World’s oceans could
be completely depleted
of fish in 40 years: UN
report

BY Nick Klopsis
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Tuesday, May 18th 2010, 1:09 PM

Desouki/GettyThe United Nations says that the world
fish stock could be depleted in 40 years if preventative
measures are not taken.

The world’s oceans may be completely
depleted of fish in 40 years if action is not
taken to replenish stocks, the United
Nations is warning in a new report.

In a preview of its upcoming report entitled

the Green Economy, the United Nations
Environment Programme states that
“mismanagement, lack of enforcement and
subsidies totaling over $27 billion annually
have left close to 30 percent of fish stocks
“collapsed.”

“If the various estimates we have received .
.. come true, then we are in the situation w
here 40 years down the line we,
effectively, are out of fish,” Pavan Sukhdev,
head of UNEP’s Green Economy plan, told  
Agence France Presse on Monday.

The report estimates that 35 million fishers
and 20 million boats are actively trawling
the world’s waters, with fisheries
supporting about 8 percent of the global
population.

Currently, only 25 percent of fish stocks -
consisting mostly of lower-priced species – a
re considered healthy or reasonably
healthy, according to the UNEP report.

Achim Steiner, UN Undersecretary General,
said that governments around the world
need to take action in order to preserve
fish stocks.

“The lives and livelihoods of over half a
billion people, linked with the health of this

industry, will depend on the tough but also
transformational choices governments
make now and over the years to come,”
Steiner said in a statement.

The report outlined several steps that may
potentially replenish global fish stocks,
including the phasing-down of government
subsidies for fisheries, enacting policies to
protect depleted stocks, and cutting down
on the amount of active fishing vessels and
fishermen.

The report estimates that the plan will
require “an investment of between $220 to
$320 billion worldwide.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Merging Our Deeper Currents”

AFS 140st ANNUAL MEETING

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

12-16 September 2010

http://secure.fisheries.org/afsevent

Join AFS or renew for 2010 at www.fisheries.org/afs/membership.html