Passenger pigeon.
One of the factors that cause species extinct is overharvesting. Before we go into our discussion, I would like to bring you some past events that prove human had over hunting certain species till they become endanger species. So, let us look at a classic example is the extermination of America passenger pigeon that once a upon a time lived in eastern North America with large population of them (population between 3 and 5 billion of them). It accounted for about one-quarter of all birds in North America. In spite of this vast abundance, market hunting and habitat destruction caused the entire population to crash in only about 20 years between 1870 and 1890. Sadly, the last existing passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died in 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo. As a result, the existence species of bird has now become a history and just a story that begin with ‘once a upon a time’.
So, what kind of moral lesson that we have gained from this story? We might start to think that we shouldn’t repeat the event of ‘once a upon a time’ on the animal in the earth. So that, next time, we don’t have to bring our grandchildren to go to the museum to see the specimens of the Malay Tiger, Sumatera rhino, and Orang Utan as examples because we couldn’t see them lively in the national parks, zoos, and forests. Think about it when our grandchildren ask you a question why are there extinct? Start from now; how would you to answer to this serious question? It is a question about ethical, moral and humanities question.
Before that, let us see the world today, we realize people are harvesting all the resources of the earth for example fisheries, and whaling. For instance, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimate, over 70% of the world’s fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. United Nation. 10 Stories The World Should Hear About. http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/06/story.asp?storyID=800
You might also refer to the following website to get the pie chart about the status of the marine fisheries:
http://earthwatch.unep.ch/oceans/oceanfisheries.php
The modern fisheries using large weighted nets to catch fishes. The large weighted nets not only catch all marine life in midwaters, whether targeted or caught incidentally, but also cause severe seabed habitat destruction. Sea creatures living on the bottom are crushed, buried or exposed to predators, and clouds of sediments rise, altering seabed biochemistry. Trawler bycatch represents between 17-39 million metric tones of fish discarded unused each year (McAllister, 1998). Ecosystems, such as continental shelves and slopes, are more affected than other areas; they naturally suffer less disturbance (by storm waves for example) and have evolved for slower growth and other biological processes, which means that recovery takes places over a longer period of time (Watling et al., 1998). United Nation. 2006. Earth Watch. http://earthwatch.unep.ch/oceans/oceanfisheries.php
As a conclusion, overharvesting is one of the factors that is responsible for depletion or extinction of many species. Efficient endangered species management and biodiversity protection are needed to protect the species.
So, what kind of moral lesson that we have gained from this story? We might start to think that we shouldn’t repeat the event of ‘once a upon a time’ on the animal in the earth. So that, next time, we don’t have to bring our grandchildren to go to the museum to see the specimens of the Malay Tiger, Sumatera rhino, and Orang Utan as examples because we couldn’t see them lively in the national parks, zoos, and forests. Think about it when our grandchildren ask you a question why are there extinct? Start from now; how would you to answer to this serious question? It is a question about ethical, moral and humanities question.
Before that, let us see the world today, we realize people are harvesting all the resources of the earth for example fisheries, and whaling. For instance, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimate, over 70% of the world’s fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. United Nation. 10 Stories The World Should Hear About. http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/06/story.asp?storyID=800
You might also refer to the following website to get the pie chart about the status of the marine fisheries:
http://earthwatch.unep.ch/oceans/oceanfisheries.php
The modern fisheries using large weighted nets to catch fishes. The large weighted nets not only catch all marine life in midwaters, whether targeted or caught incidentally, but also cause severe seabed habitat destruction. Sea creatures living on the bottom are crushed, buried or exposed to predators, and clouds of sediments rise, altering seabed biochemistry. Trawler bycatch represents between 17-39 million metric tones of fish discarded unused each year (McAllister, 1998). Ecosystems, such as continental shelves and slopes, are more affected than other areas; they naturally suffer less disturbance (by storm waves for example) and have evolved for slower growth and other biological processes, which means that recovery takes places over a longer period of time (Watling et al., 1998). United Nation. 2006. Earth Watch. http://earthwatch.unep.ch/oceans/oceanfisheries.php
As a conclusion, overharvesting is one of the factors that is responsible for depletion or extinction of many species. Efficient endangered species management and biodiversity protection are needed to protect the species.
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