Scientists Warn of Depletion of Ocean Fish in 40 Years

(Washington D.C. - VOA)"A new study shows that the oceans' fish are being depleted so fast that eating seafood might be just a memory in 40 years. The researchers say more is at stake than our diet, for they find the dwindling of fish stocks hurts the world economically and the ocean environmentally. Researchers say it is not too late to reverse the trend.

A team of North American and European marine biologists and economists reports that our taste for fish has caused some ocean species to disappear since the 1800s, a trend that has accelerated in recent years.

The lead researcher, Canadian Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia says that roughly one-third of seafood species have collapsed so far. That means their catch has declined 90 percent below the historic maximum. Of these sea species, seven percent have become extinct.

'If this trend continues, if we don't change the way we are managing ocean ecosystems, this trend projects that 100 percent of species will collapse by the year 2048 or around that,' he said." More...