Overfishing and the acidification of Oceans: an exploratory scenario of 2050:
Water is a requisite for human life and is of supreme value for the survival of every biotic component on this planet. Water constitutes nearly 70% of the planet, showing that it is of far more considerable significance as compared to land, which only covers 30% of the Earth. Water is the greatest key to the sustainability of our planet, maintaining and ratifying the Earthier conditions, making their survival possible. The importance of the water is evident from the fact that water plays an integral role in buffering global warming, absorbing 30% of the Carbon Dioxide, thereby removing 90% of the excess heat. However, the human actions are explicitly jeopardizing the sustainability of the Earth, and posing threats to the water bodies all around the globe, and implicitly jeopardizing the survival of their own kind and other biotic components, affecting biodiversity. And all of these are correlated (Philip W. Boyd, 2011). Overfishing and acidification of the ocean are primarily caused by overpopulation and the industrial effluents. these industrial effluents are constantly dumped into these water bodies, affecting these oceans to a large extent. In fact, the United Nations has asserted that by 2050 the eutrophication and pollution will deteriorate the oceans by more than 20%, causing acidification of the oceans. And it is inferred that the 680 million people, inhabiting the low-lying coastal zones in 2020, are estimated to increase to more than a billion in 2050, who will completely rely on seafood principally fishes, and hence resulting in overfishing (Marten Scheffer, 2005). Therefore, the exploratory scenario in 2050 will be as such that there will be only a small fraction of the fish left in the oceans and the water bodies will be highly acidified rendering it hazardous for the use by humans and animals, and ultimately killing all marine species (Victoria J. Fabry, 2008). Hence, the oceans will be polluted to a large extent, with little or no marine biodiversity by 2050.
Critical Issues:
Considering the implications that are contributing to the deterioration of these water bodies principally oceans, and the causes of overfishing and acidification, there are several reasons as asserted by marine scientists. Firstly, the increasing population of the human species, and consequently the increasing nutritional and economic needs, compel people to pursue overfishing (Shijie Zhou, 2015). And as this population is expected to increase substantially, the human population is expected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, implying that there will be more than ever nutritional and economic needs, resulting in poor fisheries management, unsustainable fishing, and open access fishery, all leading to overfishing directly and endangerment or extinction of several species of fishes, misbalancing the marine ecosystem and biodiversity, indirectly. Moreover, illegitimate and unauthorized/unregulated fishing activities, due to either limited laws and regulations or poor execution of the existing laws, are all contributing to overfishing, hence, threatening the existence of marine life, affecting the food chains and food webs, ultimately resulting in deterioration of the water bodies (Robert Costanza, 1998).
Similarly, acidification of the oceans is another contributing factor to destroying the water bodies, and devastating the marine ecosystem. Acidification of the oceans is primarily caused by the industrial wastes, that are being dumped by a large number of industries every year into the water bodies, without any protective mechanisms to oblige (DONEY, 2006). It has been implied by the World Water Assessment Program that nearly 70% of the industrial wastes are dumped into the water bodies, untreated, all across the world. And these industrial wastes contain a large proportion of toxic chemicals and radioactive elements which react with each other, and in turn produce more toxicity which increases the acids in the water, resulting in the acidification of water bodies (Carles Pelejero, 2010). And since, the era of globalization, the technological revolution has set in, and the industrial progression is accelerated. And because of this industrial progression, it is expected that by 2050, nearly more than 2/3rd of the world economy will depend on industrial development, with more than ever industries, and hence industrial waste. And if the conventional and hazardous trend of dumping of industrial waste into water bodies continued, then by 2050 the oceans will be completely dazed, and not only fish but other marine life will be destroyed (Doney, 2009). Moreover, this water will be rendered unhealthy and poisonous for humans as well, menacing the survival of the human species as well. Besides dumping of industrial wastes, the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide, caused by human activities and the modern machines used by humans (automobiles, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc.), is absorbed by these water bodies, increasing the acid production in them, all causing acidification. And this technological advancement has gained momentum, and by 2050, it will be at its peak, speeding up the acidification of oceans (Samantha J. Gibbs, 2012).
Assumptions:
We are making the following assumptions:
1. The overfishing of the oceans will increase substantially in 2050, because of the increasing human population, and the subsequent rising nutritional and economic needs. Moreover, as mentioned earlier that the human population in the low-lying coastal areas will increase up to 1 billion in 2050, and these inhabitants will be largely engaged in fish hunting, all resulting in overfishing. Hence, by 2050, we assume that the marine fish will decrease largely with the increase in overfishing.
2. Moreover, the acidification of the oceans will also increase substantially by 2050 because of industrial advancement and technological development, which result in the release of toxic chemicals and effluents both into the water bodies and into the atmosphere. This will be absorbed by the water, resulting in the production of large quantities of acids, ultimately leading to the acidification of water bodies, threatening marine life, and unbalancing the marine ecosystems to a large extent.
3. However, this acidification and overfishing will be controlled, somehow, by 2050, with not as adverse effects as anticipated, because of a large number of international and national organizations, working for the sustainability and conservation of water bodies, and marine ecosystems.
Scenario:
Since, following our scenario, there will be substantial changes in the marine ecosystem, and in the marine food chains as well as the food webs, as a result of the increasing overfishing and acidification of soils, which will deteriorate the water bodies as a result of other effects associated with the overfishing and acidification, such as eutrophication. However, to minimize this detrimental impact of the overfishing and acidification caused by technological advancement, several governmental organizations are making efforts to conserve the water bodies.
There are many international organizations including the United Nations, Oceania, Blue Pacific Continent, Marine Conservation, Green Peace Organization, Oceanic Preservation Society, The Environment Défense Fund, The 5 Gyres Institute, and many others. These organizations share almost similar objectives, of conserving the marine ecosystem, sustaining the oceans and other water bodies, balancing the marine life, and saving the marine species, protecting them from overhunting and other pollution all affecting the oceans including acidification, water pollution, eutrophication, overfishing, and other effects.
The potential outcomes of the projects initiated by these organizations incorporate several environmental strategies, all inclined to bring oceanic sustainability and conserving the marine ecosystem and protection of marine species, which might be potentially strong to control the devastative effects of acidification and control the overfishing of the water bodies. These organizations have launched projects that are helping both developing nations and developed nations to formulate the laws regarding marine conservations, and to enforce these laws effectively to combat the problems including illegal and unregulated fishing. Hence, if these projects are implemented successfully, then by 2050, the marine ecosystem will sustain and the adverse consequences will be controlled considerably (Sumaila, 2020).
However, several challenges might hinder these projects to reach their anticipated objectives, for instance, overpopulation is the most significant challenge, as the human population is increasing day by day, and it is expected to rise to 9.8 billion by 2050, which indicates increasing nutritional needs, ultimately leading to overfishing. Secondly, the technological advancement and the industrial revolution are increasing the environmental wastes and these industrial wastes and other atmospheric wastes are increasing water pollution and acidification, challenging these organizations to achieve their motives.
Recommendations:
Several improvements can be made to prevent overfishing and acidification. Primarily, the wastage management mechanism of industrial effluents needs to be changed, and the companies need to develop effective strategies, such as segregation and recycling, use of landfills, and compositing (U. Thara Srinivasan, 2012). Moreover, policies should be formulated for controlling the human population and to stop the increasing population, as it can only be a solution to control pollution, and can also control overfishing. Moreover, the industrial revolution needs to be controlled effectively, by controlling the wastes and toxic chemicals. These could largely influence the sustainability of oceans and can maintain marine ecosystems. (Oscar Grillo, 2007)
