Managing Fisheries

Data collated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that since the early 1980s total landings of fish from the sea have decreased steadily and the majority of commercially targeted fish stocks are fully exploited or overexploited. The global commercial fishing fleet is now estimated to be at least twice the size needed to catch marine fish sustainably, and many forms of industrial fishing cause high levels of by-catch and discards.