Why should we protect habitats essential to fish?

Because marine fish depend on habitat for survival and reproduction, it is important to protect the habitats that sustain and enhance commercial and recreational fisheries. Coastal and marine habitats are disappearing at alarming rates. In some cases they are physically destroyed while other times they are degraded by indirect impacts. Many habitats are lost due to human-related threats:

• Pollution: Run-off from urban areas and agricultural lands can lead to the degradation of many coastal and marine habitats. In the Gulf of Mexico, this type of pollution has lead to a “Dead Zone” the size of New Jersey where fish cannot live.
• Coastal Development: In Addition to contributing to polluted run-off, increasing coastal populations and new development leads to the physical destruction of important wetlands. Wetlands provide nursery grounds for young fish and contribute to the maintenance of water quality. Since the time of our Founding Fathers, the Lower 48 States have lost over half of our wetlands.
• Dredging: These activities help maintain shipping channels and support beach nourishment projects by digging up bottom sediments and placing the sands and soils on beaches. The dredging process can be highly disruptive, disturbing the habitats upon which fish depend and often re-suspending toxins that have settled on the bottom over time.
• Fishing: Some fishers use gear such as dredges and trawls that catch fish by dragging along the bottom of the ocean. These gears can have harmful effects on certain habitats such as coral reefs.

Our dwindling habitats need protection from these threats so our economically important fish stocks can survive and reproduce.