The scientific journal ‘Nature’ reported recently that only 10% of large open ocean fish such as swordfish, tuna and marlin, and ground-based fish such as halibut, skates, cod and flounder are left in the sea.
Industrial fishing continues unabated and scours the ocean of the last remaining fish stocks. Approximately 90% of global fish stocks are over-fished and it’s not going to be long before these become fully exploited, with little chance of recovery.
With various governments doing their best to prop up the commercial fishing industry, and contributing heavily to depleting fish stocks, this cycle bodes negatively for the next generation of artisanal fishermen who catch about 50% of the word’s fish, yet they make up about 90% of the fishing sector’s jobs. What this means is that the over-exploitation of fish stocks will leave artisanal fishermen jobless, and this is already becoming evident.
Statistics don’t lie. Let’s use Newfoundland in Canada as an example of how over-fishing affects the fishing industry as a whole. Cod stocks seemed inexhaustible and fishing in the Grand Banks continued unchecked.
In 1992 cod fishing collapsed and approximately 50 000 people connected to the fishing industry, including 10 000 fishermen, lost their jobs. Nearly three decades later, cod stocks still remain
pitiful.
Scientific study has determined that this ecosystem, due to the fish exploitation, has changed dramatically and may never recover. As is the case in Newfoundland, so it is all around the globe with fish stocks under increasing pressure.
