UK Waters So Overfished That They Can Supply Only Six Months Of Domestic Demand

[hatrack]

Britain's coastal waters are so overfished that they can supply the nation's chip shops, restaurants and kitchens for little more than six months of every year, research has shown.

Overfishing has caused so much damage to fish stocks across Europe that the quantity landed each year to satisfy the public appetite has fallen by 2 per cent on average every year since 1993.

So great is demand that next Saturday, 16 July, has been dubbed Fish Dependence Day – the day on which imports would have to be relied upon because native supplies would have run out if only home-caught fish had been eaten since 1 January. Last year it fell on 3 August, almost three weeks later, and in 1995 it was six weeks later.

Other European countries consume fish at an even greater rate and the EU as a whole reached its Fish Dependence Day on 2 July, compared with 9 July last year, with fishermen estimated to have landed 200,000 tonnes less than a year earlier. Spain became dependent on non-EU imports on 8 May, Germany on 27 April, Italy on 30 April and France on 13 June.

EDIT

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/huge-demand-for-fish-empties-british-waters-in-just-six-months-2311656.html

[Mimosa]

1. Not surprising.

many, many hungry people in the world. Limited oceans. The Cousteau family predicted this. :(

[Gregorian]

2. For an animal that can put one of it's own on the moon, not such a smart one after all.

It has always amazed me how ignorant, yet how intelligent this specie is. I noticed this early on while taking engineering courses in college. These were people who designed the shuttle, among other things. Yet their conversations gave the impression that there were no limits. I saw the limits while still a child. And to think of the argument that perhaps we could take on another 10 billion people.

My biggest surprise is that this happened so fast. Even the pessimist in me thought this would take another century.

I hate to think of what is going transpire over the next couple of decades.

[pscot]

3. I dread what's coming

I'm afraid there will be a general unraveling of society, accompanied by considerable violence. We're going to be fighting over the ruins of our civilization for a long time.