Where Data Tells the Story
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How much of the world’s fish stocks are overfished? Fisheries scientists often answer this question with a specific metric: the “maximum sustainable yield” — this is the largest catch that can be taken from a fish stock without depleting it to the point that future catches decline.
When a stock is fished at a rate above this level, it is considered overfished.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that just over one-third of the world’s assessed fish stocks are overfished. As the chart shows, this has increased from around 10% in the mid-1970s.
Getting high-quality global estimates of this metric is difficult; many regions have formal assessments of fish stocks and catch rates, but many fish stocks across Africa, Asia, and South America are not assessed rigorously. To get global estimates, the UN FAO combines these formal assessments with expert opinion and extrapolations based on available national and regional data.
The FAO’s report — The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024— provides more detailed breakdowns of which species are overfished.