channelswhere whales hunt for menhaden. Some people think there are plenty of menhaden.

Menhaden populations have however been devastated to the point even the fishing industry is callingfor reduction in catch.

Pacific sardine numbers have plummeted 90 percent since 2006.

Peru holds the world record catch of 12 million tonnes of anchovy in one year.

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Numerous small fish populations have collapsedworldwide at a time of human population increase impacting the food-web nursery ecosystems.

Ask older fishermen. Older fishermen and coastal dwelling people in most countries can remember the flocks of seabirds diving and feeding on numerous schools of fish almost daily. Now such sightings are rare generally.

In Bass Strait between Tasmania and Australia in the 1970's, lights from 'floating cities' of squid boats could be seen at night but by 1980 that fishery also ceased to exist. Whales eat squid.

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About the Author

John Fairfax is an underwater explorer.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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