Overfishing and its Consequences

I’m sure everyone has enjoyed taking a good trip with the family to spend an evening out fishing. Unfortunately, fishing does create concerns regarding sustainability. Don’t worry though, your family trip is not what really causes these concerns. Overfishing is a problem which stems from the entire global fishing industry when fishing vessels capture more fish than the stocks can replenish. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization in the United Nations, a third of the world’s accessed fisheries are held past their sustained biological limitations. Simply ceasing to fish is not as straightforward as it may seem, however. 

One of the largest issues that comes from conventional fishing for a livelihood is bycatch, when fish other than what are hunted for are captured and killed. Modern day fishing gear used by large vessels is extremely effective in rounding up huge groups of the desired species as well as any other species in its way. Marine life such as harmless dolphins, turtles, and seabirds end up in the nets and are often returned to the ocean either dead or nearly dead. The largest cause of death for small cetaceans is death from entanglement in fishing nets, resulting in over 300,000 annual casualties for whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Although there are regulations in place to try to prevent bycatch, pirate fishing tends to ignore all set standards and rules. Poor management in countries where this occurs allows fishermen to bypass the rules, permitting breaches in net mesh sizes, quotas, and legal fishing areas. The best way to combat this cruel practice is to enforce stricter legislation on fishing and adopt new technologies which are designed to only capture the desired species according to the quota.

Although you may think that global governments are concerned about overfishing and are seeking to reduce its impacts, some governments around the world actually grant harmful subsidies, grants given to the industry to lower the cost of business, and encourage overfishing. Economically, governments make it easier for the fishing industry to grow past its capabilities. When money is granted to a certain industry, it allows for the industry to thrive, even if it would economically not make sense otherwise. This results in the overdevelopment of fishing fleets around the world as well as the wrongful skewing of production costs, leading to fleet sizes being increased. In fact, the worldwide fishing fleet today is estimated to be 2.5 times larger than what is necessary to capture the amount of fish consumed. Not only does promoting this industry create consequences to the biodiversity under our waters, it also creates pollution above the waters in the atmosphere. The median fossil fuel footprint of ocean fishing activities is nearly 700 liters per cubic ton. Putting an end to subsidizers would reduce the pressure to fish and would create incentives for more efficient fishing measures. 

The most immediate concern with enforcing limitations on fishing is that so many jobs in third-world countries rely on the industry to make a living. Unfortunately, fishermen around the world are reliant on dwindling stocks of fish to support their lives. As the number of fish decrease and the demand increases, there is little room for overfishing. Fish is one of the most highly valued food commodities and is currently a $362 billion industry across the world. Also, roughly half of the world relies on fish as a primary source of protein. That is why the approach governments take around the world to address overfishing has to be very calculated. Just as we cannot let overfishing continue to happen, we also cannot ban fishing in general because of the livelihoods this supports. The best way to reach a solution is to help rekindle the populations of fish by placing regulations on which species to not kill. Overexploitation of fish requires a solution that is agreed upon internationally.