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Comment by acd | Hacker News Reader

Issue is that its "free" as in zero cost for fishing boats to fish all the fish in the ocean. So fishing has over fished the fish in the oceans. Classic tragedy of the commons of a resource fish which has no price for the extractor.

Orcas has no food so they knock out fishing boats.

Evolution?

Tragedy of the commons: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

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I agree that it’s textbook tragedy of the commons. It might appear that orcas are trying to outcompete with fishing boats, but this sounds like personification or an anthropomorphism of whales.

I figured it along the lines of diminished habitat leading to attacks on a perceived invader, which just so happens to be far worse than any natural predator. It might also take additional experimentation/observation to see if some orcas are predisposed to aggressive behavior when perpetually hungry, but this seems to me quite a natural impulse to starvation. In any case, it will lead to evolutionary adaptation … or extinction.

I don't think we're very close to fishing all of the fish out of the ocean.

I don't know. It looks like Atlantic Cod aren't bouncing back[0], and neither are alewife, rainbow smelt, bloater and others in the Georgian Bay[1]. Meanwhile, apparently, Pacific Sardine have collapsed from 1.8M to 0.2M in the last 20 years[3]. These data paint a grim picture.

0. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7e/f7/c3/7ef7c3244b3e4fd1f224...

1. https://www.stateofthebay.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/prey...

3. https://usa.oceana.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/593/sardin...

On track for Soylent Green scenario.

Now I wonder what that view could be based on?

even a quick glance at data shows massive reductions in fish stocks, see other post.

or basically any research study

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1467-2979....

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266684781_A_century...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027277141...

https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/hawaiian-reefs-lost-almost...

doesn't need to be all of them, just the ones the Orcas prefer

If you aren't being wilfully ignorant, then you will be unpleasantly surprised when you find out.

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