U.N. says world fisheries face collapse

[freedomnorth]

Source: Reuters

MONACO (Reuters) - A deadly combination of climate change, over-fishing and pollution could cause the collapse of commercial fish stocks worldwide within decades, said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Program.

"You overlap all of this and you see you're potentially putting a death nail in the coffin of world fisheries," Steiner told reporters on Friday on the fringes of a climate conference involving more than 150 nations and 100 environment ministers.

Some 2.6 billion people worldwide depend on fish for protein, said a UNEP report "In Dead Water" published on Friday.

Climate change has compounded previous problems such as over-fishing, as rising temperatures kill coral reefs, threaten tuna spawning grounds, and shift ocean currents and with them the plankton and small fish which underpin ocean food chains.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL2286399720080222

---

And ocean deadzones et cetera.. We are in deep shit.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. And some people will continue to put their fingers in their ears

and sing "LA LA LA LA" and say there is no such thing as global warming.

Whoever becomes President has a lot more than the mess Bush made to face. This collapse of our ecosystem will lead to mass die-offs of humans if it continues.

[awoke_in_2003]

10. Exactly

I had a discussion with a coworker. He said if we were warming, the upper atmosphere would be warming because heat rises (just like in a room). Studies he read said it wasn't happening. Yes, I see stupid people.

[kentauros]

13. If your coworker actually read some "alternate studies" then send him to the site

RealClimate where he can read real science papers and discussion on climate change. Yeah, I know, fruitless, but you can only try ;)

[awoke_in_2003]

14. Thanks for link. nt

[fascisthunter]

2. Yet: "Regulation is Bad for the Economy"

".....and environmentalists are terrorists"

[Dogmudgeon]

3. More bad news -- prospective famine from fertilizer shortages.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x134765">Famine from shortages of potash-based fertilizer.

And we want to convert our cropland to produce fuel ethanol. I'm starting to think that we are suicidal.

--p!

[Phred42]

4. Mother Nature is about to Bitch-Slap us.

[donsu]

5. less and less food with more and more extreme weather events

and the cost of food up and up and the cost of transporting that food by oil to our tables is up and ever up.

zoom zoom

[balantz]

6. And don't forget the mother of all recessions hiding right behind the curtain.

How long will that last? Looks like a recipe for something I can't even begin to imagine.

I know, I know, I have to add "it's all tin-foil doom and gloom" for the naysayers.

This one's better, "Don't worry, be happy!".

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, freedomnorth.

[redqueen]

8. The warning signs have been there for decades.

The first signs it was happening started years ago.

*sigh*

[closeupready]

15. Of course they have been. This is why I'm pessimistic about the future.

I'd like to be an optimist, but I don't lie. I'm glad people like Gore are out there selling the message that, there is still time, because frankly, I don't think there is any time left. I think there is no stopping mass extinction at this point, probably in 60-100 years.

And by the way, how many people will, come Monday, get back into their SUV's and drive to work when they could either carpool or take mass transit because, they reason, "I'm just one person - it won't make a difference"?

[redqueen]

16. "No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible." - Voltaire (nt)

[acmavm]

9. How long did people think the oceans could sustain this abuse

and population growth? I would ask what's wrong with the human race but I know I won't live long enough to get to the end of that list.

[Mozcram]

11. This really is the time

... that all of us, seriously take in all the information and
decide what our priorities are, hopefully including
maintaining the physical environment for the species that now
exist, obviously including us. We need to finally get that it
all fits together, there are not simply stop-gap solutions. It
is the environment as a whole that we must care for, for the
long term. And we must really internalize that, and include
that in our conversations, our personal choices, our voting,
our activism. 'Cause there are no ways to patch it up
temporarily, nature does its thing remorselessly and
inexorably.
And the we I am referring to includes all of us, dear reader! 

[NashVegas]

12. And Killer Jelly Fish Attacks

That's nasty, too.

[CrispyQ]

17. Decades?

That might be optimistic.

[bronxiteforever]

18. Kick & R-