Commercial Fishing Research Paper

Commercial fishing has rapidly depleted many of the ocean’s resources. Herring are one species of fish that have been harvested to the brink of extinction in the last century. In the mid-1900s herring were in high demand in the food industry [1]. Millions of pounds of herring were harvested from the ocean in the last century. These massive harvesting totals took its toll on the population over time. Phil Levin, a marine ecologist, recently remarked that throughout the Pacific, “what you see is a pretty dramatic decline – there’s less herring, they’re smaller, and the older, bigger herring seem to be gone” [5]. Even with scientists addressing the species’ rapid decline, organizations didn’t begin successfully protecting the fish until the 1990s. Many people in the United States enjoy consuming herring because of its nutritional value. Julia Parrish, an ecologist, stated that …show more content…
In the mid 1900s, the demand for protein-rich foods substantially increased. Salted and pickled herring were two dishes that greatly rose in popularity in these decades [4]. In Alaska, herring harvests netted profits up to $65 million for 140 million pounds of herring in only one year. Fisheries have broken the harvesting process down to a science by mapping the species’ migration patterns and timing their harvesting seasons to line up with the herrings’ breeding season. These methods help the fisheries catch the ‘ripest’ fish that are best for consumption in order to make the highest profits possible [1]. By the 1950s, new boating technology helped the fisheries travel farther out to sea when they began catching all the herring near the shore. The new boating technology also