Published May 2002 - Last Updated 2005
LGVN Oceans - Dying Oceans

A Millennia of Marine Destruction

The journal Science recently documented 19 researchers who have found significant proof that marine destruction by man, even from thousands of years in the past has contributed to today's crisis in coastal ecology.

Overfishing and the hunting of species to the brink of extinction continue to this day but the pace was set a long time ago. As you may have read elsewhere at LGVN, some sea animals, including types of seals and sea cows, have been hunted to extinction, and many others survive in dramatically reduced numbers.
The research, set up by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, examined coastal ecosystems around the globe. A report on this research By Will Dunham of Reuters says "The damage found predates modern pollution and mechanical seafood harvesting beginning thousands of years ago, as humans exploited resources in coastal waters. People became adept at eliminating the top link in the marine food chain - sharks, turtles, whales, and the largest fish species - the study found."
The study's findings have shown that man's overfishing has upset the eco-balance of marine life so dramatically that the collapse we are now witnessing over the last couple of decades has no chance of natural re-generation without drastic action by the human intervention of all nations.

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