World Fishing 


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Have you noticed how the price of fish has increased over the years? Or that there is more variety in the shops? This is because there are fewer and smaller fish in the oceans and the worlds fishing fleet are trawling new areas to satisfy our demand. Large fish stocks are a thing of the past. Click here for some conservation organisations.
Canada: Newfoundland. Grand Banks was once the richest fishing grounds in the world. The cod stocks collapsed in 1992 and have never recovered.
Southern Ocean: Falklands, South Georgia, South Africa, south of Australia and New Zealand. Patagonian tooth fish is expected to disappear before 2003.
  A note to commercial fishermen - to save the fishing industry you first need FISH!
Iceland: (200 mile fishing limit). Cod war fought with the UK in 1970s. Since then Iceland has the most successfully managed stock in the world.
North Sea/Irish Sea/European coast: In the 1970s the North Sea yielded 300,000 tons of Cod to the UK, by 2000 less than two-thirds of the 81,000 ton quota was caught. The EU fisheries policies have not been effective. Warnings from scientists have been ignored. Herring stocks collapsed in 1976 and only began recovery following a total fishing ban. Cod and Haddock depleted everywhere and Cod wiped out entirely in the Irish sea.

In May 2003 the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices) said that cod stocks in the North Sea around England are close to total collapse. The minimum recommended stock level for the North Sea is 70,000 tonnes, there is thought to be below 52,600 tonnes in 2003 and may drop to 28,800 tonnes in 2004.
Black Sea Serious industrial pollution and broken sewerage works in former Soviet countries led to the extinction of 14 species. Recovery beginning since heavy industries have closed.
Mediterranean In the 1980s meat was twice the price of fish. There are now very few large fish. All stocks are seriously depleted. There used to be two species of dolphin - common and bottlenose. There are a few bottlenose dolphin left along the Croatian coast. There are 43 species of shark, including the great white, in the Med. but none grow large. Tuna is not fished commercially any more - there aren't enough to make it worthwhile.
African Coast Mauritania/Senegal: the EU have bought fishing rights to compensate over fishing in the EU.
Ascension Island/ Eastern Atlantic Bigeye tuna is now an endangered species.
New Zealand A few years ago the DoC (Department of Conservation) tried to close the whitebait fishery for one season to give fish stocks a chance  to recover - but gave in to fishermen's protests. Now whitebait, Orange roughy and North Atlantic Cod are seriously depleted.