There’s no question that the world’s fish are in trouble. Fishermen are pulling fish out of the seas far faster than these populations can grow back. Some fisheries are heading toward collapse or even extinction. But a major new analysis of this grim picture shows that fisheries aren’t doomed. In fact, some are on the mend.
This new study grew out of a raging controversy. Three years ago, Boris Worm and his colleagues at Dalhousie University in Canada sent shock waves through the world of fishing and fisheries science. They published a paper in Science magazine showing that if current trends continued, the oceans would be essentially fished out by the middle of this century.
The conclusion was enormously controversial, both for its methods and for its conclusions. But the controversy didn’t just generate heat — it has generated light, Worm says.