TeD Talk: How We Wrecked The Ocean
May 10, 2010 by Irene Duma · Leave a Comment
You can’t live in Newfoundland without thinking about overfishing. In this TED video the truth about it is driven home – it’s bad news.
Coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson lays out the state of the ocean today: overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction and ocean warming have fundamentally changed marine ecosystems and led to “the rise of slime,” and it’ll only get worse.
For example: a typical trophy fish today
Sports fishing today - the day's trophy fish
VS. trophy fish in the 50s weighing an average 250-300 lbs. This is a photo taken from the same ocean, same boat, on the same dock, as the one with the tiny fish above.
Sport fishing in the 50s
What will the oceans be like in 20-50 years? It’s ridiculously scary.
Can we fix it? Yes, but not if we don’t change ourselves and our addiction to growth.
But we better – the future of life depends on it. Is anyone listening?
*Jeremy Jackson is the Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
