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Eh? He's redefining 'peak'. Not the maximum production but merely start of a slow-down in the growth rate.Peak production refers to the point at which the growth in a crop, animal or other food source begins to slow down, rather than the point at which production actually declines.
This synchronisation of peak years is all the more worrying because it suggests the whole food system is becoming overwhelmed, making it extremely difficult to resurrect the fortunes of any one foodstuff, let alone all of them, the report suggested.
The simultaneous peaking of the world’s basic foodstuffs is largely down to the competing demands of a mushrooming population, which is putting ever-greater strain on the land for housing, agriculture, business and infrastructure. At the same time, producing more of any one staple requires the use of extra land and water, which increases their scarcity and makes it harder to increase food production in the future.
Perhaps?vtsnowedin wrote:Perhaps we are at the point where sending out another fishing boat does not yield another boatload of fish.
Are not those fish species that the seals eat also the food supply for the commercial species?biffvernon wrote:However, the seals that breed at my bit of seaside had a record number of pups this year. They're doing very well. They feed mostly off fish that are not commercial species.
That was my first thought too , the rate of increase has decreased as politicians would put it.biffvernon wrote: Eh? He's redefining 'peak'. Not the maximum production but merely start of a slow-down in the growth rate.
A lot of medieval English villages had fish ponds as an extra source of protein. Not too sure they knew what protein was in those days but they probably did know they would be dead without eating some.biffvernon wrote:...with fish ponds.
More on that story here - it's worse than you think.vtsnowedin wrote:Also today. If the seals can't find a fish how many are left to find.?
http://news.yahoo.com/record-sea-lion-p ... 18077.html
Warm surface waters spreading over the ocean can serve as a kind of lid. The warm water prevents cooler water from upwelling toward the surface, mixing nutrients and refreshing the water’s oxygen levels. This shut down of overturning is a dangerous oceanic condition called stratification. And it can level a severe blow to almost all creatures along the marine food chain. Plankton become less productive. Low oxygen zones expand, killing the slow-moving bottom creatures all while driving the mobile fish to more productive waters. In the warmer waters, toxic algae blooms become more prevalent. Harmful microbes, which are culled during influxes of cold water, thrive and multiply, posing a disease threat to all marine species. Finally, in the deeper reaches off the coasts of Washington and Oregon, the already oxygen-poor zones, zones rife with methane from hydrate venting, begin producing a deadly seep of hydrogen sulfide gas.
As a result we have the proliferation of the sea star wasting illness. An illness that would usually be contained by the seasonal influx of cooler waters. So too do we have instances of sea lion adults consuming fish, mullusks, and shellfish contaminated with domoic acid — a toxin produced by algae blooms in warm waters. And lastly, we have the overall stress on the food chain due to low oxygen and productivity which has driven sea lion food sources so far off shore that females are too exhausted after hunting to feed their pups.