Overfishing is a topic in fisheries science and marine ecology referring to the exploitation of fish stocks at rates exceeding their capacity to replenish through recruitment and growth, thereby reducing biomass below biologically sustainable thresholds. It is quantitatively assessed using reference points such as maximum sustainable yield (MSY), fishing mortality (F), and spawning stock biomass (SSB), with overfishing indicated when F exceeds target or limit reference points or when SSB falls below critical levels. Overfishing alters age and size structure, disrupts trophic interactions, diminishes genetic diversity, and compromises ecosystem resilience, with management responses involving harvest control rules, catch limits, effort restrictions, and spatial or temporal closures.
Cod used to be giants. With their impressive size—over a meter in length and weighing up to 40 kilograms—and abundance, they, alongside herring, were the backbone of the Baltic fishery. Today, a fully grown cod would ...
Evolution
Jun 25, 2025
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Our oceans are in trouble. Catches from many of the world's fisheries are declining, with some fishing practices destroying enormous areas of the sea bed. Habitat loss through coastal development threatens many coastal ecosystems ...
Environment
Jun 25, 2025
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Antarctic krill is a key species in the Antarctic marine ecosystem as an important food source for many species, such as whales, seals and penguins. However, the small crustaceans are increasingly targeted as part of a growing ...
Ecology
Jun 17, 2025
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One-quarter of freshwater animals are now threatened with extinction, and population declines in fresh waters outpace those in marine and terrestrial systems. Reports of salmonid fish decline are stark, with many populations ...
Ecology
Jun 16, 2025
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Blue crab populations in the Chesapeake Bay took a sizable hit in 2025, marking a need for more cautious harvest regulations, some environmentalists say.
Plants & Animals
Jun 12, 2025
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A global summit on the dire state of the oceans kicks off Monday in France, with calls to ban bottom trawling and bolster protections for the world's overexploited marine areas.
Environment
Jun 9, 2025
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France is hosting world leaders this week to confront what the United Nations calls a global "emergency" in the oceans—but what is expected, and can the summit make a difference?
Environment
Jun 8, 2025
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Governments should ban all mining and fishing in the high seas "forever" to protect ocean biodiversity, climate stability—and humanity, climate and ocean experts said Wednesday.
Earth Sciences
Jun 4, 2025
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Nations will be under pressure to deliver more than just rhetoric at a UN oceans summit in France next week, including much-needed funds to better protect the world's overexploited and polluted seas.
Environment
Jun 2, 2025
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