Reversal of Fortunes; A bigger picture of the oil spill and your role in saving the oceans

Dedicated to my mother and ocean-stewardess on her birthday

BBC world news reports that as up to 5,000 barrels of oil a day spill into the gulf coast, local fishermen should go out and try to recover as much as they can before the slick approaches.

While the oil, visible on the ocean's surface and threatening  the livelihoods of fisherman and the lives of birds on the shore has caused international outrage and vast media coverage, there is a greater, less public, threat lurking beneath the surface of oceans.

Damaged caused by overfishing is said to be 100,000 times higher than that of oil or gas exploration.  Overfishing threatens to disturb the delicate balance of ecosystems in the world's oceans leaving future generations without an understanding of the joy and mystery that lies beneath the waves.

Humans have been particularly slow to pick up on the threat of overfishing as compared to other environmental disasters due to the invisibility of the problem beneath the surface as well as a historically antagonistic relationship with the ocean and cold-blood fish.

Historically, it was the fisherman who had worse odds of survival than the fish. As a child playing on the shores of an old fishing town and site of storms later immortalized in books and films (such as The Perfect Storm), I was told stories of fisherman who lost their lives in search of fish. This is a familiar story in fishing villages around the world; in Britain, on average over ten years, a British fishing vessel has been lost at sea every 12.5 days.

However, technological developments in the past decade have dramatically shifted the odds. Equipped with radar and satellites fisherman no longer rely on charts to navigate tricky shorelines or a sixth sense to pick up shifting weather patterns or find schools of fish. Today, fish can be detected on radar as beeping masses beneath the hull.

The result is untold destruction to marine habitats. Figures of the total amount of fish taken from the ocean are hard to come by but in 2004 around 120 million tons of seafood was estimated to be hauled from the sea. Adding to that the number of organisms that are killed or damaged during the process or thrown overboard as unwanted or 'bi-catch' (including dolphins, turtles and porpoises) as well as the industrial fishing industry, it is possible that the amount of sea life we eat is only 10 per cent of the amount of marine animals destroyed annually in the fishing process.

With many feeling helpless and depressed about the destruction of the oil spill, perhaps the best action we can take is to improve the overall responsibility of our seafood consumption habits. Look for certifications on the seafood you eat (such as Marine Stewardship Council certification), and know which fish, such as blue fin tuna, are threatened.

For more information on sustainable seafood consumption visit: http://jm.ly/FKqGSR or http://jm.ly/FGvw3Q. To discuss how consumption can be made more sustainable through certifications attend the upcoming conference on ethical certification see: www.theinsource.com. For an amazing video see: