Don't tell that to your local sushi chef. Over the past three decades, the fish export trade has grown fourfold, to 30 million tons, and its value has increased ninefold, to $ 71 Billion. The dietary attractiveness of seafood has stoked demand. About 90% of the ocean's big predators like cod and tuna--have been fished out of existence. Increasingly, fish and shrimp farms are filling the shortfall. Though touted as a solution to overfishing, many of them have--along with rampant coastal development, climate change and pollution devastated the reefs, mangroves and seagrass beds where many commercially valuable fish hatch.
Steven Murawski, chief scientist at the U. S. National Marine Fisheries Service, finds Worm's headlining prediction far too pessimistic, Industry experts are even more skeptical "There's now a global effort to reduce or eliminate fishing practices that aren't sustainable," says industry analyst Howard Johnson. "With that increased awareness, these projections just aren't realistic."
Perhaps. Still, the destructive fishing practices that have decimated tuna and cod have not declined worldwide, as Johnson suggests. Up to half the marine life caught by fishers is discarded, often dead, as bycatch, and vibrant coral forests are still being stripped bare by dragnets. Worm argues that fisheries based on ecosystems stripped of their biological diversity are especially prone to collapse. At least 29% of fished species have already collapsed, according to the study, and the trend is accelerating.
what's a fish eater to do? "Vote with your wallet," says Michael Sutton, who runs the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program in California. Since 1999, the aquarium has handed out pocket guides listing sustainably harvested seafood. The Marine Stewardship Council has partnered with corporations to similarly certify wild and farm-raised seafood. Some 370 products in more than two dozen countries bear the British group's "Fish Forever" label of approval. Wal-Mart and Red Lobster, among others, have made commitments to sell sustainably harvested seafood.
But that's just a spit in the ocean unless consumers in Japan, India, China and Europe join the chorus for change. "If everyone in the U. S. started eating sustainable seafood," says Worldwatch Institute senior researcher Brian Halweil, "it would be wonderful, but it wouldn't address the global issues. We're at the very beginning of this."
It can be inferred from the first paragraph that ______.
A. fishermen are afraid of pirates and storms most.
B. people should take measures to secure fish supply.
C. about 50 years later, we won't be able to eat fish.
D. Worm expects global catch data to continue surging.
Questions 23-26
According to the information given in the text, choose the correct answer from the choices given.
"Circular migration" avoids the brain drain problem by
A. drastically reducing the number of immigrants to the EU.
B. only allowing new immigrants into the EU when others leave.
C. sending immigrants home from the EU periodically.
Young people are more likely to be victims of crime because they
A. are more likely to be criminals.
B. lack awareness of crime.
C. tend to carry things that thieves want.
Studies in America show that poor immigrants commit fewer crimes
A. than poor natives.
B. than any natives.
C. if they live in big cities.