Dollars, People, and Fish: Billions Riding on Stopping Overfishing

Marah Hardt is a research scientist, writer, and consultant. She earned her PhD in coral reef ecology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

If you thought overfishing was just bad for the fish (and fish lovers), think again.

A series of articles in the Journal of Bioeconomics details how overfishing has drained not only the food supply for millions of undernourished people, but also the bank accounts of the food industry. As reported in Reuters earlier this week, scientists from the U.S, Canada, and Great Britain document that more than 10 million tons of catch has been lost due to decades of overfishing. This costs the world not only a major food supply, but also big bucks.

"Fisheries contribute $225 billion to $240 billion to the world economy annually, but if fishing practices were more sustainable, that amount would be up to $36 billion higher," according the studies.

No surprise, it turns out that government subsidies are largely responsible for driving the declines and the losses. Every year, governments worldwide pump nearly 30 billion dollars into fisheries subsidies, more than 60 percent of which funds increased capacity (i.e. bigger boats, more gear, etc.). So, ultimately, governments are making it possible (and profitable) for fishermen to keep on fishing, right until they catch the very last fish. And subsidies being subsidies, it's important to realize your tax dollars are supporting the madness.

If that wasn't bad enough, the loss of potential food for people in need is staggering. Lead researcher, Rashid Sumaila writes, "A key finding of the study is that without the waste due to overfishing, more sustainable catch could have been achieved to provide up 20 million people worldwide their animal protein needs."

The good news in these papers is that alternative ways to make money off of fish are gaining ground. These marine recreational activities (whale watching, diving, and recreational fishing) support lots of jobs.  In fact,  in 2003, almost 2 percent of the world's population engaged in these activities, spending $47 billion and supporting more than one million jobs around the world.

So, there is great value, in terms of jobs and revenue and food supply in more sustainably managing our fish. This is common sense, but these studies help give us the numbers to back it up. Add it to a growing list of examples of how more sustainable natural resource consumption aligns with growing—not shrinking—economic opportunity.

Photo credit: Jenny Downing

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