What you can do
Find out about what's causing the destruction of habitats and extinction of species around the world, and what we can do. In our summer campaigns we have highlighted the problems of logging and the bushmeat trade and overfishing. Our local wildlife and habitats are important too - find out why landfill is a problem and the many ways we could use our rubbish, with a list of local facilities.
Over-fishing
Over-fishing is caused by:
- Fishing boats not being properly policed to check that they are not exceeding their quotas.
- Industrial methods of catching fish – taking enormous amounts of fish in trawlers.
- Too much emphasis on a few species – we only fish 20 of the 224 species in the North Sea.
- Harvesting fish that are juveniles or breeding.
- European politics have not confronted the problem sooner and by not getting tough with the worst offenders.
To make matters worse, we are also heavily polluting the seas with industrial waste and oil spills from tankers.
What can we do?
If you love eating fish, be a bit more adventurous! Try eating more unusual, but equally tasty varieties such as pollack, saithe or ling – ask your local supermarket or fish and chip shop if they stock these more common species.
The Marine Stewardship Council has set up an excellent new system. The MSC logo appears only on fish that is caught sustainably, which means that seas or rivers are not cleared of all their fish stocks for the sake of today’s dinner.
You can buy Thames herring, Alaska salmon, New Zealand hoki and Australian rock lobster all of which have the MSC seal of approval - look out for it next time.
What not to do:
Don’t be fooled into thinking that farmed fish is a safe option! Farmed fish are kept in great pens in the sea, densely packed together, causing disease to be spread quickly and the area to be heavily polluted with their excrement. The infections are can be passed on to wild species in nearby waters.
Buy wild fish that are sustainably caught, or buy organic farmed fish, which are not given drugs and are raised less intensively, and are therefore less harmful to their wild neighbours.
