It’s 2050 and there are no more fish in the waters; seafood dinner consists of mushy, farmed, dyed pink ‘salmon.’ The toxins in these fish are leeching into people’s bodies, causing cancer and other diseases. Can we turn the clock back from this scenario?
While the human population is ever expanding, plant and animal species in BC are in decline. Human activities, driven by economics, have led to many concerns because many animals and the habitats they live in have experienced unprecedented changes; changes that they may not recover from. If we are not more responsible of the decisions we make, many species in B.C. will be brought to extinction with no way back.
Whales and Salmon play big roles in our ecosystem, yet we tend kill them off with overconsumption and other threats such as cargo ships and oil spills. On October 22, 2021, a ship encountered rough seas; it was carrying hundreds of containers, and 40 of them, some full of toxic substances, went overboard. If these containers continue to drift through the sea, it will cause harm to the sea animals and their habitat throughout the coastal waters of B.C.
Whales are one of the most amazing creatures swimming in our oceans and they have been getting closer to extinction day by day. According to the September 2020 article by Matt Simmons in The Narwhal Article, “Ship collisions are among the greatest threats to these species” making the seas a dangerous place for them.
It is hard to keep an accurate count of how many whales die through collisions because if they don’t recover from their injuries, they sink to the bottom of the ocean. Whales are important to us because they help the marine ecosystem stay healthy by spreading nutrients throughout the ocean.
While whales are important, salmon also play a big role in our ecosystem, yet according to the September 2020 article by Matt “Up to one million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, because of human activities.” -Jeff Tollefson
The decline of salmon returns, and overconsumption is making it worse. There are many people who overconsume and overfish thinking there are many salmon in B.C. Yet, if we keep that type of mindset throughout our whole lives, it will create a domino effect with them moving onto the next salmon species until salmon become fully extinct in B.C.
There are many species in B.C. that are important to us because they bring us many uses, yet we don’t make the effort to conserve and maintain habitats. “Habitat loss, affecting 84% of species, is the greatest threat to endangered species in Canada (figure 1)”, according to Oxford Academic Journals, so, if we can do small actions like donating to habitat conservation, stop buying farmed salmon and preserve fresh salmon, or even speaking up about the issue, would help make a difference.
According to the May 2019 article by Jeff Tollefson in Nature, “up to one million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, because of human activities.” Although we have been told on how we affect many species habitats, we are slow to act.
We must play our roles and always put trash in the right place, use less plastic, and be more observant of the environment around us, so that one day we will live in a world where we don’t have to worry about extinction.
