Earthweek: A Diary of thePlanet
Vancouver Sun, 23 Feb 2002

DECLINING FISH STOCKS

Researchers addressing the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston said that new wide-scale measuring techniques have revealed the reduction of fish stocks across the North Atlantic is far more severe and widespread than previously thought. A new portrait of the state of fisheries shows that over the last 50 years, the catch of species such as cod, tuna, haddock, flounder and hake has decreased by more than 50 per cent, despite a tripling in fishing efforts. The results show that there has been such large-scale extraction of fish from the North Atlantic that its impact has undermined the ocean's ability to sustain further catches, according to Dr. Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre.