Overfishing

The population of the highly-prized Pacific bluefin tuna has dropped by more than 96 per cent from its estimated level in the 1950s before large scale commercial fishing began and it is unlikely to recover if fishing continues at its current intensity, according to a stock assessment.

Scientists meeting at the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, Australia this week have said that more than 85 percent of reefs in Asia's “Coral Triangle" are directly threatened by human activities such as coastal development, pollution, and overfishing,

A coalition of governments, international organizations, civil society groups and private interests are joining together under the banner of a Global Partnership for Oceans to confront widely-documented problems of over-fishing, marine degradation, and habitat loss. The alliance was announced by outgoing World Bank President Robert Zoellick at the World Oceans Summit, organized by The Economist, in Singapore on Friday. In his keynote speech Zoellick said as much as USD1.5 billion would be pledged to the ocean protection and management initiative over five years.