Troubled Ocean Fisheries

Archive Report

Causes of Decline

Fish Supply Strained by Demand for Food

The Price of fish is on the rise, not just in seafood stores and supermarkets in the United States but around the world, in rich and poor countries alike. The world's oceans, once thought of as an inexhaustible source of protein-rich food, are beginning to show the strains of overfishing, pollution and the ever-increasing demand for food by a human population that is expanding by nearly 80 million persons a year.

“Three tremendous shocks have hit the world fishing industry in the past 15 years, affecting every individual fish consumer,” said a spokesman for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. “First, the ocean fish catch, after rising 5 to 7 percent a year ...

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