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overfishing

  • Biological diversity

Definition(s)

Taking out of the sea more than natural population growth can sustain. Overfishing has a number of causes, the most ruthless being "chronic over capacity" of modern fishing fleets to effectively take far more fish than can be replaced. (Source: GEMET/WPR)
The practice of commercial or non-commercial fishing in which more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural reproduction, such that rate of remmoval exceeds the carrying capacity of the population, resulting in depletion of the fish stock. (Source: drafted/MMA)

Hierarchy

Broader: commercial fishery
Related terms: over-exploitation
Used for:

Concept URI: https://www.informea.org/en/terms/overfishing

In other languages

French:
  • surpêche
Russian:
  • рыбная ловля, истощающая ресурсы водоема
Spanish:
  • sobreexplotación pesquera
Arabic:
  • الإفراط في الصيد
Chinese, Simplified:
  • 过度捕捞
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Multilateral environment agreements tagged with overfishing

You can see below a list of multilateral environment agreements. Use the links on the right to view the content tagged with overfishing. This includes official treaty texts, decisions, recommendations, and other related informational documents such as publications, annuals, meetings, documents or reports.
United Nations Environment Assembly1 decision