World’s Oceans Nearly Fished Out, Institute’s Report Warns

The world’s oceans have been fished nearly to the limits, after decades of fishermen using bigger boats and more advanced hunting technologies, a report released Saturday says.

“Although worldwide environmental degradation of the oceans contributes to the decline of marine life, overfishing is the primary cause of dwindling fish populations,” says the report by the nonprofit Worldwatch Institute.

A 5% decline in the worldwide catch since 1989 is due largely to more people fishing in large-scale, industrial operations, often in waters that are becoming more polluted, according to the report.

Meanwhile, world population is growing at 1.6% annually, equivalent to the population of Mexico being added to the world each year, the report says.

“This is a global problem that has already caused armed confrontations between fishing nations, gunfire between fishers and hunger in the developing world,” said Peter Weber, author of the report.

“If current mismanagement continues, we can expect a future in which millions of fishers are out of work. . . . A future in which traditional fishing cultures from Nova Scotia to Malaysia disappear,” he said.

After decades of rapid growth, all of the planet’s major fishing grounds are at or beyond their limits, and many have already suffered serious declines, the report says.

All fishing grounds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the Mediterranean and Black seas, are in decline after peaking between 1973 and 1991, the institute said.

Only the Indian Ocean fisheries are still increasing total output, although they are unlikely to expand much more and could be poised for serious declines, the report says.

The total catch has shrunk by more than 30% in four of the hardest-hit areas--the Pacific’s east-central region and the Atlantic’s northwest, west-central and southeast sectors.

The once-abundant North Atlantic cod now may be commercially extinct, western Atlantic bluefin tuna are down to only 10% of their former abundance, several North Pacific salmon species are on the brink of extinction and oysters in the Chesapeake Bay are at only 4% of former levels, the report says.