Ola Ingvaldson: Protecting the Ocean

Ola Ingvaldson: Protecting the Ocean Ola Ingvaldson is a Geologist who has been emphasizing the importance of saving the environment for many years, which is why he became involved with Greenpeace. One of the primary concerns of Ola and Greenpeace is protecting the ocean, for reasons best described by Greenpeace's official website, which states, “Three quarters of global fish stocks are overfished. 90 percent of top marine predators are already gone. Global warming is causing the ocean to warm and acidify, in turn putting more pressure on already struggling ecosystems. Since Greenpeace was formed in the early 1970s, protecting ocean life has been a cornerstone of our work. Read more about our motivation to defend the oceans, now more than ever the destruction of our oceans depends on an industrial system that is outdated, brutal, and wasteful. Industrial fishing methods and gear, like bottom trawlers and fish-aggregating devices, destroy sensitive habitat and leave fish with no place to live—or hide. The barbaric behavior of commerical whaling is still pursued by a handful of nations. And only 2 percent of the world’s oceans are under any kind of protection at all, not nearly enough for species and habitats to recover. The following is a short list of some of the biggest threats to ocean life.”

Ola Ingvaldson and Greenpeace both emphasize just how devastating overfishing can be to the ocean. This is best understood after reading Greenpeace's official article, which states, “Three quarters of global fisheries are considered overfished, and 90 percent of the population of top ocean predators have disappeared. As these top predators die off, their numbers are replaced by faster growing species, upsetting the ecosystem and changing it significantly.

The fact is, there are too many boats chasing too few fish. The fishing industry has vessels that can stay out on the water longer and catch more fish than ever before. We are fishing faster than fish populations can restore themselves. Some of the important fish species that are being fished at unsustainable rates include: Menhaden: Considered by many scientists to be the “most important fish in the sea,” this small fish is an important food source for dozens of predators in the Atlantic Ocean, including whales and the striped bass.

Atlantic Herring: Along the diverse and beautiful ocean waters of New England, Atlantic Herring populations are being decimated by a form of fishing called "pair trawling." Very large nets are pulled by two relatively small fishing vessels resulting in bycatch, a marine species caught unintentionally from this industrial fishing. Pair trawls have been known to catch whales in their pursuit for fish!”