Fish
Table of Contents
Introduction
Threats to Fish
The items in this section are not currently listed by level of impact, in part because the comparative level of danger from each threat varies from one location to another. For example habitat loss of pollution may pose a greater impact for places without dams or with stricter fishing law enforcement, while dams or overfishing can be the main cause of population collapse in other places.
Europe
"With hydropower, overfishing, climate change and pollution on the rise, populations of migratory freshwater fish species have plummeted globally by 76% on average since 1970, including a 93% collapse in Europe." - WWF
Aquaculture
Poaching - The Pet Industry
Exotic species are at particularly high risk from poaching for the exotic pet industry. Since many species are difficult if not impossible to breed in captivity, a massive quantity are harvested from coral reefs and other delicate habitats each year. Poachers often use cyanide to "knock out" the fish, however many fish in the area die from contact with this poison, which also hurts the surrounding reef. A shockingly high percentage of pet shop fish in the USA test positive for cyanide, which indicates their illegal's origins.
Climate Change
Energy Production
Hydro Power
Dams have cut of a substantial number of migration routes for species such as salmon who rely on the ability to return to their freshwater spawning grounds to reproduce. Weirs and intake pipes can also pose hazards to fish and other aquatic species.
Fossil Fuels
Seabed exploration, drilling, leaky infrastructure, and massive oil spills have historically been a very large danger to fish as well as many other ocean species. In addition to the deadly levels of noise and chemical pollution of course, fossil fuels also add to greenhouse gas load in our atmosphere, increasing climate change. As waters warm, this disrupts basic behaviors, metabolic activities, and even reduces the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water for aquatic species to breath. Some species are slowly adapting to these changes, but generally speaking, anything that can't migrate away from these dangers simply dies.
Wind Energy
Turbines cause significantly less harm than hydropower or fossil fuels, however the process of installing turbines can create significant noise pollution during the construction phase.
For this reason it it highly recommended (and in some countries legally mandatory) to install a bubble curtain to muffle noises and protect the local wildlife.
Solutions
Combat Pollution
This section doesn't yet cover all types of pollution, but we've managed to include most common types of pollution as well as ways to reduce or eliminate their impact.
Prevention
Prevention is cheaper and easier than cleaning up pollutants after they have infiltrated the environment, or worse, entered the food chain.
Combat Invasives
This should involve prevention measures like cleaning off boat hulls, not transporting exotic plants or other species to new regions, which can reduce costs long term. Killing off invasive species once they have gained a foothold can be very difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Often attempts can cause serious harm to native species, or cause population booms in invasive populations.
Bubble curtains can be an affordable and fairly simple addition to a prevention system. Bubble curtains can help reduce the movement of invasive algae and jelly fish, as well as pollution including plastic debris.
Tools & Apps
Oceana
New Zealand
Spyfish Aotearoa 🐙 🦈🐟 🐠 # 📷 "Our team deploys baited underwater cameras in marine reserves all over Aotearoa New Zealand to monitor the abundance and diversity of marine life.
Help us identify and count the species of fish recorded by the cameras. Your classifications will be used to determine the effectiveness of the reserves, inform marine management, and protect our taonga (treasured) species."
Organizations
Europe
OSPAR "is the mechanism by which 15 Governments & the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.
OSPAR started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping and was broadened to cover land-based sources of marine pollution and the offshore industry by the Paris Convention of 1974. These two conventions were unified, up-dated and extended by the 1992 OSPAR Convention. The new annex on biodiversity and ecosystems was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that can adversely affect the sea.
The fifteen Governments are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
OSPAR is so named because of the original Oslo and Paris Conventions ("OS" for Oslo and "PAR" for Paris)."
Maps
North America
USA
Water Scarcity and Fish Imperilment Driven by Beef Production (Paper with maps)
Who Are The Top Toxic Water Polluters in Your State? Interactive map. Scroll down for the full list, and click the arrow under the list to find your state. Some of the worst polluters are livestock related, including meat-processing plants.