The Maoris and the Longfin Eel (lfe) Sustainability Issue

Environmental Justice Case Study: [pic 1]

The Maoris and the longfin eel (LFE)

sustainability issue

The Table of Contents

• Problem
• Background
• Stakeholders
• Demographics
• Strategies
• Solutions
• Recommendations
• Figures
• Key Contacts
• Works Cited

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Problem

As the global economy and population continues to increase so too do their needs.  Systematic plundering of resources has been happening on a global scale and for many years we as a global people have been damaging our ecologies and subsequently our economies by behaving in an unsustainable way.  Overfishing and other types of human interactions with nature have severely impacted marine ecologies both in salt water and fresh water environments.  Seventy one percent of our planet is comprised of water and of the total water found on earth only two and a half percent of that is fresh water (National Ocean Service, 2014).  Space is extremely limited for fresh water organisms as is without human intervention.  The problems fresh water organisms face continue to stack against them when factoring in the construction of dams and other sources of habitat destruction/reformation, commercial/sport fishing and the addition of pollution.

New Zealand is the only site in the world where you can find the long fin eel in their natural habitat.  Found all over New Zealand (noted by LFE or ANG in the image below) these eels have been significantly impacted since the 1960s by commercial fishing, habitat loss and subsequently been categorized as "at risk or declining" (TheFishSite, 2012).  Factoring in that these species of eels have a lifespan up to 100 years and only breed once in their lifetimes their likelihood of survival long term is quite low (TheFishSite News Desk, 2012).  

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With the growing world population, enhancements to commercial fishing and lack of the LFE being able to reproduce fast enough, the LFE population have been on a dramatic [pic 5]

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decline raising environmental and socio-economic issues.  LFE are at the very top of the fresh water food chain and with their destruction a serious threat to a rapid population increase of tier 3 fish (as seen in the image below) which could potentially decimate the tier 2 fish leading to tier 3 fish starvation.