World Without Fish

Biodiversity, an elision of “biological diversity,” refers to the variety and interactions of all living things on earth. Life depends on this variety, and the fewer species that exist in an ecosystem, the less biodiversity there is and the harder it will be for the remaining species to survive. The disappearance of fish species due to overfishing is a threat to biodiversity that has cumulative effects on the entire natural order.

Commercial extinction is distinct from biological extinction. While biological extinction means that there are no surviving members of a given species, commercial extinction occurs when there are so few left of a species that fishing for them is no longer profitable.

Natural selection is the idea (developed by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species) that nature is a system in which all living things struggle for survival. In this struggle for survival, nature “puts out variations” (15), and natural selection is the process by which these variations allow certain living organisms to adapt to their environment and survive while others become extinct. Over time, these gradual changes become more distinct and give rise to the incredible biodiversity that makes up the natural order on Earth.

Nature’s bounty is the enduring misconception that nature is such a powerful force that it is indestructible. It is the idea that human activity cannot affect the natural order of oceans, land, or air, regardless of how much we take from or destroy the environment. During the 1800s, fish were viewed as evidence supporting this idea since a single fish can produce millions of eggs. More recently, scientists have learned that despite the massive quantity of eggs, only one to six offspring will survive, much like mammals.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a deadly pollutant used in the manufacture of electrical equipment, paint, plastics, motor oil, and many other household items. PCBs are incredibly difficult to clean up because they cannot be broken down. Before they were banned in the United States in 1979, they often entered the land and seas in the form of manufacturing waste. The smallest animals in the food chain eat these poisons, which then become more concentrated in the larger animals that eat them.