CONTENTS
HIGHLIGHTSPopulation Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA
December, 1997 |
While the world's fish catch increased fivefold between 1950 and 1989, the peak year, productivity has fallen since then in all but 2 of the world's 15 major fishing regions. The fish catch has dropped by more than 30% in the four hardest-hit regions (98, 104). The main reason is overfishing (71, 104). In 1995, 70% of ocean commercial fishing areas were either "fully to heavily exploited (44%), overexploited (16%), depleted (6%), or slowly recovering from overfishing (3%)," FAO has reported (104). Overexploitation occurred due to rapid expansion of the world's fishing fleet, enormous advances in fishing technologies, poor understanding of fish population dynamics (or little concern for ensuring sustainable yields), and a failure to introduce effective management systems. Chronic overfishing and mismanagement virtually wiped out one of the world's most productive fisheries the four million tons of cod on Canada's Grand Banks. In 1993 the Canadian government closed this fishery altogether, and thousands of fishermen lost their jobs (38). As yields from capture fisheries have declined, yields from fish farming (aquaculture and mariculture) have risen rapidly. The gains from fish farming, however, have not been enough to offset the losses from capture fisheries. The increase in output from fish farms has gone primarily to meeting rising demand for fish in Europe, North America, and more developed countries in Asia (104). |