We, the students of RI, are concerned about the health of our oceans because of what's happening to the wildlife in the water. The fish population has been going down since the 1950s and the demand for fish has almost doubled since the 1950s and is still going up rapidly. According to ecowatch.com 5 million fish get caught every day and they all die along with the aquatic ecosystems and other aquatic animals like turtles, shrimp, and dolphins.

    Some facts and information about this problem are

If we keep polluting the earth it will get to the point where pollution will kill more people than war.
80% of the world's waste water goes back into the ocean, possibly killing thousands of fish and destroying an aquatic ecosystem.
India has the most water pollution.   
One of the most popular rivers in India is the most polluted river.
Less than 1% of earth's surface water (which is the water we drink) is accessible.
Discarded plastic fishing gear accounts for most of the ocean debris and is killing thousands of whales.
When people make fish farms for “sustainable fishing” the water they live in gets polluted from the fish waste which makes them get diseases and parasites and if even one fish gets out it could kill hundreds of fish because it could pollute fish’s homes and give the fish parasites.
     

This may seem to be bad but it's just the tip of the iceberg. Pollution seems like the biggest problem, and it is a big problem, but in fact the biggest problem it's actually overfishing. Overfishing is usually from commercial fishermen with big boats and huge nets that they drag across the ocean floor destroying ecosystems and environments. They do this to catch many of one type of fish but around 40% of the catches are other fish they did not intend to catch. This is called bycatch. Bycatch is bad not only because the fish get injured but they get released dead or dying making them useless and a waste because they are dead. This causes fish populations to go down by huge amounts and if more fish go extinct then we could all be in trouble.

Governments around the world spend 35 billion USD every year to support the fishing industry but many of these industries are harmful to the long term health of the sector and lead to overfishing.
Of the 600 fish stocks evaluated by the UN food and agriculture organization(FAO), 33% are now either overfished or depleted.
A lot of governments have little to no rules on commercial fishing and if they have rules they are usually more harmful.
According to ecowatch.com the ocean will be empty with almost no wildlife in 27 years if we keep catching fish at the rate we are now.
Thai fishing fleets use slave labor, so it is a human rights issue as we.
Overfishing is more harmful than deforestation.
    It might not seem like overfishing has anything to do with climate change but it does. Overfishing is the biggest part of climate change but is not well known because some people think that the oceans are barely part of the cause or effect of climate change. The reason that this is, is because fish and other sea life take in Co2 and if we catch a lot of fish we have more carbon dioxide in the air and on top of that it destroys the ecosystem which can cause balance in the food chain to break causing many things to go extinct which could possibly make us extinct as well. 

Now here are some ways to stop overfishing and climate change are to start eating sustainably by catching your own fish, buying from a local fisherman so that you can still eat while making sure you're not endangering millions of fish and destroying thousands of ecosystems. Another thing is to stop eating fish/ boycotting big commercial fishing fleets so that none of these people are getting money from killing millions of innocent fish and ecosystems. The last way that you could help is by researching laws to help stop overfishing and try to spread awareness.

Now here are some ways to reduce climate change in your town: first you can use reusable bags instead of plastic ones and you can use reusable water bottles. Don’t litter, and pick up some trash that you see but remember to use gloves or something to grab it. Another way to reduce climate change in your town is to reduce your carbon footprint like if you have a bike ride every now and then instead of taking a car or bus. Talk to your friends and family about climate change and what you are doing to combat this. Some things that we ask of you the reader are to do research about overfishing and climate change, to try eating sustainably, to try catching your own fish or getting it from a local fisherman and to recycle. 

By signing this petition you are supporting a cause to help the earth and aquatic ecosystems and addressing this problem to the government about making better laws about commercial and overfishing as well as boycotting big commercial fishing brands and helping to stop illegal fishing that has been going on for years.

Citations

foodispower.org

oecd.org

carbonbrief.org

energy.gov

ucsusa.org

nrdc.org/

ecowatch.com

edf.org