Overfishing: Are there really plenty of fish in the sea?

[n2doc]

Decades of overfishing sent many U.S. fisheries into free fall last century. Can a new focus on sustainability save fish and fishermen from going extinct?
By Russell McLendon
Tue, Oct 06 2009 at 11:30 AM EST


Years before an economic crisis taught everyone the risks of runaway growth, marine fishermen and fishery managers were already getting a crash course.

Worldwide fishing catches grew 400 percent between 1950 and 1994, following centuries of increasingly intensive commercial fishing, but it couldn't last forever — big fisheries began crashing by the late 20th century, and global production leveled off in 1988. U.S. catches peaked six years later at 5.2 million tons, more than double the country's 1950 total, and by 2008 they had fallen back down to 4.1 million, despite rising demand.

Fisheries and financial markets have a lot in common, according to a study published last month, and both can collapse dramatically after reaching certain tipping points. While such tipping points are difficult to predict, there are still clues beforehand. Stock markets often behave erratically when a meltdown is coming, the researchers found, and fisheries may undergo odd fluctuations in population and body size before they crash.

more:

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/overfishing-are-there-really-plenty-of-fish-in-the-sea

[hedgehog]

1. Maybe we just caught all the dumb fish. The smart ones are hiding.

[paulsby]

2. anecdotally speaking

i know several men in the cape cod area (martha's vineyard) who fish and lobster the waters around same, and all the way out to the george's bank. they tell me the fish are definitely less plentiful than 30 yrs ago. not sure if there's not a little 'old timers' reminiscing disease, but on the whole i believe them that the fish are less plentiful.

otoh, recall that for a good part of american history, lobsters were thought of as inedible pests. now, they are a delicacy. needless to say, they are harder to find now

[PDJane]

3. The sea is depleted...........

And it can happen very quickly. The grand banks off the coast of Newfoundland used to feed a good portion of the world...now it doesn't even feed us.

[rgbecker]

4. Ever hear of Peak Oil? Meet peak FISH!

http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/pls/webpls/MF_ANNUAL_LANDINGS.RESULTS

We'll all be eating TOFU if we can get it.

Sample numbers 1980 compared to 2008:

1980 HADDOCK 24,937.5 Tons 2008 HADDOCK 6,206.5

1980 FLOUNDER, YELLOWTAIL 19,576.1 2008 FLOUNDER, YELLOWTAIL 1,643.9

1980 TUNA, YELLOWFIN 86,334.9 2008 TUNA, YELLOWFIN 2,686.1

[MichaelHarris]

5. Don't know but

when a recipe craze, blackened redfish, almost turned that species into a dream good management brought it back. It's a great success in proper management. Now along the Texas coast can catch so many you get tired of catching them.