Unit 2

Fishing

Reading Text 1

Overfishing
Our world is a unique environment, in that every living being, plant, and landscape contributes to the
overall wellness of the Earth. This is why harmful effects of human waste, production, and consumption can
have such drastic effects on certain ecologies and biospheres.

A major concern right now is the problem of overfishing. Ocean overfishing simply means catching fish
from sea at rates too high where fish stocks become too depleted to recover. With oceans taking up over 70% of
the Earth, sea creatures and the overall health of marine life is essential for sustaining life elsewhere on the
planet, but overfishing is having drastic effects on the future of both ocean and land dwellers.

WWF defines Overfishing as,

“Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural
reproduction. Gathering as many fish as possible may seem like a profitable practice, but overfishing has
serious consequences. The results not only affect the balance of life in the oceans, but also the social and
economic well-being of the coastal communities who depend on fish for their way of life.”

Millions of people depend on fishing for their livelihood and for billions of people rely on fish as their key
source of protein. With increased overfishing related practices and without sustainable management, many fish
stocks are reduced to below acceptable levels. Catching too many fish seem like a profitable practice, but it
endangers ecosystems and affects the balance of live in oceans.

Put simply, overfishing occurs when more fish are caught then are able to reproduce to repopulate.
Because fishing has long been an industry used by humans, there are a number of reasons why it is a problem
today. Some of the causes of overfishing include:

 Difficulties in regulating fishing areas due to lack of resources and tracking activity.

 Most areas in the world have a total lack of oversight related to their fishing industry, which means the
practices and activities of fishing fleets are not or barely monitored.

 In international waters, there are little to no rules regarding fishing practices, which means fishing fleets
can bypass areas that do have regulations.

 Lack of knowledge regarding fish populations and quotas in a universal standard.

 Problems with customs and importation where the provenance of fish is not questioned, leading to
surreptitious practices such as calling one kind of fish something else.

 Unreported fishing, which is nearly impossible to track.

 Many countries have subsidies for fisherman which keeps their number higher than it needs to be (it is
estimated that there are 2 ½ times more fleets than needed).

 Fishing areas are largely unprotected – only a little over 1.5% of oceans have been declared protective
areas, and most of these are still open to fishermen. This means that areas can be harmed or depleted.

English for Fisheries and Marine Science 1

 A. Vocabulary
Read passage above carefully. Match the vocabularies below with their meaning
according to the context given in the passage.
1. Drastic : ______________ 6. Sustainable : ______________
2. Ecologies : ______________ 7. Endanger : ______________
3. Biospheres : ______________ 8. Regulating : ______________
4. Essential : ______________ 9. Oversight : ______________
5. Livelihood : ______________ 10. Barely : ______________
Definitions:
a. extremely important
b. able to be upheld or defended.
c. a way of securing the necessities of life.
d. almost not
e. the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.
f. put (someone or something) at risk or in danger.
g. monitoring
h. radical and extreme
i. the regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth (or analogous parts of
other planets) occupied by living organisms.
j. get rid of (someone or something) as no longer useful or desirable.

B. Reading Comprehension
Answer the following questions based on the text above.
1. Human waste is one of the factors that significantly affects the environment. T/F
2. Approximately, three-tenth of the world is land. T/F
3. Overfishing not only influences life in the oceans but also the people on land. T/F
4. A lack of resources is the most significant cause to overfishing. T/F
5. Monitoring of the fishing industry has been done at a successful rate. T/F

6. How important are fishes?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
7. Define overfishing!
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
8. Provide some solutions to the causes of overfishing!
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

English for Fisheries and Marine Science 2

 Language Focus 2
Simple Present

Example:

1. Our world is a unique environment, in that every living being, plant, and landscape
contributes to the overall wellness of the Earth.
2. Ocean overfishing simply means catching fish from sea at rates too high where fish stocks
become too depleted to recover.
3. Millions of people depend on fishing for their livelihood and for billions of people rely on
fish as their key source of protein.

The sentences above are taken from the previous text. In all of the sentences above,
it shows that they all describe about fact, opinion or general information. Those sentences
use simple present. However, there two different forms of verbs that can be used in simple
present. So, how do we differentiate them? Read the following explanation to help you
understand the differences between two verbs in simple present.
Recognizing these two verbs (Form):

Simple Present

Singular Subject + V1 (with s/es) Plural Subject + V1 (without s/es)

Basic uses and functions:

1. Use the present simple for a present state (e.g. feeling, opinion) or general facts
2. Use the present simple for a habitual actions or routines.

Sentence Example: Sentence Example:

1. David wants to be an expert hacker 1. I want a pizza for my dinner
2. She plays video games every Sunday 2. We meet the director once a week

English for Fisheries and Marine Science 3

 Practice!

Direction: Change the verb in the parentheses into the correct forms of simple present.
1. Caches ______________ (provide) extremely fast access to a program and its data.
2. He always ______________ (do) his best in computer class.
3. RAM ______________ (store) data and programs currently used by CPU
4. We ______________ (not/play) video games every day.
5. _________________ (you/trust) your computer consultant?
6. She ________________ (not/get) to work on her laptop before 9 am every day.
7. The girls never _________ (listen) to pop music with their headset on.
8. ROM _____________(hold) instructions for starting up the computer.
9. Our new neighbor _________ (work) as Data Analyst in Alphabet Inc.
10. I ___________ (like) macOS very much.

Basic Writing 3
Read both of the text and analyze whether they are a paragraph or not.

Text 1 Text 2

Italy is one of the most historical
countries in the world and therefore has
many historical places for tourists to visit.
Firstly, it is the Colosseum which was the
place where gladiators had to fight each
other. Another interesting place is the
leaning of Pisa. This attraction is interesting
because of its unique style. Venice is also a
place that attracts many tourists because of
its uncommon city landscape with its canals
and bridges that connects the city.
Italy is one of the most historical
countries in the world and therefore has
many historical places for tourists to visit.
Firstly, it is the Colosseum which was the
place where gladiators had to fight each
other. Another interesting place is the
leaning of Pisa. This attraction is interesting
because of its unique style. Other than that,
Italy is also famous for its culinary such as
pizza and pasta. Not only that, they also
famous for its coffee.

English for Fisheries and Marine Science 4

 Important Terms

Paragraph: a group of sentences that focus on a single idea

Topic: the one thing a paragraph is about
Topic sentence: the sentence that tells what the paragraph is about
Supporting details: those sentences that explain the topic sentence

Abridged and modified from Pearson

Visualize Your Understanding!

Take a look on the text 1 and text 2, then read the visual explanation below why one
of them is a paragraph and the other is not.
As it can be seen from the idea map below, text 2 has thesis sentence which does
not have appropriate supporting details. Meanwhile, the topic sentence of text 1 has
supporting details that connect each other. To write a good paragraph, you have to
maintain that the idea focuses on one topic with appropriate supporting details.

Idea Map

Italy is one of the most historical Italy is one of the most historical countries in
countries in the world and therefore has the world and therefore has many historical
many historical places for tourists to visit. places for tourists to visit.

Firstly, it is the Colosseum

which was the place where Firstly, it is the Colosseum which was the
gladiators had to fight each place where gladiators had to fight each
other.
other.

Another interesting place is the Another interesting place is the leaning of

leaning of Pisa. This attraction is Pisa. This attraction is interesting because
interesting because of its of its unique style.
unique style.

Venice is also a place that attracts

many tourists because of its Other than that, Italy is also famous for its
uncommon city landscape with its culinary such as pizza and pasta. Not only
canals and bridges that connects that, they also famous for its coffee.
the city.

English for Fisheries and Marine Science 5

 Practice!
Take a look on the reading text in the first page of this unit!
1. How many paragraphs are there? ____________________________________________
2. What is the topic of the text? ______________________________________________
3. What is the first paragraph of the text? _______________________________________
4. What are the topic sentences of each paragraph above? Underline the topic sentences!
5. Could you find the supporting details of each topic sentence? Highlight your answers

English for Fisheries and Marine Science 6