Running out of seafood by 2048

Study reports that overfishing, pollution could kill off fish in less than fifty years.

There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study.
Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.
Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity. […]

Protecting stocks demands the political will to act on scientific advice - something which Boris Worm finds lacking in Europe, where politicians have ignored recommendations to halt the iconic North Sea cod fishery year after year.
Without a ban, scientists fear the North Sea stocks could follow the Grand Banks cod of eastern Canada into apparently terminal decline.

The graph shows the prediction of the total collapse of fish stock. This is not another green scare or environmental political intimidation. Keep on over-fishing and polluting the water, and you’ll see the devastating consequences. These researchers are from a reliable source, and they are calling for better marine mgt and tighter control on pollution. Trawling should be banned, and industrial net fishing should be stopped. They should do more line fishing instead. The problem is who is going to enforce the ban? The ocean is an open source. Vietnam and China are crazy about fish, over fishing. The US is one of the major polluters with more than 3 million tons of fish discharge. This is not a matter of seafood-loving eaters; it is a threat of losing fish species due to irresponsible fishing.

Update (12/28/2006): For detailed info on speceis, fishing methods and depleted or overfished stocks, visit Fish Online. Check out the list of fish to eat and fish to avoid (at the present). Fish to avoid have high levels of by-catch. I love fish, especially the ones that are well managed and in sustainable stocks. It'd be most depressing if we run out of seafood in 50 years. (I like cods and halibuts, but I will avoid them for now.)