It is a fact that the ocean covers 95% of the Earth. So, it is understandable that people believe we could never have marine fish in the list of endangered species. But in reality, things are far more out of control than we think. And for that, we can blame overfishing, pollution, and habitat destruction as the main cause for entire fish populations being threatened of extinction. And all of these factors are due to the action of the human being, which is not only affecting the sea fish, but the whole ecosystem.

It has been determined that 70% of marine fish that are commercially relevant are being fished to its limit of repopulation or beyond that. Most of sea fish species are being overexploited. Due to high-tech harvesting, speed boats, and acoustic detection devices, they are being caught in a rate far beyond what is advisable. In 1996, over 100 species of marine fish were classified as in danger of becoming extinct. In this list, it was included some species of tuna, several species of grouper, the swordfish living in the North Atlantic, haddock and cod fish found in the Atlantic, sole, snapper, among others. As we can see, they are all fish we eat frequently. What if we suddenly cannot have such great sources of protein and omega 3 anymore?

Apart from overfishing, we also have to consider pollution as a big factor in the whole problem. The damage caused by fish and shrimp ponds, human sewage (which causes the growth of toxic microorganisms), chemical contaminations caused by mercury, DDT, etc, coral mining, urban development, polluted coral reefs, fish being stunned by dynamite and cyanide, bottom trawling, among others, are contributing for the destruction of the marine fish habitat. On top of that, we still need to consider the climate changes, which are responsible for making the temperature of the ocean higher, and that alone can cause an enormous destruction.

However, the situation is not entirely without hope. There are some steps that once taken would put a break on the collapse of the fish populations in the sea. We could have stricter fishing limits and areas at the sea permanently closed for fishing. We would have to do something about ships on high seas being unregulated by their countries and by international laws. Also, there should be a stop to the shocking waste due to spoilage and to "bycatch", which means all the fish that were not intended to be caught or that were not licensed to fishing. With some effort, the problem can be solved. Fish can recover in a short time if compared to other animals that are in the list of endangered species, we just need to give them a hand.