Letter to my senator

My name is Daniel Delgado and I am a senior at High Tech High International and our class is doing a project on a mismanaged resource of our choice. The resource that I decided to focus on is over fishing and by catch that is caused by fisheries. After doing the research I was alarmed at how fast our oceans where being emptied and how many fish were being caught and killed and thrown back in the ocean. I decided to write this letter to you because I feel that this is a problem that the United States could lead the way in more sustainable fishing. By catch is occurred when fisheries go fishing and they catch marine animals that are of no use in their nets for example sea turtles. In 2009 about 7.3 billion metric tons are tossed in the sea. Because of by catch the pacific leatherbacks its population has declined by 95 percent in just two decades. Pacific leatherbacks are a type of sea turtles. Besides leatherbacks the loggerheads also showed a 80 percent decline in population in the same year due to over fishing. Their have been several attempts to monitor by catch but many fishing companies don’t follow these procedures. For example it is a mandatory to have a supervisor on board to monitor and record by catch but of all the fisheries only 15 percent have a supervisor. Since it is hard to monitor these rules and regulations they go largely unnoticed. I believe that the problem with over fishing could be solved if the United States and the United Nations gave incentives to companies that lower their by catch and follow the rules and regulations and severely punish those who do not follow the basic rules and regulations. Another solution is to ensure that all fishing companies update to the latest technology. For example when fishing companies are using the net they should include a trap door so that the bigger fish and sea turtles are able to slip trough. Even though having the trap door wouldn’t complete solve the problem of over fishing it would help lower the number of marine animals being caught. What we need is for the United States to lead the way in aggressive change in the fishing companies are doing their business. I hope this letter encourages you and U.S government to pass some sort of legislature that would limit the amount of waste that was happening with by catch.