Note: The data found below represent a sampling of a much larger collection of data compiled in "Fishery Degradation: A Global Perspective" found on this same website.

• Fishing at ever-lower trophic levels as overfishing at higher trophic levels depletes fish populations there;
• Fishing fleets that have far greater capacity than the sustainable yields of the fisheries they operate in;
• Huge government subsidies that encourage higher levels of over-fishing than a free market would allow;
• Government oversight agencies that are dominated by the industries that the agencies should be regulating;
• Large-scale degradation and destruction of key marine habitats that wild fish use for breeding, e.g. coastal mangroves, coral reefs, coastal estuaries, sea grass, salt marshes, and bottom features on continental shelves;
• Increasing use of fishing technologies that do long-term damage to key marine habitats, e.g. bottom trawling to ever-increasing depths and the use of toxins and explosives in coral reefs.
• Increasing levels of fishery waste in the form of "By-catch" that is discarded in the form of dead or dying fish;
• Overfishing far beyond sustainable limits for increasing numbers of important fish species;
• Spread of exotic species that wipe out native wild fish species;
• Escapees from aquaculture pens spreading bad genes and diseases to wild fish species;
• Over-fishing of lower-trophic level species to provide food for carnivorous aquaculture species;
• Reallocation of large areas of level croplands to create aquaculture fish ponds that must soon be abandoned, resulting in plots of ground that are too toxic and too soil deficient to serve any productive use;
• Warmer temperatures and disappearing sea ice causing major reductions in populations of Antarctic krill, a major source of food for animals in the Antarctic such as whales.

1. The world's fishing fleets continually harvest fish at ever-lower trophic levels as over-fishing at higher trophic levels depletes fish populations there. Even though the biomass within each trophic level increases with decreasing trophic level, this trend is not sustainable because (a) the diffuseness of the biomass increases to the point where capture costs become prohibitive, and (b) outputs of the bottom-most trophic level (phytomass) are also non-sustainable, and cannot serve the protein needs of seafood consumers. For the past 45 years, as fish at the upper levels of the aquatic food chain are over-fished, fishers have been fishing at lower trophic levels. At the current rate of trophic-level descent, it is expected to take 30-40 years to fish down to the trophic level of plankton. Dockside fish prices would then need to increase by a factor of over 100 to cover added costs (98W1). In 1998, the world's fleet had a fishing capacity twice that of the sustainable yield of the world's wild fisheries (98W1).
2. Of the world's 15 leading oceanic fisheries, 11 are in a state of decline, and 69% of the world's major fish species are in decline. By 1989, all ocean fisheries were being fished at, or beyond, capacity (vs. none in 1950). Freshwater fisheries are at least equally bad off (98W1). By 2003, 29% of all fished (marine) species had collapsed, meaning that their catch levels are now at least 90% below their historic maximum catch levels. The rate of population collapses has accelerated in recent years. As of 1980, 13.5% of fished species had collapsed, even though fishing vessels were pursuing 1736 fewer species in 1980. Today the marine fishing industry harvests 7784 species commercially (06E1).
3. The world's fishing industry is heavily subsidized by the world's governments - at least by those governments that can afford such subsidies. The result is that when a given fishery becomes so badly over-fished as to make capture costs prohibitive on a non-subsidized basis, subsidies continue to make over-fishing profitable. This too is non-sustainable because ultimately the limits of the willingness to subsidize fishing fleets are reached.
4. Government policy-setting in the developed world regarding their fishing industries tend to be dominated by those with vested interests in the fishing industry. These people tend to lack interest in long-term sustainability of the fisheries they depend on for a livelihood, probably because the long-term costs of over-fishing are largely covered by government subsidies.
5. Government policies in the developing world regarding their fishery resources are dominated by the typically staggering external debts of these governments. This makes them willing to sell out their fisheries to developed world's heavily subsidized fishing industries at distressed prices. It also makes them unable to defend their fisheries from foreign fishing fleets and unable to enforce their contracts. Fisheries off of developing nations that had long supported local, artisan fishermen and supplied local markets are now often off limits to developing world fishermen. Examples of such fishery sales include Pakistan (98M5), various African governments (98M7), various South Pacific island nations (98M7), Russia (98M7), the Philippines (05O1) and Mauritania (Ref. 97 of Ref. (98M7))..Such contracts often call for huge increases in allowed catches in fisheries already being fished at, or beyond, their sustainable limits (98M7). In most cases the price is a small fraction (e.g. 5-10%) of the value of the catch - and probably far less, since contract enforcement is weak at best. Heavy external debts probably motivate many of these sales. All this shields developed world fish consumers from most* of the effects of the degradation of marine fisheries by virtue of the ability of developed world consumers to out-bid developing world fish consumers in the now-overwhelmingly global market for fish. Around 80% of fish for human consumption ends up in three main markets (Japan, the US and the EU) (03W2). Fisheries are now the key resource of the world's most globalized food industry: over 75% of the world's marine fisheries catch (over 80 million tons/ year) is sold on international markets (01U3). Before all this fishery globalization occurred, fish were known as the poor man's protein, i.e. the developing world's protein. This is often not the case any longer. (*Real prices of fish in the global marketplace have been trending upward.)
6. Carnivorous fish aquaculture (serving mainly developed world consumers) is probably the most resource-intensive food production system on Earth. The system places extreme pressures on essential wild fish habitats (mangrove forests and coastal estuaries), low-trophic level wild fish (for fishmeal and fish oil), high trophic level wild fish (genetic transfers, deadly parasites, pollution of coastal environments), fresh water resources, level land resources (which are rendered toxic and abandoned after 5-10 years), soy and grain. It is far from clear that such systems provide either a net positive or a sustainable contribution to global food supplies.
7. Non-carnivorous fish aquacultures (serving mainly developing world consumers), especially those that combine rice-growing and fish culture in the same pond, tend to use resources very efficiently and appear to have plenty of potential for expansion of sustainable outputs.
8. About 100 ongoing disputes among nations around the world are related to depleting marine fisheries, and a growing list of these conflicts border on armed conflicts (98W1).
9. Worldwide, exotic species have eliminated 38% of freshwater fish populations, and over-fishing has eliminated 17% (98U5).
10. Just after WWII, the marine catch grew 6%/ year, vs. 4%/ year during 1950-88, 2%/ year in the 1970s and 1980s, and minus 0.8%/ year during 1988-92 (98W1).
11. Coastal mangroves have lost 50% of their original area to charcoal, pulpwood, salt making, golf courses, marinas, resort development, and aquaculture ponds. Yet 80-90% of commercial seafood species inhabiting tropical oceans spend some part of their lives in coastal mangroves (94H2). All other key habitats (reefs, estuaries, sea grasses, continental shelves) are in a similar state of decline. In estuaries - aquatic environments that ought to be among the most biologically productive - "red tides", algae blooms, bacteria, toxic discharges, and oil discharges are severe worldwide. Many estuaries are "dead zones", largely due to surplus fertilizer run-offs that deplete dissolved oxygen. Nearly a third of the world's fish live in coral reefs. 10% of the world's reefs have been degraded "beyond recognition"; 30% are in critical condition. If trends continue, this 30% will be lost completely in 1-2 decades, and another 30% will be lost within 2-4 decades (96H1). Heavily subsidized trawlers and factory trawlers drag huge nets over continental shelves, leaving vast expanses of ocean floor devoid of fish habitat. One estimate puts the global sea-floor area swept by trawlers at 14.8 million km²/ year - about the same area as the world's croplands (98W5). Another estimate put the area as twice the area of the continental US (08T1).
12. A paper in the Journal Science of 11/3/06 by Boris Worm, Stephen Palumbi et al argues that the world will run out of seafood by 2048 if steep declines in marine species continue at current rates (06E1).
13. Even as wild fish populations plummet, fishing methods grow more wasteful. The world's fishing fleet is changing from small boats to huge factory trawlers. That entails a change from discarding a relatively small fraction of the catch to discarding a far larger portion (about 40%) of the haul ("by-catch") back into the ocean - usually dead (94A1) (98W1) (00L1).
14. Escapees from aquaculture pens are spreading disease and bad genes to wild fish (04C1) (01R3) (03R1).

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ 

The primary production required to sustain the world fisheries catch (94.3 million tonnes/ year in 1988-91 + 27 million tonnes/ year of discarded by-catch (Ref. 4 of Ref. (95P2))) amounted to 8% of global aquatic primary production, nearly 4 times the previous estimate. By ecosystem type, the requirements were 2% for open ocean systems, but 24-35% in fresh water, upwelling and shelf systems (95P2). Catches by artisan and subsistence fishers are probably largely neglected here.

An estimated 8% of total aquatic primary production (137,000 million tonnes (dry-weight)/ year) is needed to sustain capture fisheries, seaweed collection and aquaculture; this proportion ranges from 2% in the open ocean to 24-35% in freshwater, shelf and upwelling systems (Ref. 19 of Ref. (00N1)). Global capture fisheries (plus aquatic plants) remove 123 million tonnes/ year from seas and lakes (Ref. 20 of Ref. (00N1)), of which 27 million tonnes/ year is directly discarded as bycatch (Ref. 21 of Ref. (00N1)).

The estimated aquatic primary productivity required by fish harvested in the shelf systems ranged from 24.2 to 35.3% of aquatic primary productivity. This is mainly due to industrialized fisheries operating at high trophic levels (25.1% for upwelling systems) (95P2).

The bulk of aquatic primary productivity (75%) occurs in the open ocean (gyre) system (95P2). The problem is that this production is so diffuse (See a table below) that capture costs are often prohibitive. So the potential for increasing the productivity of the open ocean to significantly more than the current 2% of primary production is very limited. Large open-ocean species at high trophic levels (e.g. whales, tuna, swordfish, marlin) are generally heavily over-fished.

Studies around 2004 show that larger, older fish produce more eggs and surviving offspring than younger fish, researchers said in February of 2005, adding that policymakers need to protect broader swaths of the ocean to preserve these efficient spawners. Steven Berkeley, a research biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz who described his findings at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, said sustained over-harvesting of Pacific rockfish and other species is undermining these populations' ability to recover. Berkeley found that a 31.5-inch Bocaccio rockfish produces 10 times as many larvae as one that spans nearly 20 inches, and the larger fish's offspring were more than three times as likely to flourish (05E1). This would suggest that as over-fishing continues, the rate of decline of the over-fished fishery would increase at a rate larger than what a calculation that ignores the fish-age issue would compute.

Global estimates of aquatic primary production (PP) (grams carbon/ m²/ year) catch and discards (both in grams/ m²/ year based on 1988-91 FAO data) (T. L. = Trophic Level) (Areas are in millions of km²) (95P2).

Biomass Productivity of Marine Habitats (from Gaia, an Atlas of Planet Management) (89L1) (in grams of carbon/ m³/ year)

* 2/3 of all commercially valuable fish species spend the first stage of their lives here (Ref. 15 of Ref. (93W1)).
** 0.1% of ocean area
*** 9.9% of ocean area
# The diffuseness is apparent here.

(To convert grams of carbon to grams of dry organic plant-matter multiply by a factor of about 2.2. The conversion for dry fish matter is not known but is probably similar. )

The FAO's estimate (03W2) of total sustainable (marine) production still refer to the figure of approximately 100 million tonnes/ year (99N4). This estimate is higher than the annual catches of 80-85 million tonnes of the 1990s because it assumes efficient utilization of the stocks in healthy ecosystems where critical habitats have been conserved. Moreover, this estimated potential yield includes large quantities of living marine resources that thus far have been little exploited. Of these the best known are krill, mesopelagic fish and oceanic squids. (All of these are very low trophic level species.) The assumption of "efficient utilization of fish stocks in healthy ecosystems" seems wildly optimistic at best as the data of this Chapter indicates. The assumption of "critical habitats being conserved" falls into the same category (See Section [H] in this Chapter.) Krill populations and harvests have dropped dramatically during the past few decades. (See elsewhere in this Chapter.)

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ Go to top of Section [B] ~

A study by Pauley et al (98P1) examined the diets of 220 fish species and on that basis, gave each species a numerical trophic level ranking on the food web from 1 to 5 (1= plankton; 4.6= red snapper). Based on FAO data on fish landings worldwide it was found that the average ranking of the ocean fish catch has been declining for 45 years at a rate of about 0.1/ decade. Humans now eat somewhere between trophic levels 2.5 and 4.0 (98P1).

The most efficient fishing operation at present average 50 tons/ day under good conditions. The same efficiency applied to zooplankton would average much less than 0.5 ton/ day (81C1). If the fishing industry fished all the way down to the trophic level of zooplankton, fuel costs, labor costs and capital costs per ton of fish caught would increase by about a factor of 100. All this points up the non-sustainability of the practice of fishing at ever-lower trophic levels.

The types of fish being caught worldwide in commercial operations during the past 45 years have shifted down the food web. Long-living, highly nutritious fish such as snappers are being replaced by younger invertebrates and fish of lower nutritional value. This indicates that present exploitation patterns are non-sustainable (98K1).

There has been a shift in wild fish capture from large and valuable carnivorous species to smaller, less valuable species that feed at lower trophic levels (Ref. 9 of Ref. (00N1)).

As fish at the upper levels of the ocean food chain are over-fished, fishers tend to fish at lower trophic levels. Ultimately this trend must result in fishing at such low tropic levels that the fish species are so small and diluted that it is no longer economical to fish. At the current rate of descent, it will take 30-40 years to fish down to the level of plankton (98M8). There are data on the current ratio of fishing-boat fuel-consumption to fish harvests. (See elsewhere in this document or in "Fishery Degradation: A Global Perspective" on this website.)

Humans are now fishing not only in deeper waters, but also lower on the aquatic food chain. As these lower trophic levels of the ocean food chain decline, the chances of recovery of fish species nearer to the top of the food chain are diminished even further (98P1).

Current ocean fisheries yields have been maintained largely by development of formerly non-traditional species, e.g. copelin and sprat in the north Atlantic, and pollock in the north Pacific. Species in the future will likely be smaller in size and shorter-lived (81C1). i.e. of lower trophic level.

The fast-growing aquaculture industry needs so much fish oil from wild stocks of anchovy, herring, menhaden and other small bony fish of low trophic level, that in six years the supply will be unable to keep pace with the growth, according to global aquaculture and fish oil experts. Today, almost one-third of all the fish caught in the world are turned into fishmeal and oil. Now, penned (aquaculture) fish consumes 40% of the fishmeal - and more than 60% of fish oil. The oil gives farm fish key nutrients to grow and allows them to pass on heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids to diners. In six years, if the aquaculture industry continues to grow at projected rates, aquaculture is expected to use up to 60% of the global supply of fishmeal and possibly 100% of the fish-oil supply, said Stuart Barlow, director-general of the London-based International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organization (04D1). The bulk of the remainder of fishmeal and fish oil consumption is by farm livestock, so increasing the scale of aquaculture comes at the expense of (a) protein supplies from land-based livestock and (b) decreasing food supplies for high trophic levels of wild marine fish.

30% of the marine harvest consists of small, low-value fish like anchovies, menhaden, pilchard or sardines, many of which are reduced to fishmeal and used as protein supplements in feeds for livestock and aquaculture. Over time the fraction of the global catch made up by these low-value species has risen as harvests of high-value (high trophic level) species have declined. This trend partially masks the effects of over-fishing ((97F4), p. 5).

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ Go to top of Section [B] ~ Go to top of Section [C] ~

Section [D] ~ OVER-FISHING GENERALLY ~ [D1]~ All Trophic Levels, [D2]~ High Trophic-Level Fisheries, [D3]~ Low Trophic-Level Fisheries

World fish stocks have collapsed by nearly 33% and the rates of fishery decline are accelerating. In 2003, 29% of open sea fisheries had declined to less than 10% of their original yield. The global catch (marine?) fell by 13% between 1994 and 2003 ("50 Years of Fish...," BBC News (11/20/06)).

Sustainability of fishery outputs, however defined, rarely if ever occurred as a result of an explicit policy, but as a result of our inability to access a major portion of exploited stocks. With the development of industrial fishing, and the resulting invasion of the refuges previously provided by distance and depth, our interactions with fisheries resources have come to resemble the wars of extermination that newly arrived hunters conducted 40-50,000 years ago in Australia, and 12-13,000 years ago against large terrestrial mammals in North America (05P1).

Global (marine) catches began to decline in the late 1980s, a trend reversal due to broad-based collapse of the underlying ecosystems, long masked by systematic over-reporting by China and the targeting of deep water stocks (05P1). The peak catch rate was around 80 million tonnes per year (05P1).

The rate of decline in the (mean) trophic level of captured fish has mostly declined since the 1950s, with the strongest rate of decline in the 1980s. Fisheries were operating, on average, at a trophic level of 3.37 in the early 1950s; now their mean trophic level is about 3.29, but this was as low as 3.25 in 1983. So far humans do not normally eat zooplankton (trophic level 2), however there is now a market for jellyfish in East Asia. Some western countries have begun to export this product (05P1).

In 1950, no marine fish stocks were known to be over-fished (98K1).

Disappearance of fish stocks from an area can be predicted in advance according to Dr. Jan Lochner. About 12 years ago he predicted the collapse of South Africa's pilchard industry, although at that time there was no sign of collapse. Today South Africa's pilchard catch is only 10% of what it was then. He also predicted the collapse of California's pilchard industry. He predicts Namibia's anchovy industry faces the same collapse. His theory uses catch-data for a number of years, and the age at which fish reach sexual maturity. (When fish populations become too young to reproduce, they collapse.) (80F1).

Most published studies agree that the northern temperate areas of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are being fished to their full potential. The total (potential?) increased yield from lightly exploited areas has been estimated at 30-50 million tons/ year. The potential for krill has been estimated by various authors at 25-100 million tonnes/ year ((81C1), p. 110). (Krill harvests are in a state of decline.)

Of the 280 fish stocks monitored by the FAO, 25 are considered slightly to moderately exploited, and 42 stocks are over-exploited or depleted (89L1).

Estimates of total sustainable (marine?) production still commonly refer to the figure of 100 million tonnes/ year (99N4). This is higher than the annual catches of 80-85 million tonnes of the 1990s because it assumes efficient utilization of fish stocks in healthy ecosystems where critical habitats (e.g. coral reefs, mangrove swamps, coastal estuaries) have been conserved. Moreover, this estimated potential yield includes large quantities of living marine resources that thus far have been little exploited. Of these the best known are krill, mesopelagic fish and oceanic squids (03W2).

25-30% of the world's fish populations are over-fished, while an added 40% are "fully exploited" (02D2).

Ratio of 1998 production and maximum historical production, by region (00F2) (03W2)

The species composition of the marine catch has changed. High-value species -bottom-dwelling species (demersal) and large surface-dwelling species (pelagics) - are gradually being substituted by shorter-lived pelagic and schooling fish. FAO studies indicate many causes for this shift. These include the thinning out of (over-fished) top predators; increases in natural production of small pelagics through nutrient enrichment of coastal areas, enclosed and semi-enclosed seas; and changes in fishing strategy and technology. The main force underlying such changes, however, is the change in harvesting costs as fishing technology has advanced and as various stocks have been depleted, and the impacts of these changing costs on operations (03W2).

During the 1980s, the number of overexploited (over-fished) species increased by a factor of 2.5 (02D5).

World-wide, 60-70% of (marine?) fish stocks require urgent intervention to control or reduce fishing to avoid further declines of fully exploited- and over-fished resources and to rebuild depleted fish stocks (FAO statement of 5/19/98). (The global fishing capacity needs to be reduced by at least 30% to rebuild over-fished oceans and farms. Marine fishery potential could reach 93 million tons/ year if resources were better managed - a gain of 10 million tons from the present potential (FAO estimate in a statement of 5/19/98).

An FAO assessment of the status of the 19 principal fisheries of the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean found 4 fisheries depleted and 9 others "fully exploited". This often means that yields are well below their biological maximum (Ref. 9 of (85B1)). The FAO estimates that all 17 of the world's major fishing areas have either reached or exceeded their natural limits, and 9 are in a state of serious decline (Ref. 25 of Ref. (94P2)) (Ref. 6, Chapter 5 of Ref. (94B3)).

According to the UNFAO, all 17 of the world's major fisheries are being fished at or beyond capacity: 9 fisheries are in a state of decline (94B4).

By 1989, all marine fisheries were being fished at or beyond sustainable yields. Of the world's 15 leading oceanic fisheries, 13 are in a state of decline (96B1). A common criterion for over-fishing is a fish population of less than half of the historic (pre-large-scale fishing) population.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) found (in the mid-1990s) that 1/3 of 275 commercial fish stocks in US coastal waters were over-harvested, and nearly 50% were existing at population levels below what is needed to produce long-term sustainable yields. (97U1).

Some 11 of the world's 15 major fishing areas, and 69% of the world's major fish species, are in decline (98M1).

The UNFAO estimates that nearly 70% of the world's commercial fish species are fully exploited, over-fished, or otherwise in urgent need of management (98K1).

All but two of the world's 15 major marine fishing zones are at their limits, in decline or in recovery, and the majority of the world's near-shore fisheries are thought to be fully or over-exploited (Ref. 1 of Ref. (98W1)).

In the 20 years since EEZs were first established, over-fishing has increased (Ref. 51 of Ref. (98W1)). EEZs (Exclusive Economic Zones) were established to give nations "ownership" of the marine fish off their shores. The theory was that this would reduce over-fishing. One problem is that poorer nations cannot afford to protect their fish from marauding wealthy nations. Also people tend to "discount" future harvests of all kinds, even of resources that they own. Economists recommend discounting future harvests at a rate equal to interest rates on financial investments, which translates into a recommendation to wipe out the resource. (Deposit the extra money earned from resource depletion into a bank account. Then, when the resource has been wiped out, you live off the interest from that account.)

44% of the (marine?) fish stocks that the FAO assesses are intensely or fully exploited; 16% are over-fished; 6% are depleted, and 3% are slowly recovering. The eastern and western regions of the Indian Ocean are the only major fishing grounds that have still not apparently reached their limits. Coastal fisheries in the Indian Ocean, like coastal fisheries around the world, are largely fully exploited. Overall, the potential for new fisheries is small. While some new ones will be developed, the major fishing grounds like the Peruvian upwelling, the North Atlantic, and the North Pacific have already peaked (Ref. 26 of Ref. (98W1)).

The 9/97 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) report to Congress "Status of Fisheries of the US" reveals that one third of marine fish species in the US that are known well enough to classify are classified as "over-fished". The report admits however that the status of many fish populations is unknown. (Only 38% of the 727 species under NMFS jurisdiction can even be classified.) According to the NMFS report, 21 Gulf Coast species are "over-fished" and the status of 63 Gulf Coast species is unknown. It is widely believed that many fisheries in the "unknown" category are depleted. (97D3).

The 9/97 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) report to Congress "Status of Fisheries of the US" reveals that 96 marine fish species out of 279 species counted in the US that are known well enough to classify are "over-fished" or "heading that way" (97F7).

If fish stocks were allowed to recover, the FAO estimates that fishers could increase their sustainable catch by as much as 20 million tons/ year (94W2).

According to the UNFAO, about 70% of our global fisheries are now being fished close to, already at, or beyond their capacity (05O1).

FAO analysts found over-fishing in 1/3 of the fisheries they reviewed; they found some depleted fish populations in all coastal waters around the world (Ref. 34 of Ref. (94W2)).

Signs of over-fishing appeared by the 1970s. After increasing at nearly 6%/ year during 1950-70, growth in annual fish catch slowed to less than 1%/ year. In per-capita terms, growth of nearly 4%/ year during 1950-70 dropped to almost minus 1%/ year after 1970 (85B1).

FAO marine biologists believe the oceans cannot sustain a catch of over 100 million tons (tonnes?)/ year (93B1). It seems unlikely that the generally accepted potential of 100 million tonnes/ year of traditional marine species will be achieved on a sustained basis. It is more likely that the potential sustainable marine catch is nearer to the present-day catch of 60 million tonnes/ year (81C1).

During the period between the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, even new fisheries of the southeastern Pacific Ocean and New Zealand's coastal fisheries have been fished quickly to the point of collapse (85B1).

During the period between the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, even new fisheries of the Gulf of Thailand have quickly been fished to the point of collapse (85B1). Since 1970, the Gulf of Thailand has shown evidence of much over-fishing. Although the Gulf of Thailand was one of the Pacific Ocean's most productive fishing areas, in 1981 the catch there had diminished from 350 to 70 kg./ hour of trawler-effort (Ref. 2 of Ref. (87M1)).

Most Mediterranean native oyster beds are in such poor conditions that they are no longer able to support intensive culture (01B4) (07A1).

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, large offshore oyster grounds in the southern portion of the North Sea and the English Channel produced up to 100 times more than today's 100-200 tonnes (99U4), (05B2) (07A1).

Although the global (marine?) fish catch is just below its estimated sustainable yield, fishermen exceed the estimated sustainable yield in 4 of 16 major fisheries: Pacific Northwest, the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the eastern Indian Ocean, and the southeast Pacific - and are close to it in many other areas (90B1). The UN FAO indicates that 4 of 17 of the world's fishing zones are over-fished (93B1).

In the US, 45% of the 156 fish populations for which assessments of resource status are available are classified as over-utilized (Ref. 10 of Ref. (93R1)).

Yields of 35% of the most important commercial fish stocks declined between 1950-94 ((96G1), p. 31).

The NMFS fall 1997 report to Congress stated that, in the coastal waters of the US, 86 species were over-fished, 183 species were not over-fished, 10 species were approaching an over-fished condition, and the status of 448 species was unknown (98C1).

US Stock Status Report. On 10/29/99, NMFS released its annual report to Congress on the status of US marine fish stocks, concluding that 98 species were over-fished. Changes since 1998 include 10 species removed but 18 species added, 5 species were approaching an over-fished condition (down from 10 species in 1998 as 5 species were moved to the over-fished category), 127 species were not over-fished (200 species in 1998) 79 species were moved to the "unknown" category because of more stringent information requirements). The status of 674 species (544 species in 1998) was unknown (99B1).

In October 1999 the NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) report to Congress, "Status of Fisheries of the US." listed 98 species as over-fished, 127 species as not over-fished, 5 species considered "approaching an over-fished condition" (00S1). For 674 fish species, 75%, the NMFS says it does not know whether or not they are over-fished. The accuracy of the science NMFS uses to assess whether or not a fish population is "over-fished" is questioned by environmentalists and commercial fish officials alike. As an example, they cite the NMFS's inability to identify a critically threatened fishery in its 1998 "Status of Fisheries of the US" report to Congress. A year later the Department of Commerce declared the Pacific groundfish industry a disaster. Yet in the 1998 report to Congress the vast majority of groundfish in the Pacific council's jurisdiction were identified as "not over-fished," "not approaching an over-fished condition," or "unknown" (00S1).

As of 1999, FAO reported that 75% of all fish stocks for which information is available are in urgent need of better management - 28% are either already depleted from past over-fishing or in imminent danger of depletion due to current over-harvesting, and 47% are being fished at their biological limit and therefore vulnerable to depletion if fishing intensity increases (00G1).

An FAO report says wild fish stocks are becoming severely depleted. "About 47% of the main stocks or species groups are fully exploited and are therefore producing catches that have reached, or are very close to, their maximum sustainable limits," (03W1).

For the 590 "stock" items for which FAO had some information, 149 were in an unknown state. Among the 441 for which data were available, 9% were depleted, 18% were over-fished, 41% recovering, 47% appeared fully exploited, 21% were moderately exploited, and 4% were classified as under-exploited, i.e. they could sustain catches higher than current levels (03W2).

About 25% of the world's major fisheries are currently over-fished and another 40% are estimated to be fully-fished. As a result of over-fishing and poor land use, freshwater fish are among the most highly threatened group of animals in the world. 20% are extinct, threatened or vulnerable. Commercially important fish such as the coral reef Napoleon wrasse, the Patagonian Toothfish, the Atlantic Toothfish, the basking shark and the whale shark could end up on the endangered list as well." (04V1).

Eight species are already listed in the most threatened category and a further 28 are listed as likely to be threatened if fishing is not brought under control (04V1).

• The prevalence of cod, tuna and groupers is estimated to have fallen by 90% in the past 50 years.
• A quarter of the world's major marine fisheries are over-fished and 40% are fished to capacity.
• In Asia, the cumulative weight of the fish (biomass) living off Asia's coastal waters is estimated to be 8-12% of what it was a century ago.
• In Southeast Asia, 88% of coral reefs are at risk from human damage.
• The looming collapse of fisheries threatens the most important source of food for 250 million people - mainly in the developing world.

The Myers/ Worm Study: Every single species of large wild fish has been caught so systematically over the past 50 years that 90% of each type have disappeared, according to the first scientific study to assess the fish left in the global ocean. And, from the tropics to the poles, those left in the sea are only one half to one fifth the size they were before industrialized fishing began in about 1950 (03M1). The study by marine biologists Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University in Halifax and Boris Worm of the Institute for Marine Science in Kiel, Germany, catalogues biological destruction that is unprecedented in its global scope and rapidity since the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago (03M1). The study on fish reported in Nature took 10 years and examined all major fisheries in the world in 9 oceanic systems and on 4 continental shelves (03M1). (Continued in next paragraph)

A separate scientific study published 5/14/03 by the Species Survival Commission of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union warned that other ocean creatures are faring no better than the big fish. The phenomenon is driven by advances in the sonar methods developed during WWII and satellite methods of finding the ocean's warm fronts where fish once congregated (03M1).

Myers and Worm (03M4) reported that industrialized fishing commonly decreases the abundance of a fish community to 20% of its unfished level within the first 15 years of fishing. Falling to 50% of its unfinished level is usually considered the point at which steps need to be taken to stabilize the fishery.

Southeast Asia provides ample evidence of over-fishing: the increasing proportion of "trash fish" caught by trawlers in shallow waters; the high percentage of juveniles in net hauls, and the leveling-off or outright decline in catch volume of some countries. Demersal and semi-pelagic species of the west coast of peninsular Malaysia are fully exploited, showing a decrease in total landings and an increase of trash fish as a percentage of total catch (Ref. 1 of Ref. (87M1)).

During 1974-84, even new fisheries of the Indian Ocean have quickly been fished to the point of collapse (85B1).

Over-reporting by China has masked dramatic declines in global marine fish catches for more than a decade. The amount of seafood landed has actually been decreasing during the 1990s by nearly 800 million pounds/ year, rather than increasing by 700 million pounds/ year. The over-reporting has thrown off the global fisheries statistics that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO) compiles for use by all nations. (The FAO relies on voluntary reporting of catches from countries to estimate the amount of fish the oceans hold (01H1).) Using FAO statistics gathered since 1950, scientists created maps of world fisheries catches and built a computer model to predict catch size in different ocean regions. The model showed China's reported catches were unrealistically high when compared with catches from other ocean areas that have similar characteristics such as depth, temperature and biological productivity (01H1). Contrary to UNFAO statistics, which indicated that the global fisheries catch is stable, leading fisheries scientists reveal that marine catches have actually been declining for over a decade. This new evidence means that the true state of the oceans is far worse than anyone has previously realized. This is because of vast over-reporting by the People's Republic of China. Presently only a single institution, FAO, maintains global fisheries statistics. As a UN organization, FAO receives, but is not able to verify, statistics reported by member countries, even when they are suspected of being wrong (01U3). (continued below)

Over-reporting by China (Continued) Using FAO's catch data and a massive statistical analysis that compared the predicted fisheries against those reported, the authors showed errors in the official fishery statistics. These inflated statistics had led to complacency about the need to more effectively manage fisheries and have resulted in unwise investment decisions by banks and industry. Over the past 30 years there have been dramatic increases in the exploitation of world fisheries including more species being marketed and new fishing areas opening up. Increased effort and fishing pressures are devouring the accumulated "old growth" riches of the sea. Despite scientists' widespread expectations that annual catches of the world's fisheries would plateau at values of around 80 million tons, global catches reported by FAO generally increased through the 1990's - driven largely by inflated catch reports from China (01U3). (continued below)

Over-reporting by China: Many countries over and under-report their catch statistics, but none has as big an impact as China. Although Chinese waters covers only 1% of the world's water surface, China accounts for 40% of the deviation between reported and corrected. The study highlights anomalies in the 1990's of as much as 10 tonnes/ km² when compared to reported amounts for Chinese waters. The same state entities devoted to monitoring the economy are also tasked with increasing its output. Studies showed that whatever political leaders set as production targets is what is officially reported. If political leaders dictate fisheries to increase by 5% then it is reported to increase by 5%." (01U3).

Before completion of Aswan High Dam in 1965, the Nile River carried 43 km³/ year of water to the sea. Since the dam, it has carried 3 km³/ year. As a result, fisheries of the eastern Mediterranean Sea have collapsed (90C2).

Of 47 species of fish harvested from the Nile River prior to the Aswan Dam, 17 were still being harvested a decade after the dam's completion (95P4).

The Nile River's fisheries have collapsed, as have Mediterranean Sea's sardine fisheries (96M1).

The Azov Sea fishery once yielded 200,000 tons of fish/ year. It is now closed (Ref. 51 of Ref. (94W2)).

In 1957 the Aral Sea fish catch was 50,000 tons/ year (95H1).
The Aral Sea, as recently as 1960, yielded 40,000 tonnes/ year of fish (93B1).
In 1993 the Aral Sea was essentially dead (93B1). Commercial fishing in the Aral Sea ceased by 1982 due to irrigation diversions that began in 1958. In 1994, 3000 tons of fish were caught in the Amu Darya delta of the Aral Sea (95H1).

Some 20 of the 24 fish species in the Aral Sea have disappeared (95P4). The 1950s fish catch in the Aral Sea of 44,000 tons/ year has dropped to zero (95P4), (96P1).

The commercial fish catch in Russia's Azov Sea dropped 97% between 1975 and 2000 (01G2).

According to National Research Council's 1996 Report on the Bering Sea Ecosystem, "It seems extremely unlikely that the productivity of the Bering Sea ecosystem can sustain current rates of human exploitation as well as the large populations of all marine mammals and birds that existed before human exploitation - especially modern exploitation - began" (98D1).

Fish catches in the northwest Atlantic have fallen 40% since the early 1970s (Ref. 20 of Ref. (98M7)).

The North Atlantic is so severely over-fished that it may completely collapse by 2010 according to a new study that includes the most comprehensive survey of the region so far. North Atlantic catches are down to half of what they were in 1950 despite a tripling of the fishing effort. The total number of fish has gone down even further. So-called "high quality table fish" have gone down over 80% since 1900. Normally falling catches would cause some fishers to go out of business and thus reduce the fleet, but the fleet is subsidized by government and thus kept artificially alive (02U2).

Namibia watched the catch in its zone (EEZ?) fall from nearly 2 million tons in 1980 to less than 0.1 million tons in 1990 (Ref. 16 of Ref. (93B1)).

The Gulf of Thailand's fish catch has dropped by over 80% since 1963 (98U9).

Southeast Atlantic fishers off the coasts of Namibia and South Africa have experienced more than a 50% decline in harvest since the early 1970s (98M1). (Ref. 20 of Ref. (98M7)).

Surveys off the west coast of Africa show that fish stocks in shallow inshore waters, where artisan fishers ply their trade, dropped by more than 50% from 1985-90 because of increased fishing by commercial trawlers ((95F2), p. 22).

Within European waters, 59% of 78 stocks have been classified as over-utilized (Ref. 10 of Ref. (93R1)).

Historical losses of Europe's wild native oyster reefs exceed 90% (97M4).

Total fish landings in European sea regions peaked at 12 million tonnes in 1997, but have decreased since then in terms of both quantity and quality, down to 7.6 million tonnes in 2002 (06E2) (07A1).

About 40% of US fish stocks are depleted or over-fished (02U3).

The number of fish stocks in need of stronger conservation in US coastal waters has increased for the fourth year running. The number of fish stocks in jeopardy jumped from 98 to a record high 107, according to a new (about 2/13/01) Department of Commerce 2000 Report to Congress: Status of Fisheries of the US. For more information about the report or MFCN: 202-543-5509 or www.conservefish.org. Full report: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/reports.html. Contact: Herb Ettel, Marine Fish Conservation Network, 202-543-5509.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976 created the first US management authority over fishing in waters from 3 miles to 200 miles offshore. The law ended over-fishing by foreign boats. But over-fishing by US boats continued, leading to declines in several fish species (00G2).

The North Atlantic has about one-sixth the number of fish it had in 1900 and is being fished 8 times as intensively, scientists say. Fishermen are also chasing species ever lower on the food chain as bigger fish are depleted. "With few exceptions, we are going to lose most fisheries in the next decade if we don't quickly mend our ways," said Daniel Pauly, a University of British Columbia scientist who headed the study. The group announced its results at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (02D1).

At least 20% of all freshwater fish have become extinct, threatened, or endangered in recent years. (The number of known freshwater fish species exceeds 9000.) (95A1) (Ref. 2 of Ref. (96A1)).

"A mass extinction is occurring in our lakes and rivers," said Anthony Ricciardi of Dalhousie Univ. in Halifax. Common freshwater species - from snails to fish to amphibians - are dying out 5 times faster than terrestrial animals, 3 times faster than marine mammals, and at the same rate as rain forest species. 123 freshwater species have been lost since 1900, and hundreds are considered imperiled - Ricciardi predicts 4%/ decade. The affect of large dams on freshwater species has been disastrous, while the second leading cause of loss is due to invasion of non-native species. North America has 60% of all known crayfish, 1/3 of all freshwater mussels and three times more freshwater fish than all of Europe and the former Soviet Union (ENN (10/16/99)).

A 9/99 USGS report (a $1 million 1,000-page survey of America's biological resources) notes that almost 60% of California (marine and freshwater?) fish species are extinct or nearly extinct (Sacramento Bee (9/17/99)).

37% of all freshwater fish species are either threatened or already extinct (42% in Europe) (98B1).

In the Missouri River the commercial fish catch has fallen 83% over the past 50 years (Ref. 28 of Ref. (96A2)).

63% of California's native fish are extinct, endangered, threatened or declining (96A2).

Since 1908, the commercial fish catch in the Illinois River has fallen 98%. It once produced 10% of the US freshwater fish catch (96A2).

In Colombia, annual fish production in the Magdalena River has dropped from 72,000 to 23,000 tonnes in 15 years (98U10).

Over-fishing led to one fishery after another in the 1990s being declared exhausted. After cod and haddock were fished out, fishermen began harvesting "trash fish" they used to throw away, such as spiny dogfish. Britain created a hot market for that white fish, using it in fish-and-chip dinners. Soon, however, those stocks also collapsed (02D1).

Several studies (03M4) (03C1) (01C2) estimate that the biomass of large predatory fish (e.g. swordfish, marlin and tuna) is 10-33% of the size it was before the industrialization of fishing before WWII.

Commercial harvests of rockfish in Chesapeake Bay: around 500 tons/ year around 1940, peaking at around 4000 tons/ year around 1970, and dropping to 500 tons/ year in 1983-4 (Chesapeake Bay Foundation Annual Report (1985)).

The catch of albacore tuna in the southern Pacific is expected to exceed the sustainable catch by 600% in 1989 (89L1).

The chum salmon fisheries have collapsed in Russia's Khor and Bukin Rivers (tributaries of the Usuri and Amur River Basins (Journal of Forestry, 92(12) (1994) p. 38).

On the west coast of North America, at least 106 major populations of salmon and steelhead have been wiped out (92R1).

In April of 1994, the Pacific Fishery Management Council banned salmon fishing off Washington State for the first time (Ref. 3, Chapter 5 of Ref. (94B3)).

From 1959-68, Newfoundland cod landings soared, reaching an all-time high of 810,000 tonnes in 1968, while estimates of harvestable biomass dropped by 82% from 1962-77, by which time the Grand Banks fishery was on the verge of commercial extinction. The stock never fully rebounded and rapidly declined under renewed pressure from the domestic Canadian offshore trawler fleet, leading to complete collapse and closure (in 1992) of the once-legendary fishery (98D1) (98G1).

The total harvest of groundfish (cod, haddock, flounder, etc.) in the New England fishery has fallen from 6 million tonnes/ year in the mid-1960s to 3 million tonnes/ year in the early 1970s to 2 million tonnes/ year in the mid-1980s to 1 million tonnes/ year in the mid-1990s (94A1).

In Canada, the cod population crashed so completely that an 8-year-long total ban on cod fishing has failed to bring it back (01C1).

Principle stocks of orange roughy (which started appearing in fish stores in the late 1980s) around New Zealand have collapsed (98P1).

In the last 50 years, the catch of popular fish species such as cod, tuna, and haddock has decreased by more than 50% despite a tripling in fishing intensity across the North Atlantic (02D1).

In the past 50 years, the prevalence of cod, tuna, groupers and sharks - the ocean's most valuable fish - is estimated to have fallen 90% (04V1).

The number of breeding-age adults of Atlantic bluefin tuna have dropped to 13% of their mid-1970s population. Despite this, the US, Canada and Japan have agreed to increase the catch quota from 2200 tons to 2354 tons (Pittsburgh Post Gazette (12/9/96)).

Atlantic stocks of bluefin tuna have been reduced by 94% (Ref. 8, Chapter 5 of Ref. (94B3)).

Populations of western Atlantic Ocean Bluefin tuna (Breeding adults, age 8+ years) (94P1) (Population data are in 1000s.):

The population of bluefin tuna that spawns in the Gulf of Mexico has dropped 90% since 1975. The population of bluefin tuna that spawns in the Mediterranean Sea has declined 50% since 1975 (Ref. 117 of Ref. (94W2)).

Ships using traditional fishing methods saw their catch of albacore tuna drop from 20,000 tonnes/ year in the late 1970s to 1750 tonnes in 1989 (in the north Pacific??) (90C1).

Salmon catches in the entire North Atlantic Ocean fell by more than 80% between 1970 and 2000. Today they stand at the lowest levels in known history (01W1).

The collapse of wild Atlantic salmon populations has accelerated throughout their Atlantic basin range. Historically, Atlantic salmon numbers were 2.5-5.0 million. Numbers dropped to 800,000 by the 1970s, 125,000 in 1996, and 80,000 in 1998 (New York Times (9/14/99)). When the population drops below 50% of the historical population a danger to long-term viability is usually seen.

In 1999, scientists sampled 32 rivers in Wester Ross and Lochaber (Scotland) that had been tested 10 years before. They found salmon had become extinct or were in danger of becoming extinct in 43% of these rivers (02M3).

Pacific salmon have disappeared from about 40% of their breeding range in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California (98S1). More than 300 distinct salmon populations there are at risk of extinction (98S1).

California's salmon and steelhead populations have fallen by 80% (Ref. 19 of Ref. (96P1)).

Idaho's Coho salmon (one of Idaho's 5 salmon species) went extinct in 1986 (95A1), (96A1).

In the Pacific Northwest, Coho salmon are extinct in 55% of its range, and declining in 39% (96A1).

Spring and summer Chinook salmon are extinct in 63% of their range, and declining in 31% (96A1).

The Chinook salmon population in the Sacramento River dropped from 118,000 to 191 over the past two decades (93M3).

Runs of adult salmon and steelhead on Columbia River have declined from a historic high of 16 million fish to 1.5 million fish in 1992 (94B1). Salmon/ steelhead caught in the Columbia River by commercial fishermen: 21,100 tons in 1884; 600 tons in 1994 (96A2). In 1880, 19,500 tons of salmon and steelhead were harvested from the Columbia River (WA). In 1980 the harvest was 50 tons (96A1).

The commercial salmon catch in the Columbia River is plotted vs. time (1866-1994) in Fig. 5 of Ref. (96A2) (around 17,500 tons/ year during 1880-1930; around 2,500 tons/ year after 1980).

In Canada's Fraser and Skeena Rivers, Coho salmon is extinct in 55% of its range, and declining in 39% (causes: overfishing, logging, mining) (Ref. 110 of Ref. (96A2)).

100 years ago, 150,000 salmon were caught annually in the Netherlands and Germany. By 1920, the catch had dropped to fewer than 30,000, and by 1958 it completely disappeared (96A1).

Salmon caught in the Rhine River (Germany and Holland): 150,000/ year around 1896; 0 by the end of the 1950s (96A2).

Coho salmon along much of the Pacific Coast numbered 1.4 million in the 19th century and 39,000 in 1995, with much of the decline in the past decade (95M4).

Wild Atlantic salmon have disappeared completely from at least 309 river systems in Europe and North America according to a study released by World Wildlife Fund. The Status of Wild Atlantic Salmon - A River-by-River Assessment, reports that, in the 2005 rivers historically nurturing this species on both sides of the Atlantic, the wild fish have disappeared in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. And the species is on the brink of extinction in Estonia, Portugal, Poland, the US, and parts of Canada. Nearly 90% of the known healthy populations exist in only four countries: Norway, Iceland, Ireland, and Scotland. In the remainder of the range, 85% of wild Atlantic salmon populations are categorized as vulnerable, endangered, or critical (01W1).

In the Iranian Sefid Rud River delta in the southern Caspian, the commercial catch of sturgeon dropped from 6,700 tons in 1961 to fewer than 0.5 ton in 1993 (95P1).

Massive poaching and over-fishing were responsible for a drop in the adult sturgeon population in the Caspian Sea from 142 million in 1978 to 43.5 million in 1994 (David Filipov, Pittsburgh Post Gazette (6/15/97)).

The US accounts for 30% of the world's caviar market. The US Fish and Wildlife Service believes that 50% of the Caspian Sea caviar trade to be illegal. The US once led the world in sturgeon and caviar production, but by 1910 sturgeon in the US was nearly extinct (US FWS news release (3/25/98)).

Warmer temperatures and disappearing sea ice could threaten Antarctic whales, seals and penguins. Warmer temperatures and disappearing sea ice have resulted in an 80% drop in Antarctic krill, which is a major source of food for animals in the Antarctic. Krill feed on algae under the ice but warmer temperatures over the last 50 years have meant less ice and fewer krill. The most important finding was that there was a direct link between sea ice duration and extent and krill abundance. The krill population is only a fifth of that in the mid-70s. Krill feed on phytoplankton and algae and are eaten by fish, squid, sea birds, whales, some seals and penguins. The latest figures are from data between 1926-2003 gathered by nine countries. Results showed the krill population is concentrated northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula, but also revealed the long-term declines in krill stocks that can affect commercial fishing since krill are consumed by species for human consumption (04U1).

"Antarctic krill remains the largest exploitable stock and its exploitation also poses the greatest threat to the Antarctic ecosystem. Rapid growth in fish farming and the biotechnology industries are two key threats to sustainable harvests of krill. Fish farming is expanding at a rate of 11%/ year. In a decade, output is expected to exceed catches from ocean fisheries, and to overtake global beef production within 20 years (03O1). It seems likely that production of carnivorous farm-fish will be limited by harvests of menhaden and other small bony fish.

Key components of the marine food chain, plankton and krill, may be breaking down due to the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. The population of krill, which eat plankton and are a food staple for whales and penguins, is now "a quarter" of its population in the mid-1980s (Japan's Asahi Shimbum (1/2/00)). (Note: Other data indicate that at least the larger breeds of penguins prefer small fish and squid.)

In Antarctica, thinning of the ozone layer may account for the "dramatic" decline of a key marine species. Krill (food for whales) population off the Antarctic Peninsula, south of Tierra del Fuego, is 25% of what it was in the mid-1980s. More of the sun's ultraviolet radiation is reaching the Earth's surface, killing plankton on which krill feed (Tokyo Asahi Shimbun (1/2/00)).

The southern stock of the South African pilchard, despite various restrictions by the South African government, has declined drastically since 1968, and now yields only 40,000 tons/ year instead of the potential maximum of 150-300,000 tons/ year (77P1).

Chesapeake Bay's oyster catch peaked in the 1880s, but the last few years have shown the lowest harvests on record - about 10% of the peak. Declining water-quality and over-fishing are considered as primary factors in this decline (Chesapeake Bay Foundation Annual Report (1985)).

In the Gulf of Gabes, one of the Mediterranean Sea's most important natural fisheries, the fish catch dropped from 36,000 tons in 1988 to 28,000 tons in 1992. The sardine catch there dropped by 2/3 (93H1).

Sardine harvests in the eastern Mediterranean Sea dropped 83% after the Aswan Dam was completed (95P4), (96P1).

Total collapse of pollock stocks in areas adjacent to the Eastern Bering Sea stock has already occurred from over-fishing. The remaining fishery is now compressed into significantly smaller areas and shorter seasons, placing increased pressure on remaining stocks. The Aleutian Island Region was closed to fishing in 1992, and is no longer capable of sustaining commercial fisheries. The Central Bering Sea-Bogoslof Island (the "Donut Hole") was closed to fishing in 1993 and has still not recovered (MFCN data of around 2002).

Pollock harvests account for 25% of the total catch off US shores. The value of the fishery: $650- $1000 million/ year. By 1998 the pollock population had declined to 50% of its population in 1988. However harvests have remained constant at close to 1million tons/ year (MFCN data of around 2002).

The Aleutian Basin population of Pollock straddles the offshore area controlled by the US and Russia, but Pollock congregate in a 142,000 km² area ("Donut Hole"), an enclave of international waters ringed by EEZs of the two countries. The population collapsed due to over-fishing by China, Japan, South Korea and Poland. The overall Donut Hole catch was 363,000 tonnes in 1985, one million tonnes in 1989, and 300,000 tonnes in 1991 (94P1). The central Bering Sea catch of Alaska (walleye) Pollock dropped from 1.5 million tonnes in 1989 to 11,000 tonnes in 1992 due to over-fishing (95P1).

In 1989 the Bering Sea pollock fishery was open year-round. In 1991, the season was reduced to 148 days. By 1994, the factory trawl season declined only 70 days. In 1997 factory trawlers fished 55 days (98D1).

The massive "Donut Hole" fishery conducted by foreign factory trawlers in the Central Bering Sea (1987-92) virtually wiped out the large pollock aggregations in that region (98D1). The related Bogoslof pollock roe fishery (1987-92) was dominated by domestic factory trawlers, but it too collapsed and the stock continues to decline today (98D1).

The Chesapeake Bay oyster catch was 20,000 tons/ year in the 1950s, and less than 3000 tons/ year in the late 1980s (Ref. 21 of Ref. (94W1)).

Populations of American Oysters in Chesapeake Bay have dropped by 99% since 1870 (92R1).

The Chesapeake Bay yielded 8 million bushels/ year of oysters in the late 19^th century. Now it produces scarcely 1.0 million bushels/ year (93B1).

Chesapeake Bay's hickory shad catch has declined 96%, alewife and blueback 92%, stripped bass 70%, American shad 66%, and oysters 96% from their historical peaks (Ref. 50 of Ref. (94W2)).

Chesapeake Bay's oyster catch is plotted vs. time (1900-83) in Ref. (85B1). The catch has declined 96% from its historical peak (Ref. 50 of Ref. (94W2)).

The white abalone (a mollusk) catch in California peaked in 1972 at 65 tonnes. It fell to less than 1.0 tonne in 1979 and remained at that level until 1995 when harvesting of white abalone was banned entirely (San Francisco Chronicle (7/7/98)).

The North Pacific crab industry has collapsed. An 80% catch reduction has been imposed (00S1).

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ Go to top of Section [B] ~ Go to top of Section [C] ~ Go to top of Section [D] ~

Threats posed by excess fishing capacity to the world's fish stocks have been acknowledged in major international agreements, including the UN Agreement on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks and Straddling Fish Stocks and the FAO Code for Responsible Fishing (98D1).

The NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service - a US government agency) has had no leadership under any administration or party. Since the 1970s all they have set out to do is build up the US fishing fleet only to buy it back because of over capitalization without any idea of how much fish is out there. We need a substantial turn around in our resource, but Congress is just listening to the large trawler organizations, seafood processors, and National Fishing Institute representing their short-term financial needs (00S1).

On the west coast of India in the fishery off the coast of Goa, the mechanized fishing fleet increased from 10 boats in 1964 to 2200 in 1998. The annual catch grew from 17,000 to 95,000 tons - well beyond sustained yield (71,000 tons) (00N3).

As the US halibut fishing fleet expanded to 5500 boats, the season was reduced to 2 days/ year. As a result, fishers employ the quickest, most hazardous methods. The results: fatalities, sinkings, and enormous amounts of spoiled fish, while consumers virtually never see fresh halibut. To reach the point at which all halibut boats could profitably fish throughout the year, 95% of the boats would have to leave that fishery (94S1).

In 1998, the world's large-scale fishing fleet has at least 50% more capacity than justified by the size of the world's fishery resources (Ref. 68 of Ref. (98M7)).

Today's world fishing industry has about twice the fishing capacity needed to bring in the sustainable yield of fish (Ref. 2 of Ref. (98W1)). During 1970-90, the FAO recorded a doubling of the world's fishing fleet (from 585,000 to 1.2 million large boats, and from 13.5 million to 25.5 million gross registered tons) (94W2).

Estimates for the world's commercial fishing fleet range upward of 3.5-4.0 million boats (02D2).

By the late 1980s, the world's large-scale fishing fleet had exceeded the maximum sustainable yield of all the world's commercial fish stocks by 30% (Ref. 67 of Ref. (98M7)).

During the 1970s and 1980s, the gross registered tonnage of the world's fishing fleet increased by 90%, while the technical capabilities of the world fishing fleet as a whole increased by 330% (Ref. 66 of Ref. (98M7)).

It is not just that there are more boats: sophisticated technology also makes fish easier to catch. Countries spend $2.5 billion in taxpayer's money each year to "search out the last fish left," in the North Atlantic (02D1).

The UNFAO says that even though 11 of the world's 15 main fishing grounds are seriously depleted, expansion of the global fishing fleet continues, with Southeast Asian nations and China being among the most aggressive (97F2).

The world's current fishing fleet catches 155% more fish than can be replaced through normal reproduction (98P2). This probably refers to the marine fleet only.

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ Go to top of Section [B] ~ Go to top of Section [C] ~ Go to top of Section [D] ~ Go to top of Section [E] ~

Mexican fishing boats catch tuna "on dolphin", using nets that encircle both dolphins and the mature yellowfin tuna that swim under them. In the US, tuna caught in this way are banned. But in 1991 GATT found this blockage of tuna imports inappropriate (93F1).

The US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is buried in the Commerce Department that largely deals with manufactured commodities. No Secretary of Commerce has ever had a background in natural resource issues (94S1).

The US government has abdicated far too much authority to regional fishery councils dominated by fishing interests. No other natural resource - not timber, not minerals, not grazing lands - is as heavily managed by the very people who extract that resource. Too often, regional councils concentrated on dividing up the ocean-resource pie among competing fishing interests and ignored the fact that the pie was shrinking (02C1). Fishery councils ignored scientific warnings issued as early as 1984. Instead, a stubborn pro-industry bias drove managers to require absolute proof of a collapse before restricting fishing. Such proof is now available for west coast fisheries, but it's too late to avert a crisis (02C1). Absurdly, Congress has been considering a major rollback of federal fisheries law in a last-ditch attempt to continue excessive fishing levels, even in the face of a fishery collapse. In July of 2002, the House Resources Committee voted on rolling back the protections provided in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, a good law designed to conserve and manage fisheries that would have prevented this crash had the Act been implemented properly (02C1).

A national fish conservation coalition is charging that the Commerce Department's latest appointments to regional fishery management councils will harm fish more then help them by "continuing a pattern of mandating conflict of interest" which is "a key factor contributing to the drastic depletion of many US fish populations." Criticizing the new appointments announced 6/27/03, Lee Crockett, executive director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network (Network), points out that the newest appointees were 47.8% commercial fishermen, 35.2% recreational fishermen, and 16.9% others. Crockett, a marine biologist, cites a previous study showing the continuing pattern of appointing council members who have a direct interest in short-term profit, not long-term protection of the fish populations. "The councils were designed to facilitate catching fish, unfortunately that very design makes them poorly suited for fish conservation," Crockett said. Under the current system, state governors nominate individuals to be considered for membership on the regional councils, and the Secretary of Commerce selects members from the governors' suggestions. (Continued)

The study Crockett cites - written by Thomas Okey and published in the May 2003, edition of Marine Policy - found that between 1990 and 2001, commercial and recreational fishermen accounted for 82% of all the people appointed to regional fishery councils. The Okey study analyzed the makeup of the councils nationally over a 12-year period, and found a parallel between industry dominance of the council process and bad management decisions. According to the report's abstract, "Contemporary economic sensibilities within this "industry captured" regulatory process generate perverse incentives for management decisions that conflict with, and can undermine, national sustainability goals and standards, even when those standards are logically sound and agreed to by consensus." Report author Thomas Okey: "The skewed composition of the Fishery Management Councils appears to be a central reason for the mismanagement of our fisheries. Congress intentionally created a council system in which industry would dominate because they recognized the critical role of fishermen in making and complying with management decisions. Unfortunately, the institutionalized capture of resource decision-making by fishing industries promotes a pathological focus on short-term economic gains that consistently jeopardizes the long-term health of fish stocks and marine ecosystems." (Continued below)

The Network has documented that this continued pattern of special interest appointments has cost US taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in buyouts and relief programs as the industry dominated councils have repeatedly placed exploitation of the resource over conservation. For more information on the cost of mismanagement, visit http://www.conservefish.org/site/mediacenter/cost.pdf The Network cited the collapse of groundfish populations in New England and rockfish populations in the Pacific as "two of the most well known examples of what happens when a council refuses to make the hard decisions necessary to conserve fish populations for future generations." (03M5).

When Congress invented the fishery management councils as part of the NMFS there were (03E1):

• No prior studies or discussions of alternatives;
• No analysis of the possible advantages and disadvantages of such a system;
• No similarly structured natural resource management systems in place at the time.

No nation other than the US gives its fishing industry as much authority to make large-scale decisions about fishery conservation and management as the 8 regional fishery management councils in the US enjoy. In most countries, fishermen play important but advisory roles.

Australia's Fisheries Management and Administration Act of 1991 created a council system similar to that in the US, with council members predominantly composed of fishing industry members. The results have been similar to those in the US: In 1992 the Australian government classified 25% of known fishery stocks as over-fished. In 2003 it reported that 50% of the known stocks are over-fished (03E1). (Continued below.)

The Magnusen-Stevens Act requires that the optimum yield of a fishery cannot exceed the "maximum sustainable yield" (MSY) of the fishery. Theories developed by fishery science hold that a fish stock will produce its MSY when the fish population is between 40-60% of its pre-fishing levels (63 Federal Register 24212 (1998)).
The US lacks even basic information about a number of important fishery stocks. There are 932 fish stocks under federal management in the US EEZ, but the NMFS has information sufficient to evaluate the full status of about 25% of them, slightly more than 230. OF the nearly 700 stocks of "unknown" status, 99 are "major stocks" (defined as stocks with annual landings of more than 200,000 pounds). 9 of the 30 most valuable domestic fisheries are of "unknown" status. Thus the NMFS does not know whether the two most valuable fisheries managed by the councils - pollock and brown shrimp - are over-fished or not (03N1).
Of the 237 known stocks for which there is sufficient information to evaluate current stock levels, NMFS classifies 36% (86 stocks) as "over-fished". Of the 274 stocks for which it can be determined whether over-fishing is occurring, 25% (66 stocks) are experiencing over-fishing. 48 stocks (about 20% of known stocks) are both over-fished and experiencing over-fishing. This suggests that effective rebuilding plans either have not been implemented or have not taken effect. 27% of major US fishery stocks are over-fished, while 24% are subject to over-fishing (03N1). (Continued below)

According to the UNFAO, of the worldwide fish stocks for which information is available, 28% are over-fished, compared with 37% of all major and minor fisheries managed by regional councils in the US (02F1). What is odd about this is that fishery scientists in the US, particularly those in the NMFS enjoy a reputation as some of the most sophisticated and accomplished fisheries science experts in the world. Given the ability of these scientists, one would expect that the US fisheries management record would be better, certainly not worse, than the worldwide record.
More than 60% of the US fishery stocks that are currently under fishery management council rebuilding plans are still experiencing over-fishing. This suggests that the US fishery management councils have not yet adequately addressed the problem of too much fishing that led to the fisheries becoming over-fished in the first place. This suggests that the Councils' rebuilding plans are unlikely to be successful (02F1).

Since 1985, the percentage of US fishery council members who directly work in, or represent, the fishing industry has ranged as high as 88%, never dropping below 78%. (Continued below.)

The most frequently made criticisms of the 8 US fishery management councils under the NMFS are that (03E1):

• They have failed to prevent over-fishing.
• They lack accountability.
• They do not represent all legitimate interests and viewpoints.
• They are hindered by ubiquitous conflicts of interest.
• They favor short-term gains over long-term benefits.
• They do not view themselves as trustees of fisheries resources.
• They often yield to pressures from fishermen to raise quotas.
• They are not particularly well suited to the task of science-based decision-making.

Like the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) to deal with fishery management, the Taylor Grazing Act (TGA) was also enacted to bring previously unregulated areas under federal management and to promote conservation. Like fisheries in 1976, rangelands in 1935 were also in very poor condition. By 1935 only 16% of federal rangelands were in "excellent" or "good" condition while nearly 40% were in "poor" condition. The TGA , like the MSA, contained vague conservation standards, e.g. the TGA required the Department of the Interior to "stop injury to public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration." "Grazing Advisory Boards" were created in 1939, quite comparable to Fishery Management Councils. These grazing boards included only stockmen, just as Fishery Management Councils contained almost entirely fishermen. The effects of the Grazing Advisory Boards were similar to those of the Fishery Management Councils, e.g. in 1936 only 16% of federal grazing lands were in "excellent" or "good" condition. In 1975 the figure was 17%. Conditions improved when, in 1976, the Grazing Advisory Boards were subject to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. By 1984 more than 36% of federal grazing lands were in "excellent" or "good" condition. In 1994 "Resource Advisory Councils" replaced Grazing Advisory Boards with 2/3 of the Council members required to be representation from environmental, archeological, cultural, state and local government, public-at-large and academic interests. This change in makeup never really happened. The result was that the 36% of federal grazing lands in "excellent" or "good" condition in 1984 became 34% in 2001 (03E1).

It had long been possible to value a fishery by the amount the standing stock would be worth of sold on open markets. Such analyses -totaling up the poundage of a fishery resource and estimating its net worth -almost always concluded that the best economic strategy would be to sell off the entire resource all at once, and bank the proceeds, letting the cash equivalent of the resource grow monetarily (73C1) (02P2). The same basic type of "discount economics" invariably recommends against soil conservation - instead, put the money saved in a bank, so that when there is no more soil mankind simply lives off the interest in the bank account. (Continued below).

Under this economic model of the value of species, conservation of any population for future use is discouraged (97P3) (02P2). In the past decade, however, many environmental economists have pointed out another way to treat the question. They have argued that ecosystems perform important services to local and global economies that, if they had to be replaced by technology, would be very costly (97D2) (02D4) (02P2). Thus, an important value of an ecosystem is the replacement value of the services it provides for free. Marine ecosystems provide many such services, including capture of sediments by wetlands, protection from coastal storm damage by reefs or mangroves, production of oxygen and sequestration of carbon dioxide (99C5). Such analyses suggest that the costs of replacing the values provided by open oceans and coastal ecosystems total in the trillions of dollars (97C2).

The American fish harvesting industry is going broke nationwide due to over-fishing, loss of fish habitat, over capitalization, and government mismanagement, commercial fishing organizations and environmentalists agree. Government agencies responsible for the fishing industry say they cannot prove it is not already financially insolvent. "Most of the US fisheries stocks are facing a disaster due to over-capitalization of the fishing industry and the mismanagement practices of US Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and their appointed regional fishery management councils," says Zeke Grader Jr., executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the largest active trade association of commercial fishermen on the west coast of the US (00S1).

The American fishing industry is a $25 billion wholesale business employs 300,000 people, and had over $3 billion in landing revenues for 1998, according to US Department of Commerce figures. But the Commerce Department is unable to say if the harvesting industry is broke because the Magnuson-Stevens Act provides confidentiality for financial disclosures by vessel operators and processing businesses (00S1).

"We are very close to total closure in most of our fisheries industries because we have an industry reliant on a national resource going to hell under the management of biologists and bureaucrats operating without a long-term business plan. The fish harvesting industry in the US isn't run like a business, and you can't prove the US fish harvesting industry is financially solvent," (00S1).

"Wall Street and US commodities analysts say there is no public investment in the fish industry with the exception of shrimp due to the volatility in fish stocks and lack of financial transparency of operation (00S1).

The financial data that is made available to the public by the government shows the fishing industry in distress and near collapse. In January, 2000, Commerce Secretary William Daley declared the west coast ground-fishing industry a disaster with loses of $11 million in revenues (00S1).

In Atlantic Canada, a nearly $2-billion, 5-year "social-adjustment" program (the "Atlantic Groundfish Strategy") helps fishers stay out of debt (Critics see it as a massive social-welfare program.) (98M1).

Collapse of the cod fishery in Canada's maritime provinces in the early 1990s left 30,000 fishers dependent on government welfare payments and decimated the economies of 700 communities in Newfoundland alone (99M4).

Many of the tuna farms operating in the Mediterranean are subsidized by payments under the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy (02R2).

In 1996, the EU paid $229 million (43% of the annual fisheries restructuring budget) for access agreements with Africa, and the fishers themselves paid only a small fraction of the cost (98M1).

The Norwegian sealing industry is not economically viable on its own terms, and is dependent on government subsidy (99H1).

The US Dept. of Commerce announced $5 million in added relief for New England fishermen in early 6/99. The money will be used to compensate inshore vessels that could not fish in closed areas between February and June of 1999. The New England congressional delegation assisted the region's fishermen in getting money in response to demonstrations and hardships engendered by closures. NMFS has not backed down or revised the rule limiting cod catches to 30 pounds/ day, which sparked many of the protests (Seafood.com (6/11/99)).

Fishing industry subsidies in 1998 included a $97 million dollar bail-out of two factory trawler companies: Tyson ($5 million) and American Seafoods ($92 million) (Niaz Dorry (niazd@dialb.greenpeace.org) (7/21/99)).

Various tax- and financing incentives encouraged US entrepreneurs to expand to take advantage of the expulsion of foreign competitors from the US EEZ (98G2).

In 1996 the Government pledged $25 million to buy out part of the commercial ground-fish fleet in New England (98M1).

Government policy during the 1970s and 1980s offered tax credits and loan guarantees to expand the US commercial fleet (97C1).

US taxpayers have spent $160 million since 1994 (on federal disaster relief for the fishing industry and fishers) without much benefit. Congress is being asked to appropriate another $421 million in federal disaster relief for the thousands of fishermen affected by the recent crab, salmon and groundfish stock collapses (00U1).

Since 1994, US taxpayers have paid more than $160 million to mitigate economic and ecological impacts of fishery management failures in New England, Alaska, and the West Coast, the MFCN report "Lost at Sea" found (00S1).

In 1995, Congress created a program to buy up commercial fishing permits and vessels in areas where the fish population was in decline from environmental factors and over-fishing. Sounds simple enough: Fewer fishermen catch fewer fish. But when the GAO took a look, it found much of the $140 million used to pay some people not to fish didn't stop other people from catching the same fish. In the New England program, where federal funds bought up fishing permits and ships, the GAO found that the effort stopped 79 vessels from fishing. But 62 previously inactive vessels that already had permits took their place (00U3).

The GAO also found that some fishermen used money from the program to upgrade other ships they already owned so they could land more fish. Others simply took the money and then switched to catching lobster, despite the fact that the lobster fishery is having similar problems (00U3).

Could Congress have known things would end up this way? Only if it had bothered to check decades of evidence. In 1999, a congressionally mandated study summarized the results of several salmon buy-back programs from the 1970s this way: "The programs had little effect on fishing capacity. Many of the retired vessels were marginal. Because many fishermen held more than one license, funds frequently were used to upgrade other vessels." A 1997 Canadian study found the same thing (00U3).

In 1998, the US government spent $20 million to buy back 9 factory trawlers to reduce pressure on dwindling stocks of Bering Sea pollock (ENS (3/10/00)).

Congress will soon be considering another $421 million in federal disaster relief for thousands of US fishermen hurt by recent crab, salmon and ground-fish stock collapses in New England, Alaska and along the West Coast (ENS, 3/10/00).

In March 2002, the National Marine Fisheries Service spent $10 million buying groundfish permits from New England fisherman, and a similar idea has been discussed for the West Coast (02D2).

Government financial assistance to aquaculture in the US in 1994 was over $60 million (97G1).

Bluefin tuna "farming" has emerged, with the Spanish as the European leaders. The tuna are captured live, placed in cages off the coast of Murcia in southern Spain. Bluefin tuna farming is increasing pressure on smaller fish species, such as anchovies and sardinella, which are sold to the farms to feed the tuna. Bluefin tuna stocks are over-exploited. A predicted collapse is possible in the near future. The European Union (EU) could take action to stop over-fishing of bluefin tuna and regulate its farming, but is being lobbied heavily to support the industry (02R2).

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ Go to top of Section [B] ~ Go to top of Section [C] ~ Go to top of Section [D] ~ Go to top of Section [E] ~ Go to top of Section [F] ~

Developing countries do not have the resources to enforce the international agreements and fishery laws within their own boundaries (98K1).

In early 2005, local subsistence fishermen in the Philippines protested the loss of their traditional access rights that their government sold to foreign vessels (05O1).

Fishing off Somalia's coastline, the longest in Africa, proceeds largely untouched by government regulation ("Somalia's struggles", Pittsburgh Post Gazette (2/26/05) p. A-14.) This means that the rest of the world can regard Somalia's fish as free for the taking.

Nearly 40% of all fishery production is now internationally traded. Around 80% of fish for human consumption ends up in three main markets (Japan, the US and the EU) (03W2). Fisheries are the most globalized food industry: over 75% of the world's marine fisheries catch (over 80 million tons/ year) is sold on international markets (01U3).

Until 1988 European Community countries were self-sufficient in fish and shellfish; now they are net importers (93K1).

US seafood prices, especially for lobsters and shrimp, have increased 20-fold since 1950 (02D1). New Englanders can continue to eat their favorite fish because much of the seafood is imported from developing countries, a practice that the scientists said should not be allowed to continue (02D1). In essence, developed world consumers, who earn factors of 10 more than those of the developing world simply outbid developing world consumers for fish.

In 1996 the EU signed a $70 million/ year fisheries access-for-trade agreement with Mauritania. The agreement stipulated a 45% jump in number of boats and a 140% increase in allowable catch, despite the fact that Mauritania's fisheries are already fully exploited and some species are overexploited (Ref. 97 of Ref. (98M7)).

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ Go to top of Section [B] ~ Go to top of Section [C] ~ Go to top of Section [D] ~ Go to top of Section [E] ~ Go to top of Section [F] ~ Go to top of Section [G] ~

Section [H] ~ DEGRADATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF ESSENTIAL FISH HABITATS ~ [H1]~ General, [H2]~ Mangrove Swamps, [H3]~ Reefs, [H4]~ Coastal Estuaries, [H5]~ Continental Shelves

Mangrove swamps, estuaries and coastal wetlands, because of their abundance of food, are nurseries for many species of fish. 2/3 of all commercially valuable fish species spend the first stage of their life in these waters (Ref. 15 of (93W1)), (80M1). 90% (by mass) of marine animals rely on coastal areas (mangrove swamps, estuaries and coastal wetlands) for spawning grounds (Ref. 16, Chapter 5 of Ref. (94B3)).

On the order of 2/3 of commercially valuable marine species depend on coastal habitats such as estuaries, wetlands and reefs. Most of the world's major estuaries are polluted by industrial-, agricultural- or urban runoff, or starved of nutrients by dams (Ref. 55 of Ref. (98W1)).

Worldwide loss of seagrass because of pollution could result in "underwater prairies turning into marine deserts." Among species most affected: prawns and lobsters. Especially hard-hit are the nearly 20,000 square miles of Australian seagrass beds that contain "half the world's estimated 70 species" of seagrasses (Reuters (3/27/00)). Seagrass beds are prime breeding grounds for many fisheries.

It is estimated that over 50% of the world's mangroves have been destroyed and they continue to decline at an alarming rate. Shrimp aquaculture development has been a major cause of recent mangrove loss, and it has been estimated that shrimp aquaculture may have been responsible for as much as 38% of global loss of mangroves. Destruction of mangroves leaves coastal areas exposed to erosion, flooding and storm damage, alters natural drainage patterns, increases salt intrusion and removes critical habitats for many aquatic and terrestrial species, with serious implications for biodiversity, conservation and food security. Carnauba forests provide an important economic resource for rural communities, providing them with materials for the production of wax, straw and other saleable products. Shrimp farming is worth US$6.9 billion at the farm gate and US$50-60 billion at the point of retail. Shrimp are farmed in about 50 countries - 99% of farmed production is from developing countries. Leading shrimp producers in 2000 were Thailand, China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Ecuador, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Mexico and Brazil. Professor Ivan Valiela and colleagues at the Boston University Marine Program reported (2001) that conversion to shrimp aquaculture is responsible for 38% of total mangrove destruction, and that 'shrimp culture is, by a considerable margin, the greatest cause of mangrove loss. In at least 12 countries, wetland sites listed as having international importance under the Ramsar Convention have been damaged or destroyed (04Q1).

Restoring mangroves cost US$10,000 to $100,000/ km². Yet loggers and shrimp aquaculture prospectors can lease mangrove forests for a few hundred $/ km² (00M1). The total ecological value of mangroves in terms of food production, storm protection and waste treatment has been estimated at about US$1,000,000/ km²/ year (00M1). This is the cost of providing the same services by other means.

Mangrove forest loss in selected countries since pre-agricultural times (93W3) (All losses and inventories are in km²) Source: WRI, UNEP 1990, Australian Institute of Marine Science (1992).

* (of countries on list)

Mangrove Areas in Selected Countries ((00W3), p. 74) Data of Burke et al [PAGE] 2000, (Areas are in km² ) (Extent is current.)

One km² of mangrove forest can sustainably produce 38 tonnes of fish per year, and provide nursery grounds for an added 48 tonnes of fish and shrimp that mature elsewhere each year. The high density, intensive shrimp ponds that are replacing mangroves produce 100-300 tonnes/ km²/ year for about 5 years, at which point the ponds must be abandoned as a result of being abandoned because they are so choked with waste that they cannot support life of any kind (Ref. 30 of Ref. (99M1)). Data seems to be lacking on the fallow period required to restore these ponds. Also the economic analysis needs estimates of the value of the storm-protection and water-regulation benefits provided by mangroves.

Loss of mangrove forest results in increased sediment transport onto downstream coral reefs (Ref. 37 of Ref. (00N1)). (Coral reefs depend on sunlight for their existence.)

Shrimp are often produced by clearing coastal mangrove forests that protect coastlines and serve as nurseries for local fish. Mangrove destruction can cause a decline of local fisheries that will actually exceed the gains from shrimp production, leading to a net protein loss (00W2).

Up to 70% of the world's shallow reefs could be gone in the next few decades (01R2).

25% of the world's original reefs have been lost (01R2). Those remaining are under stress from pollution, sedimentation, destructive fishing practices and global climate change (mainly ocean warming) (01R2).

About 30% of the world's coral reefs are healthy (~2004), down from 41% in 2002, according to a study released 12/6/04 by 240 scientists in 96 countries (04H1). (The study's lead author, Clive Wilkinson, is coordinator of the Global Reef Monitoring Network.)

Between 1992 and 2000, the share of severely damaged reefs. worldwide, expanded from 10 to 27% (00W5).

27% of the world's original coral reefs have been lost, 14% of the remaining reefs are expected to be destroyed in the next 10-20 years. In 2002, more than 400 of the world's reefs suffered bleaching. Reefs in eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean continue to degrade because of sediment and nutrient runoff and over-exploitation of reef resources. 60% of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) was bleached in 2002. Some inshore reefs suffer up to 90% coral death ("Coral Reefs Start Slow Recovery", BBC News (12/2002)).

Trawling has been around 100 years, since the advent of powerboats. However, corals at least 800 years old are being destroyed as 14.8 million km²/ year are trawled worldwide (00L1). This is a significant portion of the world oceans' area of continental shelves.

58% of the world's coral reefs are imperiled by humans. (UN report on global ecosystems (9/2000).) The $4 million study is the outcome of a program called Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems (PAGE))

A report from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network estimates that 25% of the world's original reefs are gone or severely damaged, and that another third are degraded and threatened (02M2).

Coral reefs have been on earth for 500 million years (Ref. 13 of Ref. (93W2)). Most coral reefs are 5,000-10,000 years old (96H1). Coral reefs occupy 0.17% of the Earth's surface, but are home to 25% of all marine fish species (Ref. 6 of Ref. (93W2)). 109 countries have shores lined with reefs. The total length of these reefs exceeds 100,000 km (93W2). Roughly 414,000 km² of coral reefs are scattered throughout the world's tropical and sub-tropical seas (96H1).

The loss of 5-10% of the world's original coral reefs translates into a loss of fishery productivity on the order of 250,000-500,000 tons/ year (Ref. 49 of Ref. (94W2)).

Destruction of coral reefs has reduced potential global fish catches by $80 million/ year (89L1). Reefs off at least 80 countries are threatened by over-fishing (Ref. 36 of Ref. (93W2)). The total catch from reefs is estimated at 4-8 million tons/ year - about 10% of the fish caught for use as human food (93W2).

Coral reefs account for 20-25% of fish caught by developing countries (Ref. 11 of Ref. (93W2)). 4 million small-scale fishers - 1/3 of all subsistence fishers - obtain their catch from coral reefs (Ref. 12 of Ref. (93W2)).

70-90% of all fish caught by coastal fishermen in tropical Asia are reef-dependent at one time or another in their life (96H1).

Clive Wilkinson, a coral reef expert working at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville insists that if nothing is done in time to conserve and manage coral reefs, the world may well lose 70% of them within 40 years (97H3).

People have, directly or indirectly, caused the death of 5-10% of the world's living reefs, and at current rates, will destroy another 60% in the next 20-40 years (Ref. 19 of Ref. (93W2)).

10% of the world's reefs have been degraded "beyond recognition"; 30% are in critical condition and will be lost completely in 10-20 years if trends continue; another 30% are threatened, and will be lost within 20-40 years if trends continue (96H1).

Commercial pressures force subsistence fishermen into a destructive cycle of dynamite, poisons and fine mesh nets in coral reefs. According to Daniel Pauly, a fisheries biologist working with ICLARM in Manila, these fishing techniques are now the most common forms used in Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Africa (97H3).

The extent of coral bleaching: none before 1979. In 1987, 1991 and 1996 mass bleachings were observed in 6 of the 10 major coral provinces of the world. From late 1997 through mid-1998 bleaching was observed in all 10 provinces ((99H4), p. 8). Coral bleaching is commonly associated with high water temperatures.

Scientists at the 9th International Coral Reef Symposium have warned that more than 25% of the world's coral reefs have already been destroyed by pollution and global warming" with the rest to follow in 20 years "unless urgent measures are taken. Hardest hit are some areas of the Indian Ocean where 90% of coral reefs have been killed by water temperatures that rose by up to 6 degrees during the last El Nino event (AP (10/23/00)). These statements probably refer to shallow-water coral, not deep-water coral.

The coral reefs in 55% of the 49 island countries reviewed in a report published in Current Biology in April of 2007 were being exploited unsustainably. Fish landings are currently 64% higher than can be sustained. (See Science Daily of 4/9/07.) (The research was done at the University of East Anglia, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science [CEFAS] and Simon Fraser University in Canada.)

There are at least 200 oxygen-starved "dead zones" in the world's seas, an increase of more than 33% during the two-year period 2005 and 2006. Algae blooms that suck up oxygen and cause dead zones are triggered by phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizer, sewage, animal waste, and fossil fuel burning. Dead zones lurk off the coasts of the US, Scandinavia, South America, Ghana, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, and Britain. Dead-zone problems are getting worse; nitrogen pollution of waterways and oceans is expected to rise 14% during the period from the mid 1990's to 2030 (06U1).

As much as 90% of all fin- and shellfish depend on estuaries for some portion of their life cycle or for wetlands-produced food (77M1), (84T1), (79P1).

Eutrophication is expected to worsen in 70% of the world's coastal areas over the next two decades (01E2).

In Asia, the cumulative weight of the fish living in its coastal waters (biomass) is estimated to be 8-12% of what it was half a century ago (04V1).

Since the early 20^th century, nearly 50% of the world's coastal wetlands have been filled in or severely degraded (Ref. 28 of Ref. (99M1)).

Development has destroyed 50% of all coastal wetlands in the world (Ref. 48 of Ref. (94W2)). Globally, shrimp ponds have consumed 27,000 km² of coastal ecosystems (Ref. 14 of Ref. (97A1)).

About 70% of the US fish catch is made up of species that depend on estuaries for at least part of their life cycle (94S1).

Percentage of US Shellfish beds in which Harvesting is Banned or Limited because of Pollution (91S1), (80M1)

About 80% of commercially important seafood species along the Southeastern US spend parts of their lives in estuaries, brackish coastal nursery areas that show signs of being degraded by human activities. When salt marsh habitat and production is lost, when estuarine creeks and rivers are anoxic (oxygen depleted), when seagrass beds disappear, those things tell us that the habitat on which these organisms depend is being degraded (99C1).

Two thirds of commercially important fish and shellfish harvested along the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico depend on coastal estuaries and their wetlands for food sources, for spawning grounds, and for nurseries for the young. (78H1), (66M1) For the Pacific coast of the US the corresponding figure is almost 50% (78H1), (66M1).

Along the US Atlantic coast, stocks of menhaden (a species that depends of coastal wetlands for nursery habitat and food) have declined by 26% in 10 years, in part due to the loss of coastal wetlands (98M1).

It has been suggested that, in the Mediterranean Sea, 28,000 km² (more than 90%) of coastal wetlands have been lost since Roman times (01U5).

Some estimates suggest that temperate estuaries and coastal areas of Europe may have lost approximately 67% of the wetlands that once existed there (06L1) (07A1). Europe's present coastal wetlands cover 51,910 km². More than 65% of Europe's coastal wetlands area that existed around 1900 has been lost (04N2), (06E2).

Shrimp and menhaden, which make up 95% of Louisiana's commercial fishery (0.85 million tons/ year) and 25% of the US total commercial fishery, depend on wetlands during part of their life cycle (82N1)? Louisiana's multi-million dollar commercial in-shore shrimp fishery is directly proportional to the area of inter-tidal emergent wetlands ((84T1) p. 37).

The area of seabed trawled each year is nearly 150 times the area of forest that is clear-cut. Each year, trawlers drag an area of seabed twice the size of the continental US (08T1). We are doing more to the surface of the earth by trawling than perhaps any other human activity except agriculture. Like a forest, the seabed is a complex ecosystem that provides habitat and food necessary for the reproduction and growth of fish and other marine life. Trawling and dredging destroys these structures - which can take decades and even centuries to fully recover, according to the studies. After trawling, sponges, mussels, tube-dwelling worms and the crustaceans that live in disturbed areas are almost all gone. Nothing humans do to the sea has more physical impact (98F1).

Approximately 50% of the global continental shelf is now trawled, with the most productive areas trawled several times a year (02D2).

Many of the world's fishing grounds are completely plowed over one to three+ times/ year by bottom trawlers (97H1).

Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine show total commercial landings off Massachusetts decreased by 20% since 2001. Adult cod numbers fell nearly 23% between 2001 and 2004 near Georges Bank and declined another 21% in the Gulf of Maine during that same time (05C1).

Sea grasses (rhizomatous, clonal, marine plants) form some of the most valuable and productive coastal ecosystems in the biosphere (97C2). They provide food and habitat for a variety of biota and play a fundamental role in carbon- and nutrient-cycling, water quality control, and sediment dynamics (02D6) (07A1). The World Atlas of Sea grasses (03G1) suggests a tentative global sea grass area of 500,000 km² (07A1).

Europe's present sea grasses cover 7290 km². Historical losses of Europe's sea grass areas exceed 65% (02D6), (03G1).

It has been estimated that a global loss of 12,000 km² of sea grass meadows occurred during the 1990s alone (96S1), about 7% of the world's known sea grass area (03G1) (07A1).

Losses of coastal wetlands and sea grass meadows exceeding 50% of their original area have been documented for most European countries where long-term data were available (07A1). Peak losses of coastal wetlands and sea grasses exceed 80% in many of Europe's coastal regions (07A1).

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ Go to top of Section [B] ~ Go to top of Section [C] ~ Go to top of Section [D] ~ Go to top of Section [E] ~ Go to top of Section [F] ~ Go to top of Section [G] ~ Go to top of Section [H] ~

Section [I] ~ THE SUSTAINABILITY OF AQUACULTURE ~ [I1]~ Background, [I2]~ Fishponds, [I3]~ Marine Cages, [I4]~ Fishmeal and Fish Oil,

Over-fishing in wild fisheries has reduced sustainable marine catches by about 20 million tonnes/ year. Aquaculture growth in recent decades has barely kept pace with this decline. Wild fish feed and house themselves; aquaculture fish require soy meal, cottonseed meal, peanut meal, quality fresh water, huge areas of level land (a.k.a. prime croplands) for ponds, destruction of mangrove swamps (vital habitat for wild fish), and wild fish for use as feed. Aquacultures ponds last only 5-10 years before they must be abandoned. Wastelands left behind are soil-deficient and too polluted with pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics to replant. Wild fish are ground up to feed farm fish: 2-5 tons of wild fish produce 1 ton of carnivorous farm-fish (e.g. shrimp and salmon). Growing fish in extremely confined quarters requires frequent applications of pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics that consumers ingest when eating the fish. It also infects pen-raised fish with diseases and parasites that spread to wild fish, wiping them out in large numbers. Aquaculture fish, escaping from ocean pens, also pass on bad genetic traits to wild fish. Thus the notion that aquaculture expansion represents a net increase in global food productivity seems optimistic at best.

50,000 km² of China's land is devoted exclusively to aquaculture. An added 17,000 km² of China's land are used for a combination of rice and fish production (97R2).

Globally, nearly 50,000 shrimp farms cover 9842 km² of coastal land (96W1). (These farms must be abandoned after some years.)

About 2/3 of aquaculture production comes from inland fish culture in rivers, lakes ponds and buildings. The rest is coastal - grown in bays or open ocean (93K2). Often mangrove swamps or estuaries are converted to aquaculture, and this entails a reduction in catches of wild fish species (Ref. 23, Ch. 5 of Ref. (94B3)).

The Chinese produced 6 million tons of fish in ponds in 1993. These fish were fed 12 million tons of grain (94B4).

Raising 1 ton of aquaculture fish consumes 8 tons of water, vs. 5 tons of water per ton of pork and 8.5 tons of water per ton of grain-fed beef (Ref. 115 of Ref. (98M7)).

Intensive production of common carp and tilipa requires roughly the same amount of fresh water (8 tons/ ton of meat), as the amount needed to raise grain-fed cattle (8.5 tons water/ ton of meat) or pigs (5 tons water/ ton of meat). Intensive shrimp production requires up to 10 times more water per ton of meat (98M2). Presumably these numbers refer to consumptive uses of water.

Shrimp- and salmon farming constitute two of the most resource-intensive food production systems in the world (98M2). These are carnivorous species. Farming non-carnivorous species is far less resource-intensive.

Some types of aquaculture (including shrimp and salmon -carnivorous species) could further deplete wild fishery stocks through habitat destruction, waste disposal, exotic species- and pathogen invasions, large fish meal- and fish oil requirements (Ref. 2 of Ref. (00N1)). For other aquaculture species such as carp and molluscs (herbivorous or filter-feeders), the net contribution to global fish supplies is great (Ref. 3 of Ref. (00N1)). It is not clear that the net contribution to global food supplies is positive however, in view of the large demands for level land and seed supplies (soy beans, cottonseed, peanuts). (Aquaculture farms occupy thousands of square miles of land, and the "footprint" of aquacultural activity can be up to 50,000 times the physical area of the farm itself according to Suzanne Giles <sgiles@americanoceans.org> 3/1/01 and http://www.fao.org/fi/default.asp http://cesp.stanford.edu/)

Shrimp farming in Asia and Central America is increasingly being seen as inherently unsustainable and destructive, an example of industrial aquaculture gone awry (97F3).

Fishponds last for no more than 8 years before the many chemicals and antibiotics that are poured into them in the process of raising shrimp make them unusable (04B1).

In the past ten years, scientists and economists have begun using "ecological footprint" models to account for the total land and natural resources required to produce a commodity, or maintain a certain standard of living. An ecological footprint gives a rough idea of the efficiency and sustainability of an enterprise by including all the inputs required and wastes generated. When applied to industrial shrimp farms, the model shows those operations are not more efficient over the long term than people fishing with nets and canoes. Each acre of shrimp pond in an intensive operation requires 35-190 acres of healthy mangrove to provide the raw materials (shrimp larvae, fish food, and clean water) and process the wastes it creates. When the inputs and wastes are factored in, the net production of edible protein produced by intensive shrimp farms and mangrove forests, acre for acre, are roughly equal (03U1).

Even under the best of circumstances, the average shrimp farm and its ponds that receive intensive management is only good for 10 years (98M7). (After that it must be abandoned.)

Between 1985-95, 1500 km² of shrimp farms were abandoned worldwide (Ref. 120 of Ref. (98M7)).

Commercial fish farms are expanding rapidly, especially in Asia, taking up thousands of square miles of coastal land. The "footprint" of a farm - its influence on the local environment - can be up to 50,000 times larger than the physical farm itself. Shrimp farms frequently displace rice paddies. Saltwater from inland shrimp ponds can seep into nearby soil and reduce rice yields (http://www.fao.org/fi/default.asp http://cesp.stanford.edu/).

The life span of intensive shrimp ponds in Asia rarely exceeds 5-10 years (Refs. 7, 8 of Ref. (98N3)). Conversion of extremely degraded pond areas to other agricultural uses is often not economically feasible. Rapid expansion of shrimp farms has caused socioeconomic problems such as dislocation of poor coastal communities, and has degraded wide coastal areas, including mangrove forests and other wetlands (Refs. 7, 8 of Ref. (98N3)).

Thailand's mangrove forests declined from 3127 km² in 1975 to 1689 in 1993. (Ref. 36 of Ref. (00P1)) Another estimate gives a loss rate of 57.2 km²/ year. (Ref. 37 of (00P1) - see plot in Ref. (00P1) covering 1961-1996). Aquaculture pond development is responsible for much of this decline. Other urban developments are responsible for the rest.

In Thailand, shrimp farms and their ponds covered 1103 km², or 64% of the total mangrove forestland in 1987. Experiences in Thailand, as well as in Vietnam, show that shrimp farming is unstable in terms of yields. The first few crops normally have high yields because of the quality of the land and water. After a few years Thailand's shrimp farm yields decline because the aquaculture environment - especially the water - deteriorates (00P1). By 1996, Thailand's shrimp farms/ ponds decreased to 670 km². As a result of the failed aquaculture, several large tracts of Thailand's eastern and southeastern coasts are deserted (00P1).

In the Ranot region of Thailand, shrimp ponds have caused groundwater levels to drop by 4 meters during 1989-1991 (98M2).

During 1985-1995, 1500 km² of shrimp farms/ ponds fell into disuse worldwide (98M2). The average fishpond is good for about 10 years, but for high-density shrimp ponds, typical pond lifetimes are about 5 years (98M2).

During 1965-1985, shrimp farms in Taiwan intensified production from 140 to 360 tons per km². By the late 1980s, Taiwan's aquaculture industry had completely collapsed due to a series of disease outbreaks and financial disasters, leaving behind a devastated landscape (Ref. 120 of (98M7)) (98M2).

When pond wastes from cultivated shrimp are released into a bay, wild shrimp are destroyed (98M2).

Egypt has banned the diversion of water for fish farming in fishponds (98M2).

China now prohibits converting arable land to aquaculture ponds (98M2).

Honduras has instituted a moratorium on new shrimp farms/ ponds (98M2).

India has banned shrimp farms/ ponds within 500 meters of the high-tide zone (98M2).

When waste from fish-rearing ponds is dumped on the ground, coconut trees turn brown and well waters go bad (98M2).

More than 90% of the shrimp farms/ ponds in the upper Gulf of Thailand (most of which are located on converted mangrove swamps) were deserted after 2 seasons because too much waste built up and clogged the pond (Ref. 120 of Ref. (98M7)).

The European salmon-farming industry requires a marine support area for feed estimated at 40,000-50,000 times the surface area of cultivation, and equivalent to about 90% of the primary production of the fishing area of the North Sea (Ref. 6 of Ref. (98N3)). Consequently it depends heavily on fishmeal imported from South America (98N3).

Scientists have published the strongest evidence yet that west coast salmon farms are the source of sea lice infestations that can spread up to 3 miles (04C1). Sea lice can be fatal to wild salmon.

The collapse of effective regulation has given free rein to fish farming practices. These now jeopardize both the ecology of Scotland's rivers and the fish farming industry itself (01R3).

Parasites that find ideal breeding conditions in densely packed salmon farms (marine cages) and then spread into the wild have been blamed for destroying the wild sea-trout fishery in Ireland (03R1).

Norway has stopped building salmon net cages in coastal waters (98M2).

Norway banned salmon farms (in marine cages) in some areas (03R1).

Scotland may relocate salmon farms (marine cages) because of impacts on sensitive coastal areas (03R1).

Scotland has stopped building salmon net cages in coastal waters (98M2).

Fishmeal is used in feeds for a variety of farmed animals including poultry, pigs and fish. In 1998, compound aquaculture feeds -pelleted fish foods - consumed more than 40% of total fishmeal production (the equivalent of 20 billion pounds of forage fish) and over 75% of the world's fish oil - shares that have increased markedly in the past decade (00T1). However total world fishmeal and fish oil production has not changed significantly in recent years (00F2) (00T1).

Most harvested forage (non-carnivorous) fish stocks used to produce fishmeal and fish oil are already fished to their maximum. Also, the average trophic level of fish raised in aquaculture is rising (01P2) suggesting increasing demands for fishmeal and fish oil. Several stocks such as krill and certain mesopelagic* fish could be further exploited if prices of fishmeal and fish oil rose high enough (97F6) (00F4). Increased catches of forage fish would reduce the amount of food available for predators such as large fish, marine mammals and seabirds (00N1). (* "pelagic" means open-ocean. The meaning of "meso" is not clear.)

Fishmeal prices have risen over the past several decades (01F6), and could double in coming years (00H2). (Feed is the largest cost component in many intensive aquaculture production systems.)

Fish farming currently consumes 70% of the world's fish oil supply and 34% of total fishmeal, according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, with stocks in many Atlantic and Pacific fisheries already in danger of collapse. Fish feed producers are now looking at Antarctic krill to meet future demand (03O1). Krill has been harvested in the past, reaching a peak catch in 1982 of approximately 500 thousand tonnes. Krill catches then dropped to 100,000 tonnes/ year at the end of the 1990s. Krill are small crustacean organisms dispersed in the water column. At present they can be captured only with fishing methods that filter water (03W2). Krill are a prime source of food for whales, so further depleting krill stocks would probably reduce whale populations.

An estimated 0.4 kg. of fish and shrimp are lost from capture fisheries per kg. of shrimp farmed in Thai shrimp farms developed in mangroves. If other fish and shellfish species caught in waterways adjoining mangrove areas are considered, the total reduction increases to 0.447 kg. of wild fish biomass per kg. of shrimp raised. If the full range of ecological effects associated with mangrove conversion is accounted for, including reduced mollusk productivity in mangroves and losses to seagrass beds and coral reefs, the net yield from these shrimp farms is low - even without considering the use of fishmeal in aquaculture feeds (00N1).

Fishmeal producers expect that within a decade or so, aquaculture will use up to 75-80% of all fish oil produced, and about half of the available white fishmeal (03W2).

The fast-growing aquaculture industry could be consuming all the world's fish oil and half of its fishmeal by 2010, up from 70% of fish oil and 34% of fishmeal now (03W1).

Shrimp feed contains about 30% fishmeal and 3% fish oil, and intense shrimp farming actually results in a net loss of fish protein (Ref. 5 of Ref. (98N3)).

In the North Sea, over-exploitation of many capelin, sand eel and Norway pout stocks (used mainly for reduction to fishmeal) has been implicated in the decline of other wild fish further up the food chain such as cod (Refs. 9, 45, 46 of Ref. (00N1)).

In Southeast Asia, small pelagic fish such as mackerel, anchovy and sardines are not just ingredients of fishmeal. They also provide important protein sources for people (Refs. 25 and 26 of Ref. (00N1)).

The growing aquaculture industry cannot continue to rely on finite stocks of wild-caught fish for use as fishmeal. This is because a number of these fish are already classified as fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted (Refs. 8 and 10 of Ref. (00N1)).

The production of one kg. of pork or poultry uses only a few hundred grams of wild fish (as fish meal fed to the pigs), whereas production of one kg. of carnivorous fish can use up to 5 kg. of wild fish (Ref. 16 of Ref. (00N1)).

Worldwide, about a third of the global fish harvest (30 million tons/ year) (tonnes/ year?) goes to non-food uses, primarily animal feed, fishmeal and oils. Of this, 17% goes to feed fish, while the balance is used to feed cattle and poultry (98M2). By 2010, carnivorous fish on farms could be taking all the world's fishmeal, using protein that could otherwise be used for direct human consumption - a redistribution of marine biological wealth from the poor to the rich (98M2).

Go to this Chapter's Table of Contents ~ Go to top of Section [B] ~ Go to top of Section [C] ~ Go to top of Section [D] ~ Go to top of Section [E] ~ Go to top of Section [F] ~ Go to top of Section [G] ~ Go to top of Section [H] ~ Go to top of Section [I] ~