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Black Sea noun - a body of water and marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean between Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Western Asia

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In 2018 the fishing industry caught around 180 million tons of food. Nearly 150 million reached our homes. Fishing is a key industry providing food for many people in the world. A lot of coastal communities have been dependent on it for centuries as a single source of income and food. But this industry for billions is on the brink of collapse due to our greed and the way we manage our oceans. 

Increasingly more populations of our favorite marine inhabitants are facing extinction. In the meantime, jellyfish are taking over a warmer, more acidic, and more polluted world ocean. This invasion of jellyfish is causing many problems. 

The reactors of nuclear power plants across the world are often forced to stop work because their cooling systems are clogged with jellyfish. Their immense numbers are endangering more and more of the few left sea inhabitants. Jellyfish compete for food with species of small fish and also eat their eggs which makes it impossible for these fish to reproduce. 

According to some studies, the fishing industry of the countries in the black sea basin is behind with 400 million dollars thanks to jellyfish. 

The reason for this explosion in their numbers is because they have very few enemies. They are hunted by sea turtles, salmon, and some birds. Sea turtles are on the verge of going extinct while salmon is hunted with a frightening pace as one of humanity’s favorite foods. 

Our way of life is causing the so-called dead zones. Places, where pests from agriculture on the land and dirty sewage waters are pouring, making them practically uninhabitable for no one. No one but jellyfish.

Fishermen try to regulate jellyfish populations by catching and killing them. They throw them back in the sea dead only to find out they are still releasing fertilized cells ready to create the next generation.

If we want to protect this industry which gives work to millions, while billions depend on it for food we need to change the way we treat our oceans and their inhabitants before it is too late.

The end of the fishing industry.