FISH STOCK SHRINKS? NOT NECESSARILY OVERFISHING

Ben-Yami's Fishing about





The term OVERFISHING is often misused or over-used.

Some years ago, I proposed to forfeit the term overfishing, wherever there's no evidence that a stock of fish shrunk because of fishing.
I suggested the term "impoverishment" for such cases. As we should all know, most fish populations fluctuate with environmental conditions, and with the state of their prey and predators, even without any fishing. They also perform, sometimes multiannual, migrations, when major shift in temperature occurs, as for example, the recent shift of whole mackerel stocks northwards in the NE Atlantic.

Thus, not every apparent impoverishment of local stocks is necessarily overfishing. It may be even not impoverishment at all, just moving out of the area. Survey or a statistical data that indicate that a stock has diminished, therefore, should be supported by additional data and information, leading to the causality of the phenomenon. There are documented opinions, information and actual data indicating that in some areas marine birds and marine mammals, each, consume more fish than related fisheries. Coastal pollution and longshore development may affect or even destroy habitats essential for fish spawning and larval feeding and growth.