Talk:Overfishing

Discussion
killing fish or overfishing is a situation where one or more fish stocks are reduced below predefined levels of acceptance by fishing activities. More precise definitions are provided in biology and bioeconomics. Biological overfishing occurs when fishing mortality has reached a level where the stock biomass has negative marginal growth (slowing down biomass growth). Economic or bioeconomic overfishing in addition to the biological dynamics takes into consideration the cost of fishing and defines overfishing as a situation of negative marginal growth of resource rent. A more dynamic definition may also include a relevant discount rate and present value of flow of resource rent over all future catches.

Overfishing therefore may be sustainable, but in a non preferable way. Ultimately overfishing may however lead to depletion in cases of subsidised fisheries, low biological growth rates, critical biomass levels, etc.

Examples exist of the outcomes from overfishing in areas like the North Sea, and the Grand Banks on the east coast of North America. The result has been not only disastrous to fish stocks but also to the fishing communities relying on the harvest. Like forestry and hunting, fishery crisis is susceptible to economic interaction between ownership or stewardship and sustainability, or the tragedy of the commons.

The ability for nature to restore the fisheries is also dependent on whether the ecosystems are still in a state to allow fish numbers to build again. Dramatic changes in species composition may establish other equilibrium energy flows which involve other species compositions than before.

The "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" treaty deals with aspects of overfishing in articles 61, 62, and 65.

Article 61 requires all coastal states to ensure that the maintenance of living resources in their exclusive economic zones is not endangered by over-exploitation. The same article addresses the maintenance or restoration of populations of species above levels at which their reproduction may become seriously threatened. Article 62 provides that coastal states: "shall promote the objective of optimum utilization of the living resources in the exclusive economic zone without prejudice to Article 61" Article 65 provides generally for the rights of, inter alia, coastal states to prohibit, limit, or regulate the exploitation of marine mammals. [edit] See also catch and release

75% of fishing grounds
75% of fishing grounds are exhausted, depleted or in danger of being so. -Yann Arthur Bertrand
 * Add in article 06:33, 14 August 2009 User:81.243.178.120

Section on resistance from fishermen
I think the section on "Resistance from fishermen" could actually be very important but just having one lengthy quote there is not doing this issue justice. Can we at least have a few sentences with good reliable sources? (or if this is covered in another Wikipedia article then link to it or take content from there?). This is in response to User:Epipalegic who put the long quote back in with this edit summary: "This is an ever-present tension which should be acknowledged in the article. For those of us with lived experience in the (let's be impeccably "woke") intersection between the down to earth, oops, I mean down to sea fisherman and the academic fisheries scientist, this is an evocative and very relevant passage, sourced to arguably the most prominent fisheries scientist in the world today".

This is the quote in question: There is always disagreement between fishermen and government scientists... Imagine an overfished area of the sea in the shape of a hockey field with nets at either end. The few fish left therein would gather around the goals because fish like structured habitats. Scientists would survey the entire field, make lots of unsuccessful hauls, and conclude that it contains few fish. The fishermen would make a beeline to the goals, catch the fish around them, and say the scientists do not know what they are talking about. The subjective impression the fishermen get is always that there's lots of fish - because they only go to places that still have them... fisheries scientists survey and compare entire areas, not only the productive fishing spots. – Fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly

In my opinion, this quote is overly wordy. It's also 16 years old and in a minor publication (Fisherman Life). There are bound to be better quotes or better information about this topic somewhere. . EMsmile (talk) 08:18, 7 February 2024 (UTC)