Shoal of fish.
Vanishing fish stocks
5 October 2009
We've been told for years to eat more fish because it's so good for us. The Food Standards Agency advises everyone to eat at least two portions a week, one of which should be oily.
But our appetite for fish and other seafood has decimated a number of what used to be common species. Many fisheries are now unsustainable. What can we do about it?
Sue Nelson meets Professors Callum Roberts, a fish expert from the University of York, and David Sims from the Marine Biological Association (MBA) at a meeting to celebrate 125 years of the MBA. The MBA was set up in part to investigate Professor Thomas Huxley's claim that many fish stocks were 'inexhaustible'.
Sue asks Callum and David if fish stocks are running out and if so, why we've got these problems in the first place. The answers are not easy listening. They say the only way to preserve fisheries is if we all change our habits.
Listen
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Also in the programme, we hear from Dr Eleanor Blyth from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology about why details like leaf size and shape, and soil moisture are so important for climate models.
You might wonder where on Earth she starts. She explains how she uses complex mathematical equations in a computer simulation called the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) to help her.
Next up, Tamera Jones tells us why we should be worried about ice sheets melting in Greenland and Antarctica. The most detailed study yet shows it's not a pretty picture.
Also, how British colonial rule made one tribe in the Andaman Islands shorter by two centimetres and why faces are more important than bodies in the mating game.
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