Fish Stocks
- Fish stocks (the populations of fish that we catch for food) in the oceans are declining
- This is mainly due to overfishing
- This could potentially result in:
- Some species of fish completely disappearing in certain areas or even going extinct (eg. we are at risk of losing cod completely in the north-west Atlantic)
- Ocean food chains being disrupted, affecting many other aquatic species
- Fewer fish for human consumption – this would be especially problematic for populations that rely on fish as a main source of food
- For these reasons, it is important to maintain fish stocks at a level where breeding continues
- Sustainable fisheries are required to achieve this – these are fisheries in which the overall population size of fish species does not decrease, because the number of fish caught does not exceed the number of new fish born