Chapter 11: Sustaining Biodiversity:The Species Approach
3. This article deals with a regional environmental issue.
4. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will place restriction on commercial fishing for Atka Mackerel and Pacific Cod off parts of Alaska's Western Aleutian Islands. This is being done to help protect the declining population of the Steller Sea Lion. Researchers say that the sea lion population has declined about 45 percent from 2000 up until the year 2008. The suggest that this is primarily due to the shortage of food for the sea lions. The sea lions can eat up to about 6 percent of its 1000 pound body weight daily in fish. If these fish are continually over hunted the sea lion will have to resort to a different food source if available. On average commercial fisherman took about 2.6 billion pounds of fish in this past year. Although it may have a bad economic effect, the lives of sea lions are in danger and needs to be fixed.
5. I think it is great that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has noticed the decline of the sea lions and is actively doing something about it. It is important to make sure that all species are surviving at a substantial amount, because once these species become threatened it is extremely difficult to get the species to flourish as they did before. So it is crucial that we do something about these sea lions before it is too late.
6. faring- To turn out, to happen
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