Noah_Reefing
Active member
i wrote this essay for english class, i thought id post it here to see if its actually any good. no point in writing something if all you are going to do is submit it to the teacher and never think of it again
When people hear about the amazon rainforest in decline or other climate problems, most don’t think about where the other 80% of the earth’s oxygen comes from. Everyone talks about how the world will end in 8 years & how how its need to stop using internal combustion engines, ignoring the real problems like how to protect one of the world’s leading food sources. What most do not realize is that the true lifeblood of the planet is the ocean. The ocean produces 50-80 percent of the world's oxygen & almost 40 % of people’s livelihoods depend on it. The ocean is a fragile ecosystem that will be destroyed if it continues to be unsustainably managed. The sea goes through rapid die-offs, and changes in its environment. These careless changes, caused by humanity, can ruin the global food supply & the environment. Even faced with logic, many people try to find a scapegoat in wall-managed fisheries such as the collection of life for marine aquariums. Furthermore, over 10% of Americans have aquariums. What gives the government the right to take away pets? Many argue that the marine aquarium hobby must be banned, or it should be extremely regulated to the point where it is pointless to be a hobbyist. Maintaining a marine aquarium can be a very sustainable & environmentally conscious hobby. However, unnecessary regulations on the trade of marine life and ignoring problems caused by other industries have led to the destruction of many reefs & caused ill to the people that depend on them to live.
Therefore, Large corporate fisheries should be held accountable & restrictions that negatively impact environmentally sustainable fishing practices should be relaxed.
First, large fisheries must be held accountable. Without any consequences, large commercial fisheries will come in and strip the reefs of life or at least throw everything out of balance. The fisheries must report their catch totals It is necessary to regulate the large fisheries because of destructive practices like bomb fishing. According to the United Nations environmental programme, a big player in conservation, “Fish bombing is an escalating threat to coral reefs, and to the people who depend on them for their livelihoods. It destroys fish habitats among reefs already threatened by overfishing” (United nations environment programme). When reefs are bombed, all the fisheries are destroyed. The fish live in the reefs and any that survive will migrate to untouched areas leaving the people who did nothing wrong to starve. Therefore, it is necessary to stop unsustainable fishing practices because if they aren’t, the reefs will be constantly pressured with no time to recover. COUNTERCLAIM: Some say that if some fisheries must be banned, all fisheries must be banned. This is logical, REFUTATION but it is incorrect. some fisheries are needed to sustain local people and they can help the environment. The climate activists only care about how much attention they get. There will be nobody to protect the reefs because they will flake out as soon as they have to get their hands dirty. Also, if people cannot rely on the reefs, they will cast them aside and they will let them die. Resorting to other methods of income like palm plantations, and longline fishing if this happens, the consequences will be irreversible the reefs will be destroyed, and it will take them decades to recover.
BEST PARAGRAPH Finally, sustainable fishing practices must be encouraged, and local communities must be empowered to take this issue into their own hands. People who are located near coral reefs to protect and manage the places they know best. The locals cannot let an unelected bureaucrat, sitting thousands of miles away in an office managing their fisheries. Without hands on experience, they will have no idea what the locals are facing. The people who live near these coral reefs rely on the aquarium trade, fishing, & tourism to survive. If the reefs are destroyed, they will have nothing. Additionally, there is lots of evidence that in some cases, restricting fishing on an already unhealthy reef can cause an increase of damaging fishing methods and declines in some fish populations. According to the coral reef alliance, a foundation dedicated to the preservation of coral reefs, “When fish populations decline, particularly those that feed on algae, algae can grow unchecked, eventually smothering corals. Other unsustainable fishing practices can physically destroy entire sections of coral reefs—for example, blast fishing destroys 64 square feet (5.9 square meters) of reef with a single blast.” (Coral reef alliance). Many people stereotype marine fish collectors from what they see in movies like Finding Nemo. Many are only worried about the select few, already pressured on all fronts, damaging the reefs. The poachers are hard to control though, the best way to stop them is to ban their exports & to empower locals to patrol the reefs watching out for people using cyanide and dynamite to fish. In the places where these measures have taken, fish populations are recovering & the reefs have the potential to become great tourist destinations. In the end, if action isn’t taken, a small problem will snowball into catastrophe. In Hawaii, the government used to use shark control to protect tourists. After many years, the populations of sharks there were still low. In hopes to “help”, they banned one of the most regulated and responsible aquarium fisheries in the world. Nobody even keeps Requiem sharks they were trying to control in aquariums. Many species of aquarium fish had population booms while the shark populations are still declining. Furthermore, many people in Hawaii that relied on the aquarium trade are now out of a job. This leads to a big problem; the commercial food fishing trade is still unregulated and destroying the reefs there. This has caused outrage from marine aquarium hobbyists & it shows that the government is incompetent at handling the problem, simply using the aquarium trade as a scapegoat to appease virtue signalers. Before the aquarium trade was banned there, it was one of the most sustainable in the world. This has been the case in many other places. The general philosophy of people who rely on the reefs is not to destroy them, they must protect them because it is a renewable source.
In summary, governments need to encourage sustainable fisheries instead of using them as a scapegoat to appease their donors and supporters. CALL TO ACTION: If nobody acts, the reefs and any chance to save them will be ruined & the large fisheries will be emboldened, “It’s taken only 30 years to threaten coral reefs that have flourished along the Florida Keys for more than 5,000 years.” (Zaloudek 182). If the reefs are gone, 25% of fish that rely on them will be lost & the environment will be ruined. This cannot be tolerated. future generations must never lose the ability to revel in their majesty.
Hypocrisy on the High Seas: The Senseless Bans on sustainable fishing practices
When people hear about the amazon rainforest in decline or other climate problems, most don’t think about where the other 80% of the earth’s oxygen comes from. Everyone talks about how the world will end in 8 years & how how its need to stop using internal combustion engines, ignoring the real problems like how to protect one of the world’s leading food sources. What most do not realize is that the true lifeblood of the planet is the ocean. The ocean produces 50-80 percent of the world's oxygen & almost 40 % of people’s livelihoods depend on it. The ocean is a fragile ecosystem that will be destroyed if it continues to be unsustainably managed. The sea goes through rapid die-offs, and changes in its environment. These careless changes, caused by humanity, can ruin the global food supply & the environment. Even faced with logic, many people try to find a scapegoat in wall-managed fisheries such as the collection of life for marine aquariums. Furthermore, over 10% of Americans have aquariums. What gives the government the right to take away pets? Many argue that the marine aquarium hobby must be banned, or it should be extremely regulated to the point where it is pointless to be a hobbyist. Maintaining a marine aquarium can be a very sustainable & environmentally conscious hobby. However, unnecessary regulations on the trade of marine life and ignoring problems caused by other industries have led to the destruction of many reefs & caused ill to the people that depend on them to live.
Therefore, Large corporate fisheries should be held accountable & restrictions that negatively impact environmentally sustainable fishing practices should be relaxed.
First, large fisheries must be held accountable. Without any consequences, large commercial fisheries will come in and strip the reefs of life or at least throw everything out of balance. The fisheries must report their catch totals It is necessary to regulate the large fisheries because of destructive practices like bomb fishing. According to the United Nations environmental programme, a big player in conservation, “Fish bombing is an escalating threat to coral reefs, and to the people who depend on them for their livelihoods. It destroys fish habitats among reefs already threatened by overfishing” (United nations environment programme). When reefs are bombed, all the fisheries are destroyed. The fish live in the reefs and any that survive will migrate to untouched areas leaving the people who did nothing wrong to starve. Therefore, it is necessary to stop unsustainable fishing practices because if they aren’t, the reefs will be constantly pressured with no time to recover. COUNTERCLAIM: Some say that if some fisheries must be banned, all fisheries must be banned. This is logical, REFUTATION but it is incorrect. some fisheries are needed to sustain local people and they can help the environment. The climate activists only care about how much attention they get. There will be nobody to protect the reefs because they will flake out as soon as they have to get their hands dirty. Also, if people cannot rely on the reefs, they will cast them aside and they will let them die. Resorting to other methods of income like palm plantations, and longline fishing if this happens, the consequences will be irreversible the reefs will be destroyed, and it will take them decades to recover.
BEST PARAGRAPH Finally, sustainable fishing practices must be encouraged, and local communities must be empowered to take this issue into their own hands. People who are located near coral reefs to protect and manage the places they know best. The locals cannot let an unelected bureaucrat, sitting thousands of miles away in an office managing their fisheries. Without hands on experience, they will have no idea what the locals are facing. The people who live near these coral reefs rely on the aquarium trade, fishing, & tourism to survive. If the reefs are destroyed, they will have nothing. Additionally, there is lots of evidence that in some cases, restricting fishing on an already unhealthy reef can cause an increase of damaging fishing methods and declines in some fish populations. According to the coral reef alliance, a foundation dedicated to the preservation of coral reefs, “When fish populations decline, particularly those that feed on algae, algae can grow unchecked, eventually smothering corals. Other unsustainable fishing practices can physically destroy entire sections of coral reefs—for example, blast fishing destroys 64 square feet (5.9 square meters) of reef with a single blast.” (Coral reef alliance). Many people stereotype marine fish collectors from what they see in movies like Finding Nemo. Many are only worried about the select few, already pressured on all fronts, damaging the reefs. The poachers are hard to control though, the best way to stop them is to ban their exports & to empower locals to patrol the reefs watching out for people using cyanide and dynamite to fish. In the places where these measures have taken, fish populations are recovering & the reefs have the potential to become great tourist destinations. In the end, if action isn’t taken, a small problem will snowball into catastrophe. In Hawaii, the government used to use shark control to protect tourists. After many years, the populations of sharks there were still low. In hopes to “help”, they banned one of the most regulated and responsible aquarium fisheries in the world. Nobody even keeps Requiem sharks they were trying to control in aquariums. Many species of aquarium fish had population booms while the shark populations are still declining. Furthermore, many people in Hawaii that relied on the aquarium trade are now out of a job. This leads to a big problem; the commercial food fishing trade is still unregulated and destroying the reefs there. This has caused outrage from marine aquarium hobbyists & it shows that the government is incompetent at handling the problem, simply using the aquarium trade as a scapegoat to appease virtue signalers. Before the aquarium trade was banned there, it was one of the most sustainable in the world. This has been the case in many other places. The general philosophy of people who rely on the reefs is not to destroy them, they must protect them because it is a renewable source.
In summary, governments need to encourage sustainable fisheries instead of using them as a scapegoat to appease their donors and supporters. CALL TO ACTION: If nobody acts, the reefs and any chance to save them will be ruined & the large fisheries will be emboldened, “It’s taken only 30 years to threaten coral reefs that have flourished along the Florida Keys for more than 5,000 years.” (Zaloudek 182). If the reefs are gone, 25% of fish that rely on them will be lost & the environment will be ruined. This cannot be tolerated. future generations must never lose the ability to revel in their majesty.
