The Depletion of Fish Stocks From Overfishing
Throughout recorded history, humans have exploited marine resources. One of the earliest known maritime societies occurred along the Baltic Sea approximately 10,000 years ago. These Mesolithic era fishermen did not regulate their fisheries. Because their populations were small, early fishermen did not alter their marine resources. Hence there was never a need for them to constrain their practices. In more recent times, however, the fishing industry has grown to massive proportions. Following the second world war, it took mechanized fleets only 20 years to treble the world's annual fish production. In 1989, the total sea catch amounted to over 86 million metric tons. This increase in fishing, however, has had a devastating effect on the resource. All of the world's major fisheries have either reached or exceeded their limits; many are in serious decline. Such developments have served to emphasize the need for regulation. In 1982, the United Nation's Convention on the Law of the Sea established measures directed towards the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean's living resources. This law--as well as others enacted by individual governments--has had variable effects.
For nearly four decades, both land-based and oceanic food global supplies have expanded at unprecedented rates. At the present time, however, world food production is experiencing a "massive loss of momentum" (Brown & Kane, 1994, pp. 30-33). Several constraints are simultaneously emerging to slow future growth. Some of these include the following: (1) limitations on the Earth's natural systems; (2) the cumulative effects of environmental degradation; and (3) the inability of future technologies to further increase food output.
Between 1950 and 1989, the world fish catch increased approximately 4.6-fold. During this period of time, the amount of seafood consumed by each individual roughly ...