ExtinctMammals

From coraldigest
Jump to: navigation, search

Extinct Marine Mammals

Past Extinctions

Causes

Effects

On Humans

• Overexploitation seems to be the main issue – loss of fish from overfishing and poor practices can destroy ways of life, jobs, industries, etc.

• Marine mammals are often caught as bycatch

• Unregulated harvest

• new and innovative solutions to this problem are required to take account of the socioeconomic conditions experienced by fishermen” (Merritt)

• Issue of regulation versus deregulation – looking at pros and cons of regulation seeing as it costs a lot, but is significant in saving a species

o Regulation = politically unpopular (Merritt)

• Poverty and the collapse of other industries can lead to abrupt changes in local fishing conditions – may start to prey on marine mammals once their value as food and bait is noticed

o Unregulated and unsustainable (Merritt)

o Peruvian dolphins; anchovy fisheries collapsed so people started hunting dolphins; led to depletion in population (Merritt)

On Ecosystems

• World’s fisheries are not only impacting marine mammals, but the trophic structure as well – by capturing huge amounts of fish they are causing changes in energy pathways and species numbers (Merritt)

o Affect marine mammals adversely

• Loss of biodiversity/ decline in mammals can cause population imbalances in other species (Munday)

Connection to Coral Reefs

Prevention

Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.