Just how badly are we overfishing the oceans?

Written by:
Hans Kruit

Humans now have the technology to find and catch every last fish on the planet. Trawl nets, drift nets, longlines, GPS, sonar... As a result, fishing operations have expanded to virtually all corners of the ocean over the past century.
Atlantic coast fisheries are still trying to limit overfishing of menhaden with traditional catch limits. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
Atlantic coast fisheries are still trying to limit overfishing of menhaden with traditional catch limits. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

That, in turn, has put a strain on fish populations. The world's marine fisheries peaked in the 1990s, when the global catch was higher than it is today.* And the populations of key commercial species like bluefin tuna and cod have dwindled, in some cases falling more than 90 percent.
So just how badly are we overfishing the oceans? Are fish populations going to keep shrinking each year — or could they recover?

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