Is the Med dead?

[Gsailor]

I have read that their is little life swimming around these days.

If so, why? What has happened?

Many many decades ago I visited St. Tropez for a fortnight with a dinghy behind the car and snorkelled and saw fish and even an octopus.

It was a great holiday.

Can it be repeated or are these tales of a dead sea correct... and why? What has killed the wildlife?

 

[Buck Turgidson]

What nonsense, where on earth did you get that idea from?

 

[capnsensible]

Pollution? Plastics? Over fishing? A combination perhaps?

The accomplished sailor and pilot book author Rod Heikel also adds tourism I the form of massed layers of used toilet tissue denying oxygen to the bottom of the food chain. Purely from squeaky northern Europeans that won't put it in the bins provided everywhere. Unthinking of the masses....

 

[capnsensible]

Overfishing and pollution have trashed the Mediterranean

There's loads of these reports to be found online.

 

[Gsailor]

What nonsense, where on earth did you get that idea from?

From this forum of course. From people saying it was so

 

[capnsensible]

The Mediterranean Sea is the most overfished place in the world. Fish populations have dropped dramatically over the past fifty years. Since there is some many people in this region of the world, this body of water has been trying to more people than it can support, which is harming the ecosystem.Jan 29, 2022

 

[Gsailor]

And there we go... the Captain has provided a link.

What nonsense, where on earth did you get that idea from?

And there we go... the Captain has provided a link.

 

[capnsensible]

I could give you a dozen links all saying fairly much the same sadly...

 

[Buck Turgidson]

If it’s still being overfished it’s not dead is it!

 

[capnsensible]

If it’s still being overfished it’s not dead is it!

Do you want more links or do you want to look for yourself?

 

[capnsensible]

Overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea began around the 1970s with the development of technology that allowed fleets to fish farther, deeper and with greater intensity. As a result, 90 percent of Mediterranean fish populations are now harvested in excess of science-based recommendations. The most commercially important species, including European hake, red mullet and anglerfish, are exploited 10 times over suggested limits.

Overfishing and pollution have trashed the Mediterranean

 

[rib]

I don't know what classifys dead. But I've spent the last 4 years in the med as a liveaboard currently in Turkey.. I enjoy snorkeling alot.. Todate in the med in those 4years I have seen moray eels. Octopus . Mother fin? whale and calf. Dolphin's. Sharks. Swordfish. Tuna. Different star fish. The fish that lives stuck to whales and sharks. Maho Maho (or very similar). Lion fish puffer fish. Lobster like creatures. Blue crab. And a sortment of various colourful . I can't compare it to anywhere else but it keeps me interested. Plus of course the underwater ruins. And it's pottery and buildings.

 

[rib]

Oh and turtles and needle fish

 

[rib]

Oh and seals and.. Not much bird life though

 

[Bouba]

The crystal clear waters of the Med are rightfully famous...but they are crystal clear because there is no plankton...the first layer of life in the food chain....this makes the Med ecosystem very delicate and vulnerable to disruption...and I think it’s well over fished.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

But it isn't dead or anywhere near dead.

 

[jaminb]

Probably a stupid question.

Humans waste a lot of food. Fish will eat anything (apart from my bait). If we disposed of the waste food in the sea would the fish thrive ? Like one huge fish farm?

Thanks

 

[capnsensible]

But it isn't dead or anywhere near dead.

I'm sure if you want to pedant the ass off the thread, it isn't quite dead yet....but it's well on the way and no one seems to be doing much about it.

• The Mediterranean is polluted by an estimated 730 tonnes of plastic waste every day.
  
• Plastics account for between 95 to 100% of total floating litter, and more than 50% of seabed litter.
  
• Single-use plastics represent more than 60% of the total recorded marine litter on beaches.
  
• Concentrations of microplastics at sea surface exceed 64 million floating particles per square kilometer in certain locations.
  
• Concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceed 100 micrograms per cubic meter in certain areas in the Mediterranean basin (the global average stands at 39.6 μg/m3).
  
• It is estimated that more than 228,000 people died prematurely in 2016 due to exposure to ambient air pollution.
  
• Municipal solid waste generation has been increasing across the whole region since 2014 and shows no sign of abating.
  
• More than 50% of the waste collected in south Mediterranean countries is disposed of in open dumps.
  
• The contribution of urban wastewater treatment plants to nitrogen discharges is estimated at 90 %, with the remaining 10 % attributed to industrial discharges.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Perhaps the OP is on a wind up à la Ted.

 

[capnsensible]

Regrettably I've seen drift nets many miles long....think 10 to 12 to the west of Italy. Fishermen arriving in west Sicily with their all night catch consisting of four or five fish. Tuna nets catching so many female fish on the way in to breed that bluefin are close to being wiped out. Or the offshore stench from industry off Bari. Or how about untreated sewage near Greece.
Have you seen those thin brown coloured plastic bags that are all over Africa in their gazillions? If not try the Algerian and Tunisian coasts and inshore waters. You will certainly find them there.
It's tremendously sad how this sea is being so badly mis treated. It's a beautiful part of the planet but its being thoroughly wrecked. This isn't about me or my opinion, there are so many research organisations that are doing the research and complaining to governments but still nothing gets done. Or probably ever will. As I said, there is masses on line to educate about this. Perhaps we should be arguing with them?