Global Fisheries Declining Faster Than We Thought: What Can Be Done?

"The United Nations has been grossly underestimating global fish takes, according to a comprehensive study. But marine biologist see a silver lining in the news."

"In a comprehensive study of all the world’s fisheries, including small-scale or illegal ones, a team of researchers found that catches have been declining three times faster than the United Nations had projected.

Since the peak of marine fishery production in 1996, at 130 million metric tons, catches have declined every year by more than one million metric tons. The study authors suggest that this is because of overexploitation and hope the results will help inform countries' fisheries management practices.

Between 1950 to the early 1990s, industrial fishing rose as fleets expanded globally, meaning that fisheries from countries like the United States and China began fishing in the seas of developing countries. As fish export became continental rather than local, small-scale fisheries that traditionally supplied seafood to coastal rural regions failed to compete with the industrial fleets."

Cathaleen Chen reports for the Christian Science Monitor January 20, 2016.