What Is Really Happening With Overfishing?

We are conditioned to see the ocean as an infinite blue void. But it’s not — and we’ve been proving it for decades.

The most visible sign of this breakdown is the war on the guardians of the sea. Sharks have outlived the dinosaurs, surviving five mass extinctions — but they may not survive us. Since 1970, overfishing has halved shark and ray populations, leaving one-third of all species at risk of extinction.

The scale is staggering: it is estimated that 90% of all large predatory fish — sharks, cod, tuna, and swordfish — have been removed from the oceans over the last century. When you strip away the top of the food chain, the entire structure beneath it begins to buckle.

While the world worries about deforestation on land, a much larger catastrophe is happening beneath the surface. Every year, an area of seabed the size of the Amazon Rainforest is bottom-trawled. These industrial machines smash coral forests and ancient ecosystems to dust — then discard over three-quarters of their catch as dead bycatch. Imagine burning an entire forest to harvest a single basket of berries. That is the reality of industrial trawling.

• 38% of Global Fish Stocks Overfished: Harvested faster than they can reproduce. A further 62% are fished at maximum sustainable yield, teetering on the brink of collapse.

• 90% of Large Predatory Fish Gone: Sharks, tuna, cod, and swordfish have been systematically stripped from the oceans over the last century. When the top of the food chain is removed, the entire marine pyramid collapses. One-third of all shark and ray species now face extinction.

• Seabed Scorched Earth (Bottom-Trawling): Every year, industrial trawlers scour an area of seabed equal to the Amazon Rainforest, smashing ancient deep-sea coral formations to dust. Up to three-quarters of their haul is discarded as dead bycatch — including dolphins, juvenile fish, and sea turtles.

"We are no longer living off the interest of the ocean — we are burning through the principal."