BBC Science Focus - 02.2020

Onaverage,weeacheatmorethan 20 kilograms

offishperyear.Worldwide,between 1961 and

2016,fishconsumptionincreasedfasterthan

meatconsumption,andgrew twice as fast as

thehumanpopulation.

Allofthesefishydinnershavedepleted

marinefishstockstoa pointwherea third of

globalfishstocksarenowclassedas

‘overfished’, meaning that if we continue fishing

atthesamelevels,thesepopulationswill

decline.Mostoftherestarebeingexploitedat

themaximumlevelsthatcanbesustained

withoutlong-termdecline.Fishingalsohas

negativeimpactsonnon-foodspeciesinthe

ecosystem,andpollutesthewaterswithfishing

waste.Temporaryfishingbansmayhelpto

alleviatesomeoftheworstimpacts,butwhat

would happen if we banned fishing altogether?

WHAT IF... FEATURE

FISHINGDAMAGESENTIREECOSYSTEMSANDPOLLUTESOUR

OCEANS.SOWOULD WE BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT IT?

WHAT IF...

( )

WEBANNED

FISHING?

WORDS:HAYLEYBENNETT

ILLUSTRATION:JASON RAISH

WatchCornwall:This

FishingLife, a newseries

fromtheOpenUniversity

andtheBBC.Available

now on iPlayer.