Global fisheries: a brief review

The period following the end of the Second World War saw massive catch increases in fisheries, particularly in the 1960s. However, crashes due to over-fishing began to be reflected in global catch trends in the 1970s, and intensified in the 1980s and 1990s. In response, the industrialized countries of the Northern Hemisphere, where over-fishing-induced catch declines appeared first, moved their efforts toward deeper waters, and toward the south, i.e. to the coasts off developing countries, and beyond into the Southern Hemisphere, all the way to Antarctica. Now, in the first decade of the 21 st century, the global expansion of fisheries is completed, and global catches, which peaked in the late 1980s, continue to decline, and the collateral damage to marine ecosystems and biodiversity continues to increase. Several factors act to prevent the public in developed countries from realizing the depth of the crisis fisheries are in: over-reporting by China; the fact that FAO combines declining fisheries catches with strongly increasing aquaculture production; increased consumption, in developed countries, of seafood from developing countries; and widespread denial by governments of the magnitude of their problems. In this review, the scientific developments which have led to a fisheries science being captured by fishing industry interests are summarized and the outlines of a new “fisheries conservation science” focused on the maintenance of the ecosystems of fish populations are briefly sketched.