Zoology · Ch 13 — Environmental Issues
Marine Ecosystem
Marine Ecosystem
The marine ecosystem is the source of fish, seaweed, and other marine products that support both livelihoods and food supply for large coastal populations. With the advent of intensive fishing using giant nets and mechanized boats, fish catch has dropped significantly, reflecting the broader pattern in which technologically enhanced human exploitation outpaces a marine ecosystem's natural capacity to replenish itself. This decline sits alongside the other pressures described earlier in the chapter -- water pollution from point and non-point sources, oil spills, and eutrophication driven by nutrient run-off -- all of which converge on marine and coastal waters and compound the direct impac …
What this figure shows. A photograph or illustration of a marine ecosystem, depicting the open sea and its associated marine life and fishing activity -- likely showing fishing vessels, nets, or a view of the sea surface and coastline that conveys the scale and productivity of marine waters as a source of fish, seaweed, and other harvested marine products. The image sets up the text's point that this productive resource is being placed under increasing strain by intensive, mechanized fishing using giant nets, which has measurably redu …