Letter to Hon Sussan about Overfishing
All Saints College
Ewing Avenue
Bullcreek WA
Hon Sussan Ley MP
PO Box 1093
Griffith, NSW, 2680
Date: 13 May 2022
Dear Hon Sussan Ley MP,
I am writing to you about the very concerning problem of Australia’s overfishing. Overfishing is the act of fishing excessively that depletes the fish species. An analysis shows that 17.5% of Australian fishes are fished too heavily. Australia is home to many amazing marine life which are not found anywhere else in the world. Unfortunately, commercial fishing puts our ocean wildlife in danger.
I believe that as a Member of Parliament, you are in a position to help. Overfishing continues because our marine resources are poorly managed. Our government regulations are not strong enough to limit overfishing and difficult to enforced. However, we could set simple standards that require fishermen and vendors to label their sold fishes with information of where the fish came about. These disclosures will help the supplier to only purchase fishes from legalise fishing methods.
We could also create more marine protected areas. More no-catch zones would help fish populations and their ecosystem to recover. If we can just double the protected areas in Australia, it would make a difference to the population of fishes in the ocean.
Finally and most importantly, is to educate our citizen and spread the word! More campaigns for awareness of overfishing would be helpful and people would start to make smart consumer choices such as buying sustainable fishes or even local fisheries.
Please do consider how overfishing are impacting Australia. We need to think of our future generation. If overfishing continues, more species will be extinct and our aquatic ecosystem will collapse. By 2050, we probably would not have any fish left in the ocean!!!!
Thank you.
Best Regards,
_____________________
Haley Woo
All Saints’ College