We’ve already removed at least two-thirds of the large fish in the ocean, and one in three fish populations have collapsed since 1950. Put simply, there are too many boats chasing too few fish.
Overfishing is threatening food security for hundreds of millions of people and destroying ocean ecosystems worldwide.
In fact, the fishing industry can’t even sell everything it catches. One commercial fishing boat, which can be the size of a cruise ship, can catch more fish in one haul than hundreds of small-scale boats can in a year.
Not only is the amount of fish we’re catching unsustainable, the way we’re catching it also has serious consequences. As fishing techniques have evolved to catch the most fish possible, they’ve also become more destructive.
Bycatch
For example, bottom trawling—in which giant nets are run along the sea floor picking up or crushing whatever is in their path—is particularly damaging to fragile coral and sponge habitats. Longlining—a technique that consists of baiting thousands of hooks along miles-long fishing lines—snag thousands of creatures that are typically thrown back into the water dead or dying.
These “unwanted” species, called bycatch, often include turtles, albatross, sharks, manta rays, and even dolphins, many of which are endangered. Every year, commercial fishing kills as many as 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises and about 100 million sharks.
