Fishing: out of control?

As Earth's appetite for seafood grows, fueled by rapid human population growth, fish have been feeling the pinch. First, Pacific anchovy fisheries collapsed. Then, cod and other Atlantic fisheries declined from overfishing (SN: 12/16/95, p. 415). Through it all, trawling rates have remained high. Indeed, 1994, the most recent year for which data are available, saw finfish harvests hit a record high-109 million tons, according to Vital Signs 1996, an annual survey of natural resource trends by the Washington, D.C.-based Worldwatch Institute. Much of this 7 percent increase over the previous year came from aquaculture and stepped-up trawling by China, Peru, and Chile, which together netted almost 40 percent of the world's fish catch. These harvests are not sustainable, however, the Worldwatch report finds. The same conclusion was reached in a more detailed analysis of the stress on global fisheries by Meryl Williams, Director General of the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management in Manila, the Philippines. Fish harvests now far outweigh meat production from cattle, sheep, pigs, or poultry. Indeed, about 1 billion people rely on fish-the fifth largest agricultural commodity-as their main source of animal protein, Williams notes in a report prepared for the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C.

Out of 200 fish stocks being tapped globally, however, one-quarter are overfished and 38 percent more are fully exploited. With demand expected to exceed supply well into the next century, Williams concludes that "Fish is unlikely to ever return to being the 'poor man's protein.'" Indeed, she argues, maintaining anything near current production levels will probably require sharp increases in fish farming and large investments in research to understand how to manage both farmed and overexploited wild stocks. Moreover, fish scientists must "break their isolation" from fishers not only to improve their understanding of the cultures and economics driving the decline of fisheries, she says, but also to "have a greater chance of getting their messages across" to those who will be most directly affected.