ABSTRACT
However, world fish stocks are now threatened by many factors, including overexploitation, pollution, (see, for example, Map 22) and wetlands destruction (see Map 14). After some years of increasing yields, the stocks of many fisheries are declining precipitously. According to a mid-1980s survey by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 11 major ocean fishing grounds, including some newly exploited grounds, are now overfished to the point of collapse. Given the greater dependence on fish for food in Third World countries, it is the poor who will be suffering first and most as fisheries decline.
