Seafood might not be on the menu by 2048

by Nicole Weston, Posted Nov 7th 2006 @ 7:01AM

The average American eats nearly 17 pounds of seafood each year, and the amount has been steadily increasing over the past half-century, so it's worrying to hear that a new study reveals we might only have the same kind of access to the sea for less than half that time before we run into some serious problems. In an article published this week in Science, a group of international researchers said "90% of the fish and shellfish species that are hauled from the ocean to feed people worldwide may be gone by 2048." They cite overfishing and poor fishery management as major contributors to the problem. Fish are not replenished, or given enough time to rebuild their populations before they are fished to the brink of existence, as has been happening with 29% of the fish species that are commercially fished, according to the researchers.

Of course, it's important to keep in mind that this is not the first time that there have been doomsday predictions about food supplies and other natural resources, but that doesn't mean there is no truth to it. The team said in their report that implementing more widespread sustainable fishing practices will alleviate or even avoid the problem entirely. They also call for increasing the efforts for conservation of coastal areas and water pollution

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Filed Under: Science, Trends, Ingredients
Tags: coast, commerical fishing, conservation, fish, fishery, fishing, ocean, reseach, sea, shellfish, shortage, study, water