Story by Matthew Kim, photo by Clark Young

Smells chock-full of deep, rich flavor waft up from the kitchen, abruptly interrupting your evening viewing of Disney+. As you snake downstairs, iPad and Airpods still clutched tightly in your hand, your nose twitches violently and your mind spins in a million different ways, seemingly in an attempt to recall the familiar scent that is filling you with such great joy. Sitting down at the dinner table, you set your sights on the rich, superb marvel of the ocean before you, and begin to carefully dig into the fish.

For much of the 20th century, fish populations around the world saw steady growth. But, towards the 21st century, a host of factors contributed to the species’ decline. Overfishing, for example, has slowly developed into a large environmental issue and, although multiple organizations have recently attempted to mitigate its devastating impacts, there is still much to be done before the world is ready to step back and let nature take the reins.

The question might be proposed as to why we are taking the reins in the first place. Indeed, the answer to this is not why, but how. How have we begun to take control of nature, to harness her forces and twist them to our advantage? Overfishing has been well-documented, dating back to the 14th century (Boissoneault, 2019). However, overfishing as a complex international concern only became realized in the mid 1950s with the collapse of California’s sardine industry and again in 1968 when the entire Atlanto-Scandian Herring fisheries stock hit rock bottom (Lewis, 2014).

Overfishing is the result of fish being removed from the sea at a faster rate than they can reproduce. Many cases of overfishing stem from economic and nutritional needs. As the human population has grown, the demand for seafood has increased. Fish presently account for over 16% of human food consumption and an even higher percentage in Asia due to its abundance of surrounding marine life. Many fisheries have begun to fish in larger quantities than necessary with much of this work being done unethically. Bottom trawling is a controversial fishing method that essentially bulldozes the seafloor. However, this technique is not the only one drawing backlash from the international community; many others are grappling the attention of policymakers as well.

Despite all of the negative fanfare surrounding overfishing, numerous advancements have been made with the goal of mitigating the drastic repercussions of this issue. In partial response to the collapse of California’s sardine industry, the United Nations held the 1956 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) with the purpose of discussing fishing and conservation of marine life, among other topics. This was the first of three such meetings and resulted in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was designed to replace the Geneva Conventions. More recently and on a smaller scale, Dr. Sylvia Earle in 2009 gained international attention for establishing Mission Blue: a global movement to protect the oceans by increasing public education and the number of Marine Protected Areas. This plan aimed to establish 20% protection by 2020.

UNCLOS and Mission Blue have all seen tremendous successes; much of the maritime laws that are in place today would not exist if not for these documents. However, despite these feats, there is still much to be done for humans to repair the broken fishing industry. Effective, plausible solutions are needed immediately.

Over the years, many groups have implemented various solutions to solve overfishing. In the eastern fish market, for one, catch shares are being used to limit the amount of fish being sustainably farmed (Stewart, 2015). This system of fishing management allows fish stocks to replenish while preventing sudden collapse of fishing communities. To accomplish this task, a debit card-like system is used. At the beginning of a fishing season, a total allowable catch is decided upon using scientific data from the area. From there, catch shares are licensed out to businesses putting a limit on how much of each type of seafood they can catch.

Although overfishing has a long history, it has only recently become a globalized issue because of how the fishing industry has evolved. Originating from local businesses and developing into multinational corporations, the landscape of the seafood sector is constantly changing as conservationists strive to keep up. After taking the reins from Mother Nature, will we be able to give them back?

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