Most everyone is familiar with the plight of the great whales, efforts to save endangered sea turtles, and the tragedy of dolphins dying in nets set for tuna.  Less well known is that tuna and many other species of marine fish are in deep trouble, too.  In fact, an alarming decline in fish populations poses a more disturbing and potentially more dangerous threat to life in the ocean.  As fish decline, so does the sea, into a biologically unproductive and unstable environment.  Strong conservation measures, and broad-based public support for implementing them, are badly needed.

Once man thought the seas held an endless supply of fish and couldn’t be destroyed.  We may no longer believe that, but we continue to behave as if it were true. For decades now we’ve been taking fish from the sea much faster than it can replace them, with dire consequences.  According to the National Marine Fisheries Service (aka NOAA Fisheries), 90 fish species found off the shores of the U.S. have been depleted.  Many are in danger of being wiped out.  Fish and shellfish at risk include bluefin tuna, cod, flounder, swordfish, blue marlin, Atlantic lobster, red snapper, salmon and a number of sharks, to name just a few from a long list that grows longer every year.

The numbers of most species of marine fish are at an all-time low, and the chief culprit is overfishing to meet an unprecedented demand for seafood.  Modern, technologically-advanced fishing fleets have the capacity to push most fish populations to the brink.  In addition to what is harvested, over 20 million tons of fish and other marine animals - about one-fourth of the global catch - are killed and discarded yearly by fishermen using huge nets, multi-mile longlines and other indiscriminate gear.  Some fleets throw away more fish than they keep.  This wasted "bykill" is a problem in almost every fishery.

When fish populations decline or collapse, everyone is the poorer.  It decreases the supply of protein available from the sea, causes substantial losses to the economy, brings hardship to fishermen, disrupts traditional ways of life and limits recreational opportunities.

The immediate threat posed by overfishing is aggravated by the long-term threat of large-scale changes to marine ecosystems.  Most salt water fish spend all or at least part of their lives in coastal waters, where their environment is continually assaulted by pollution and development.  The massive destruction of wetlands and other vital habitats directly reduces the number of fish the ocean can support.  Without healthy, properly functioning coastal ecosystems, fish cannot grow and reproduce – in a word, they can’t survive.

Just as ominous are unforeseen and possibly permanent changes in the ocean food chains caused by overfishing.  Overkill at the top – widespread depletion of the ocean’s apex predators, the sharks, tunas and billfishes – can upset predator-prey relationships that took millions of years to evolve.  Depleting fish populations can alter and diminish the genetic and species diversity of the ocean world.