Assorted Fish

ABOUT

On the sides of our mural, you’ll find some schools of assorted fish silhouettes that we painted – like the bluefin tuna, the Atlantic halibut, and the orange roughy. And even though these fish may not really swim together in the oceans, they all have one very sad thing in common – they are all endangered from overfishing and from climate change. In fact, all three of these fish are on the Top 10 List of Endangered Fish.

IN TROUBLE

Of course climate change is hurting marine life all across the world but, for these fish,
one of the biggest threats is overfishing. People eat each of these types of fish and many of them cannot
reproduce fast enough to keep up with the fishing that is taking them from the waters. For instance, do
you eat sushi? Many people all over the world love sushi and tuna is a popular fish in the recipe. The
orange roughy can live to be 140 years old! But that means that they don’t become ‘adults’ that can
have babies until they are about 20 years old. Before they can reproduce, many of them are caught and
killed.

HOW TO HELP

Do you or your family eat fish? If you do, it’s important to ask questions about where your fish came from and how it is sourced. Many organizations have begun campaigns to encourage people not to eat these types of fish at all. The Center for Biological Diversity, for example, began its efforts to “Let Bluefin Tuna Off the Hook”, asking people not to shop for tuna anymore. They also ask that you talk to your local restaurants and ask them not to serve tuna anymore. With the bluefin tuna and with all of the other endangered sea life, the most important thing you can do is to learn about it and teach others so that they can make changes to protect these animals, too.