World running out of new places to fish: study

December 2, 2010

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – The world's fishing industry is fast running out of new ocean fishing grounds to exploit as it depletes existing areas through unsustainable harvesting practices, according to a study published Thursday.

Expansion into unexploited fishing grounds allowed global catches to increase for decades, and disguised the fact that older areas were being depleted, according researchers at the University of British Columbia and National Geographic.

"We knew the expansion was going on, but this is the first time we have quantified it," said Daniel Pauly, a scientist at the Vancouver-based university who co-authored the report published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

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About 19 million tons of fish were landed in 1950, and that increased to a peak of 90 million tons a year in the late 1980s, according to the researchers, who looked at data from 1950 to 2005.

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This is no big surprise, we have been overfishing for decades. What is worse is that are Oceans, Lakes and Waterways have been contaminated to the point that isn't safe to eat fish any longer.

Closer to home take a look at the Gulf and the BP disaster, those who live near the Gulf have stopped eating the seafood for the most part and fishing there is a small percentage since the oil spill. It seems there will come a day when we will no longer have fish in our diet.

no fish!! c'mon... you going to piss off alot of republicans with all this talk of nutjob enviormentalists telling us there are no fish. just like climate change, this is still debatable, and there are opposing opinions, and this isn't caused by man...it's some type of natural occurance.

reply to post by jimmyx


So you are saying that our Lakes, Oceans and Waterways are not polluted, that you would have no problem eating fish that has Mercury in them. Why is there a warning on cans of Tuna fish that it may contain Mercury?
Are you also saying the the Gulf isn't contaminated?

The U.N. just released a study this week about the declining PH levels in the oceans, and that it's beginning to worry about the security of the food chain!

Of course they are claiming that 1/3 of the Carbon emissions released into the air, are absorbed by the oceans and that's the problem.

It couldn't have anything to do with oil spills or chemical dumping or industrial polution!

One thing is for sure we are killing the oceans.

Great topic, I hope it gets the attention it deserves.

Starred and flagged.

reply to post by Aquarius1


thanks for posting, i think it should be common knowledge among everyone on Earth that our resources for food are not infinite enough for us to take as much as we want, especially when it comes to our fishing habbits

while there are rules and regulations for fish catch sizes, and fishing seasons for various species that allow populations to regrow over small incriments of time for the next season.. i think for the most part humans are trying to take as much as possible and still keep the system working reasonably

i look back at what i have learned about some past cultures, mainly the native americans, who had a strong philosophy about taking from nature what was needed and nothing more and having a strong respect and responsibility to take care of nature as well ( which makes sense because Our survival as a species depends on Nature's ( our food and resources' ) survival )

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Wasn't aware of the U.N. release but no big surprise, this has been a problem for sometime. I have always enjoyed eating fish, especially fresh water fish from the Great Lakes, like Perch, Walleye and Bass and also Alaskan Wild Salmon which I won't eat any longer...

Thanks for posting my friend.

reply to post by indigothefish


You are correct in that we as a species think we can take anything we want and as much as we want without giving a thought to the future, it is finely catching up with us, my concern is for future generations and what kind of life they will have.

Thanks for posting.

yeah call me a dumbass, but for thousands of years the only place where we can catch some fish is in the water.