Overfishing occurs when a species is caught much
quicker than can be replaced through natural reproduction. Because of this, many marine species are becoming endangered or- in some more drastic cases- going extinct.
Because of overfishing, the oceans are greatly damaged. 85% of fisheries around the world are overexploited, and up to 50% of the catch is illegal in most of these fisheries.
The efforts taken to help solve this problem are not impressive. Currently, just over one percent of the world's oceans are declared protected areas. Of these so-called "protected" areas, fishing is prohibited in only ten percent.
It comes as no suprise that the ecosystem is in grave danger. Because of the irresponsible actions taken by the fishing industry, the ocean and its species are at a huge risk. Fish in high demand such as tuna could go extinct in the near future. Out of 8 different kinds of tuna, 5 are at risk for extinction.
Most of the fish caught are juviniles that haven't had a chance to reproduce, so the ocean is losing generations of animals to support the greed of human consumption.
It's not just the species that are targeted that are being put in danger. No methods of commercial fishing are exclusive to only one type of animal, so bycatch is a huge problem. In fact, for every one pound of shrimp that is caught, five pounds of bycatch are thrown away (Empty Oceans, Empty Nets).
The exact amount of bycatch is unknown because many fisheries are not adequetly monitored and accounted for. However, it is estimated that U.S. fisheries discard of up to two billion pounds of bycatch every year.
what is over-
fishing?