Running head: NO FISH BY 2050?

Opinion Piece: No fish by 2050?

Elizabeth Betancourt
The University of Texas at El Paso

Opinion Piece: No fish

The ongoing issue that has been affecting both humans and wild life, is ocean pollution.
We want to make a change and take care of our planet since it is our home. And not only is it
affecting us, but its also on the verge of the destruction of a whole ecosystem, if we dont step
up to help prevent further damage. Oceanographers and researchers have concluded that by the
year 2050 there may longer be fish in our oceans. Though there are many suggestions on how we
can help keep the ocean clean. We all know that most of the trash in the ocean is washed away in
sewers and brought down by rain. So instead of concentrating on ocean cleanups, we should try
to do or go to local park cleanups. Though there is still one pending issue that companies do not
want to take responsibility and that is the run off from factories that end up in our rivers and
water processing systems. This is all chemicals and byproducts that are harmful to everyone.
Like many would say it is our responsibility to clean up after ourselves and yet we are not doing
that.
We need to see outside of our comfort zones and see what is really happening around us.
As Christina Rice says, All living organisms are connected in some way and decline in one
organism health or possible extinction can cause a cascading effect that affects the entire
ecosystem. (Rice, 2016). This is one of the most important issues out there, yet its not covered
in the media. This is not just the factor that we are going to be fishless, but a lot of predators can
go extinct if the ocean ecosystem is destroyed. This is the case for many of the factors that have
led to the worsening of our water systems. Having found and article from Arirang News, there is
a bigger issue concerning the Pacific Ocean, that has been reported to be radioactive. And
according to the article it may take 6 years for the whole ocean to be contaminated, and this
radioactive water was leaked from Fukushimas nuclear plant. (Kim, 2013). As science is

Opinion Piece: No fish

advancing instead of finding ways to make our lives easier, shouldnt we be looking for ways to
help clean up contamination?
To conclude we need to see as people that not just our lives matter. Many schools have
set up clubs to help recycle and it is becoming more known throughout social media. As the most
common waste found is plastic we need to use all of our items to its full extent. We also need to
see that things are properly disposed of because that is one of our main issues at hand. Starting
by teaching our children is another step in preventing more pollution and its easy, something
that requires really not much effort to accomplish. We need to step up and take action to not lose
a wonderful ecosystem that has yet to be fully explored. Animals have lives, we shouldnt take
something for granted and soon regret it when its gone. There are so many organizations out
there willing to help out, but if we dont take the first step who will? And is it really worth seeing
that we are living our lives so comfortably, yet kill off a whole ecosystem?

Opinion Piece: No fish

Reference
Sohn, J. (2016, January 20). More plastic than fish in worlds oceans by 2050: report.
Arirang
News. Retrieved from
Arirang.com/News/News_view.asp?nSeq=187474
Kim, M. (2013, August 28) ). Radioactive water may contaminate entire pacific
ocean in 6 years.
Arirang news. Retrieved from
Arirang.com/News/News_View.asp?nseq=150718
Rice, C. Personal Communication. March 28, 2016.
AFP. (2010, May 17). Oceans fish could disappear by 2050. Discovery News.
Retrieved from
news.discovery.com/earth/oceans/oceans-fish-fishing-industry.htm.
National Geographic (1996)., National Geographic.