The proportion of wild fishery stocks exploited at biologically unsustainable levels has been increasing for the past four decades. As measured by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) across their 17 Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), 35.4% of managed fisheries were considered to be unsustainably exploited in 2019. Only 64.6% are fished at what is commonly referred to as the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), down from 90% in 1974. The World Bank estimate of 90% of global fisheries being fully exploited or overfished is just as dire, explaining the overall decline in fish catches. |
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