Today's annual world catch of fish is about 86 million tons, and it has been at this level since 1990. Fish farming and other forms of aquaculture produce an additional 20 million tons. While the catch remains relatively constant, composition has changed. As popular fish stocks are fished out, species formerly considered "junk fish" replace them. An apparent steady supply of fish in markets and restaurants masks profound problems in world fishing. Experts estimate that nearly 75% of the world's fisheries now are overfished. In the United States, 43% are in this situation.
High technology, better scientific knowledge, and improved techniques produce harvesting efficiencies that may be counterproductive to proper management. Larger, more efficient vessels carry better catch gear, permitting a single vessel to do a far more thorough job of catching all the fish in a given area.
Fisheries biologists have many tools for studying spawning, growth, and behavior patterns of commercially important fish stocks. Yet, estimating the size and health of a stock still is something of a "black art." These tools, however, make prediction of where to catch much easier. For example, satellites map sea-surface temperature patterns and plankton concentrations that show fishermen where major concentrations of fish stocks are located. Available as a commercial service, these data are sent to subscriber vessels at sea.
All fishing results in "bycatch," the taking of fish that are not commercially valuable. Nets, hooks on lines, and bottom trawls are indiscriminate. The fisherman has little control over what is caught even when he is targeting his intended fish stock.
Bycatch is a major problem, accounting for more than 20 million tons a year—or about one-fourth of the world catch. Unwanted fish are thrown back; most do not survive. Some reduction of bycatch can be achieved by changing fishing gear. Nets can be sized to exclude some of the unwanted fish. Acoustic noisemakers can help warn away potential victims such as endangered sea turtles. And drift (i.e., unattended) nets, some of which are up to 40 miles long, are banned worldwide.
Government permits can limit catch sizes, but often we do not understand fully how fishing affects other marine organisms in an area. In Alaska, for example, Orca whales now are feeding on great numbers of sea otters. It appears that the sea otter population has dropped by 70-90% in the Bering Sea. The whales changed their diet when commercial fishing interrupted their previous food supply—and because one whale can devour more than 1,800 otters a year, the outlook is not promising.
Most fishermen specialize in a single or small number of fish stocks. Understandably, they wish to maximize their take in minimum time. They compete to get fish to the market quickly and thereby obtain the highest prices for their catches. Overfishing results easily from normal competition among these businessmen. There are few inducements to be a conservationist. To the fisherman, cutting back simply means less profit, a harder life, and ultimately maybe even the loss of his business.
Governments have the primary role in regulating fisheries. Through national legislation and international agreements, all backed by the best possible scientific knowledge, regulation can provide the means to ensure sustainable yields from the global resource. Of course, this is a "perfect world" view. In reality, much of the regulation has not worked very well, even though the first attempts go back more than 100 years. In Canada, a country with some of the world's best regulatory practices, the cod fishery is in severe difficulty. The lifespan of this fish is about 20 years, but the average age of those being caught is three years too young for them to reproduce.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has had an increasingly influential role in helping to govern global fisheries. Serge Garcia, director of the FAO's Fisheries Resources Division, points out that the global fishing catch is worth about $80 billion a year. An additional $42 billion comes from fish farming and other forms of aquaculture. This sector employs about 200 million people worldwide. What concerns Garcia is "not the extinction of fisheries, but the subsequent extinction of economies."
In 1991, the United Nations secured an agreement on a ban for the giant open-ocean drift nets. And in September 1998, the FAO was responsible for a draft agreement among 80 fishing nations to restrict voluntarily their harvests worldwide. The signatories include the world's five leading harvesters: China, India, Japan, Russia, and the United States.
The FAO voluntary agreement to restrict harvests proposes greatly restricting, or closing, the most endangered fisheries to let them regenerate; limiting the number of fishing vessels that can fish a stock; and retirement of excess vessels. Even though this agreement expresses the wishes of 80 nations, it can have real impact only if signatory governments develop and implement national rules.
Better not wait too long for that fish dinner at your favorite restaurant.