MNN - Mother Nature Network

part of the reason our oceans are in trouble. How arrogant of you to only care about yourself and the other animals you eat. I cannot wait till small-minded morons like you go extinct. There are countless people and organizations around the world fighting to protect countless other species from going extinct including fish. Look up biodiversity and see why the most selfish animal on Earth (humans) cannot survive if we continue to wipe out every other species on the planet. We need Tigers, we need Chimpanzees, we need Frogs...

preserved as well. This is because the tiger's prey, as well as the plants they feed on, and all the animals that live in the same area and all the plants that share the same area will also be preserved. So, for example, maybe there is some kind of highly endangered insect that lives in the same habitat as tigers but they are so small that no significant area will be set aside for them. Also a tiger, being beautiful or cute, can garner huge amounts of sympathy that simply could not be had by a weird looking bug or a tree. Then, by virtue of the tiger's habitat being preserved, many of these other species can be preserved as well. Reducing poaching of tigers also reduces poaching of other species, such as endangered antelopes or one horned rhinos, and also reduces the environmental damage of higher numbers of humans moving around in the habitat damaging ecosystems and causing erosion. As for fisheries worldwide, the unfortunate fact is that in order to fully protect them, many different and varying agencies must work together and sometimes that requires certain industries to completely halt their activities in areas that contribute to the downfall of a particular species. For example, salmon fisheries are not just impacted by overfishing, but also by diseases spread by farmed salmon, loss of habitat from dams and water diversion for agricultural and urban use, logging which increases erosion and therefore sediments in the water where the salmon spawn and grow up (detrimental to their health), mining and industry which release pollutants into the water, and even sewage treatment which releases water that is unsuitable for them. It is very difficult to get all these diverse groups to work together at all, much less to make some major sacrifices for something they don't realize a direct benefit from. This is what makes it very hard to protect salmon fisheries, and fisheries in general, and does not include the fact that most oceanic fisheries do not fall within clear national boundaries so it also involves the cooperation of every country which would have an interest in fishing that species. Most people who eat fish do not realize how global a fish really is, and how many other human activities that do not seem related are actually directly affecting the fishes of the world. The best way to help is to donate to organizations that try to preserve or rebuild fisheries by involving all the different groups, and to eat no fish or only fish that is marked with the green "safe" and/or "sustainable" marker that is found in the guide for seafood - usually available at aquariums and ocean science centeres. There is a very good one put out by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and it is also online. I hope this information was useful.