Overfishing is when a type of fish is removed from a body of water at a rate at which the fish cannot replenish in time. This is wiping out complete species of fish which is greatly effecting the ecosystem. The overfishing of sharks has lead to a complete upset of entire marine ecosystems. Most overfishing is caused by fisheries. Most of this overfishing can bee seen in the Atlantic Ocean.
One major issue with overfishing right now is that the biomass of of global fish stocks have run down to the point where there are barely even enough fish to catch anymore. Another major issue is that some areas in Africa are not having enough fish to eat for themselves because the large scale fisheries are taking them all for themselves to sell to the people who don’t need it as much as the starving people in Africa.
The two best ways to fight overfishing is by advocating for sustainable seafood. Sustainable seafood is seafood that is fished in a way that maintains or increases the population of the fish. The other way that some people are doing to prevent overfishing is by using different fishing types that minimize the amount of unnecessary fish being caught. One of these techniques is using nets with larger holes which allows the smaller fish to go un-captured. The WFF (World Wildlife Fund) is doing a great job of preventing overfishing in many areas.
You can learn more about overfishing and how it’s being stopped by visiting:
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing
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Global Issues, Written by Carson Land 