Decades of overfishing are now taking their toll on the world’s oceans. As populations of larger fish species become exhausted, fisheries are turning their attention to the smaller species on which these fish feed, according to new figures from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. As a result, sea life—from whales to puffins, from tuna to seals—is starving.

“We have caught most of the big fish and are now going after their food,” says Margot Stiles, a marine scientist for Oceana, a leading international sea protection pressure group.

Most of the smaller “prey fish” taken from the world’s oceans are not used to feed people directly, but are ground up into fish meal and used to feed carnivorous fish species, such as salmon, on fish farms.

Advanced sonar-equipped, gps-driven, computerized oceangoing behemoth ships now efficiently comb the seas and maximize fish capture. But at what cost? Have we sacrificed our future food supply for short-term gain?

In the book of Hosea, God says His people are destroyed because of a lack of the right kind of knowledge—God’s knowledge (Hosea 4:6). As a consequence, God is cursing the Earth: “Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away” (verse 3).

The fish are literally being taken away before our eyes. Sadly, we are creating the problem ourselves! For more information of this disturbing trend, read “Where Have All the Fish Gone?”