Persuasive Letter On Overfishing

Representative Mary Dye

Legislative Building, Room 110

P.O. Box 40

500

Olmpia, WA 98504-0500

Dear Representative Mary Dye:

My family has always liked to fish, especially my dad. When we go fishing we always catch and release. But the last few years when we have gone we never catch anything. I bet you have gone fishing before, however, what if no one could fish anymore because there are no more fish. That would be terrible. We need to save our oceans from overfishing so that future children can try seafood and get a chance to try fishing. Therefore we need to create laws to stop overfishing.

Overfishing is caused by a lot of things, furthermore, all of those causes leave big effects on the ocean. These effects could soon leave the ocean

Overfishing is “ When fish are taken from the sea faster than they can reproduce, the fish population gets smaller and smaller.”(Pool’ pp4). This means that eventually if overfishing keeps up then there will be no more fish in the ocean for anyone to enjoy. Lots of people do not see what's going on below the surface, but if we really look we can see lots of the effects of overfishing. “Removing fish that play key or outsized roles in food webs also alters the larger dynamics of ocean ecosystems. For example, many fish eat the algae that keep coral reefs clean and thriving. In areas where these species have been overfished, the algae overgrow the reef, killing corals and negatively impacting the many species that call the reef home.”(www.seafood.org) This means if we do not take act to stop overfishing then the whole ocean ecosystem could be destroyed to a point where we cannot save it anymore. There are lots more effects on the ocean, one being “Eventually, overfishing could lead to certain species of fish being wiped out entirely.This upsets the whole food chain, because fish are both predators and prey.” (Pool pp.3) This could add up to cause the whole food chain being disrupted because, if one species dies then the rest struggle

Trawling is when giant nets are dragged through the ocean. Trawling is terrible for the environment and destroys animal habitat. Seafood.org states. “Dragging trawls and dredges along the seafloor can destroy these important habitats' '(www.seafood.org a5) This could turn out to be bad because if fish do not have a habitat then they will not be able to live. This would be another way for overfishing to get worse. Another downside to trawling is that most of the fish end up as bycatch. Bycatch is when unwanted fish are caught, they are discarded and end up dead. “Trawling drags huge nets through the ocean that scoop up every animal and ecosystem in its path.”(therevalotionmovie.com pp.3) Trawling is terrible because most fish that are caught during trawling end up as bycatch, so the fish are wasted for no reason. Sometimes small restrictions just are not enough, that is in the case of trawling. But here is a suggestion to fix it. “There are small regions where bottom trawling is banned or limited. These measures aren't enough . Trawling needs to be banned outright”(therevalotionmovie.com pp.3) This is a solution to trawling and bycatch because if people are not able to trawl then they will have to target for the kind of fish they want, this will result in no more left over fish. There are so many ways to end overfishing and this is just one more solution to