Collapsing fisheries.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The old saying, "There are plenty more fish in the sea," will draw puzzled looks from future generations of children unless the nations of the world reverse the present trends of commercial overfishing, habitat destruction and pollution.

A global study published earlier this month by scientists from a dozen academic institutions in five countries predicts that all of the world's fishing stocks will collapse before mid-century if overfishing and other human intrusions continue at their current destructive pace.

Anyone who thinks this is panic-mongering should think again. The report, which appeared in the journal Science, says 29 percent of fished species - including bluefin tuna, Atlantic cod, Alaskan king crab and Pacific salmon - have already collapsed. (Scientists regard a fishery as collapsed when catches fall to 10 percent of historic highs.)

The collapse of marine wildlife threatens to wipe out more than seafood buffets. The loss of complex oceanic biodiversity that would accompany it would drastically change our oceans and coasts, eliminating unique habitats such as coral reefs, salt marshes, mangroves and kelp forests.

The collapse of commercial fisheries would cause massive damage to the global economy and world food supplies. The industry currently generates more than $80 billion a year, and more than 200 million people depend on fishing for their main source of income. More than a billion people rely on seafood as their primary source of animal protein.

The prospect of a global dead sea is a bleak scenario, but researchers say it can be avoided if common-sense protections are soon put into place.

In the United States, where one in four federally managed stocks are dangerously depleted, Congress should strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law governing fishing in U.S. waters, with science-driven catch limits and solid environmental oversight.

The newly elected Democratic majority in Congress should also revisit the recommendations of the 2004 U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Made up of 16 presidential appointees, the task force spent three years studying the nation's coastlines and oceans and made 250 recommendations to Congress, only a few of which have so far been acted upon.

While President Bush's response to the commission's report has been a disappointment, he displayed a heartening awareness of the threat to oceans by creating a massive oceanic monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands earlier this year.

Much more remains to be done, but scientists say there's still time. Boris Worm, the marine conservation biologist who led the team of researchers that produced the new report, offers these words of hope and exhortation:

"The good news is that it is not too late to turn things around," Worm says. "It can be done, but it must be done soon."