Facts Part II (Fish)

80% of the world’s fish stocks are either fully or over exploited. In 2006 around 82 million tonnes of fish were caught from the oceans, with a further 10 million tonnes caught from inland waters. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) projects an increase in fish consumption of 40 million tonnes by 2030. A four year study published in the journal

In addition to dwindling fish stocks, the biodiversity of the oceans are being lost too. Coral reefs, “the rainforests of the sea”, are dying at an unprecedented rate, averaging a loss of 600 square miles per year, (or 1% of the total), since the late1960s. Tropical and subtropical coastal mangrove systems, vital for healthy coral reefs, are being felled and converted to ponds for prawns and shrimps destined for the Western market. 20% of the world’s mangrove systems have been lost since 1980.