Questão 43 - UFU 1 Fase 2025/2

Many ocean experts and marine biologists have raised alarm at the rate at which fish supplies are dwindling, especially in certain bodies of water. Some bodies of water may already be past the point of no return, the experts say. This includes the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, which Anderson calls the “c,” and the Black Sea, which is dominated by jellyfish as a result of overharvesting and pollution from Soviet-era industry. Yet another problem for fish populations, Mittermeier notes, is that the ocean’s chemistry is rapidly changing due to increasing saturation of carbon (which comes in part from the carbon dioxide in the air), coupled with the surge of freshwater from melting ice and compounded by the drive to catch as many fish as possible. This means that “several fish populations have already disappeared and will never recover.” Surprisingly, the biggest threat to fish in our oceans is not pollution, although it does play a significant role, especially in this era of micro-plastics,” says Mittermeier. What is the biggest threat then? “It is actually something many people have never even heard about, and that is government subsidies, the policy many governments have of subsidizing large fishing fleets to catch ever-diminishing stocks.” Mittermeier explains that in Spain, for example, one in three fish caught is paid for by a government subsidy. “Some governments seem more concerned with keeping jobs alive in the fishing industry in the short-term than they are about the long-term health of our oceans,” she says. The United States has a range of fishing subsidies that critics say drive fishing to excessive levels.

Disponível em: https://www.rd.com/. Acesso em: 4 jan. 2025.

 

According to the text, the most meaningful threat to fish in our oceans comes from