THE FISH ARE DYING
Fish live in the water and men live on land, but we all live in a sea of micro-organisms.
In the air, the land, the oceans, are zillions of micro-organisms, from viruses, to fungi, to bacteria and tiny plankton which float in the oceans getting their energy from the sun. There is even a newly discovered group of almost invisible live proteins called Prions, which replicate in animal bodies and slowly destroy brain cells—the agents that cause Mad Cow Disease.
These micro-organisms kill us and sustain us. No fish would be alive if it were not for the planktons which give food and energy to tiny baby fish, starting a food chain which ultimately ends with enormous tuna and giant squid.
Humans would not live without bacteria in their intestines and in and around every orifice on the body, protecting us from invasions of harmful bacteria from the soil, the air and other people and animals.
Both fish and humans must be thankful for a benign Nature which has offered us protection against the same group that can destroy us.
Recently, however, humans have ignored the fact that most micro-organisms are a source of life as they concentrated their efforts on protecting themselves from those micro-organisms that are harmful.
As humans protect themselves, they have established an unstoppable process that is killing our friends, the fish.
HYDROCARBONS
Petroleum is the epitomy of all hydrocarbons. Pewtroleum was formed millions of years ago by the residue of dead plants and dead micro- organisms, such as plankton. which became compressed by enormous quantities of soil as the areas where the plants lived sank under the earth’s crust.
A hydrocarbon is simply carbon and water, as its name implies. There are other elements found in the various hydrocarbons, but the carbon-water chemical backbone is the major reason people use it.
HYDROCARBON USES
There are many uses for hydrocarbons, especially petroleum, but the two most economically important uses today are: fuel and plastic.
We burn fuel for every function that formerly required our muscles. As a result we are becoming weak and fat.
We use plastic today for wrapping anything and everything. As a result our planet is turning into plastic.
Hydrocarbons are the poison of mankind. Not only are we destroying ourselves with hydro- carbons, but we are destroying the plant and animal life around us.
THE FISHES
Everyone knows that the fish on this planet are being rapidly depleted. We know that all countries are over-fishing and using extreme techniques like explosives and mile long drag-nets that pull up every living thing in the water.
But, you and I, are doing something worse.
We are using plastic bags for everything and then smiling when the garbage truck takes our garbage, wrapped in plastic, to a landfill.
In the landfill the plastic is put to rest. But then water from the rain picks up pieces of plastic and carries them to the rivers. The rivers carry the plastic to the seas.
The currents of the seas carries the plastic to the GYRES. In the Gyres the plastic slowly breaks down into microscopic pieces. The microscopic pieces of plastic are not biodegradable. Bacteria cannot break them down into molecules and use them for nutrition. They are designed to last for thousands of years.
But the microscopic pieces of plastic enter into the plankton, not as food, but as a waste product.
The tiny sea life that live on the plankton ingest the plankton and the plastic and die.
The larger baby fish starve.
The fish food chain stops at step number two.
All fish are dependent on this food chain. No baby fish, no bigger fish–ultimately no fish in the seas.
HOW BIG ARE THE GYRES?
The Gyres are enormous. Each ocean has one or many. In the Pacific Ocean, it is estimated that the Gyre is as large as the State of Texas.
Across the world, the total area of plastic is probably larger than the country of Mexico.
Since no one on the planet is avoiding the use of plastic—on the contrary, it is being used in ever larger quantities—the future of living fish is very limited.
When the fish are gone the oceans will be lonely.
