The over-exploitation and mismanagement of fisheries has already led to some major fisheries collapses.
In 1992, Canada’s cod fishery (the oldest fishery) collapsed off Newfoundland. The Canadian government ignored scientific warnings and stood by as catches fell from 233,000 tonnes to zero in two years.
Forty thousand jobs in the industry were lost. The communities are still struggling to recover and the marine ecosystem is still in a state of collapse.
The North and Baltic Sea’s cod fisheries are also close to collapsing.
Learn more and watch the video about cod fisheries collapsing in the Baltic sea.
A key contributor to overfishing is overcapacity within the fishing industry. There are simply too many vessels chasing too few fish. This chase leads fishing fleets beyond their own countries’ depleted waters to other regions such as the Pacific.