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Leading marine scientists recommend ending most deep sea commercial fishing. With rare exceptions, "deep-sea fisheries are unsustainable....When bottom trawlers rip life from the depths, animals adapted to life (there) can't repopulate on human time scales. Powerful fishing technologies are overwhelming them."
As coastal fisheries got overexploited, commercial fleets moved further offshore into deep waters. The effects on local species are devastating. Globally, deep-sea fishes are collapsing, including sharks and orange roughy. Fishing outside 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zones prevent effective government control.
Oceana Report
Oceana is the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organization. It works to protect and restore world oceans. In 2008, it published a report titled, "Too Few Fish: A Regional Assessment of the World's Fisheries," saying:
Decades of overfishing depleted ocean food sources. Hidden reserves are disappearing. Scientists warn "of impending collapses in fish populations within decades." New environmental stresses hasten the outcome. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says:
"The maximum long-term potential of the world marine capture fisheries has been reached." It's all downhill ahead. FAO assessed 584 fish stocks and species globally. More than three-fourths are fully exploited, overexploited, depleted or recovering.
As a result, expanded commercial fishing can't be sustained. Only 17% of world fisheries have potential for higher catches. In six FAO regions, accounting for half the global catch in 2005, "at least 85% of stocks are already fully fished or overfished."
Moreover, in Western Central Atlantic, Northeast Atlantic, Eastern Central Atlantic, and Western Indian Ocean, "more than 95% of fish stocks cannot sustain any further expansion of fishing."
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