OUR OCEAN IS BECOMING A DESERT!!!!! People think that the oceans are so vast that how can they possibly be overfished? Thanks to our rapidly growing population here on Earth there has been a huge increase in the demand for Seafood.

The improvement of space aged tracking technology, baited hooks and dragging of nets along the sea flor has led to a CRISIS!!! 90% OF THE BIG FISH ARE GONE. because the big fish are gone fisheries are now targeting smaller fish species which are dependant upon by larger fish and predetors. THE WHOLE ECOSYSTEM CALLAPSES! The biggest culprit is bycatch which is the unintentioned catching of a species while fishing. Many fish are caught and killed but never even reach the market to be sold for food. Every year over 20 million tons of bycatch is discarded! this is rediculous!! For example in Shrimp trawlers on average 5 pounds of bycatch is discarded for every pound of shrimp caught. What a waste!

Bottom trawling is also killing our oceans. The nets are dragged along the ocean floor destoying everything in it's path including any coral reefs. Longlining wher ther is 60 miles of  hooks catch marine species such as sharks, turtles and countless sea birds. We need to stop this and we, as the consumer have the power. Monteray Bay Aquarium has an innitiative called SEAFOOD WATCH! they have compiled a list of commercial fish species that are separated into three section: GREEN, ORANGE, RED. Those on the green list are plentiful and we can eat them. Those on the orange list are threatened and should be avoided. Finally those on the red list are usually illegal to fish and should not be eaten at any cost! They have constructed a simple pocket guide that can be downloaded off thier website for free to help us choose which fish to buy. I have several copies and they even have one for sushi. If we can put pressure on the fish shops to only sell fish on the green list than they will put pressure on their suppliers who will then put pressure on the fisherman to stop the terrible killing and destruction! I think AWARENESS in so important as if you don't know the fish is endangered you can't do anything about it. So now I'm telling you!

They have even developed an application for your iPhone or iPod. I f you don't have one of those then go check out mobile.seafoodwatch.org to have it on your phone. Go check out there website http://montereybayaquarium.org/  and help save our fish!