Like Shooting Fish in a Barrel: The Ethical Dilemma of Overfishing

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Effects: Permanent Ecological Damage

By depleting fishing populations and hunting certain species to near extinction, overfishing introduces the frightening reality of ecological deterioration and habitat loss. According Ted Danson’s work “Oceana,” 90% of the ocean’s top predators such as sharks, Bluefin tuna, marlin, and others have been hunted and captured in the past half-century, creating significant problems with ecosystem sustainability and stability.[7] As a result of large damages sustained by the ecosystem and the marine populations, the food chain is catastrophically impacted, resulting in huge ecological inefficiencies as well as the fishing industry turning to smaller fish in the ecosystem for new sources of fish production. On a statistical level, fish stocks have faced drastic depletion and continue to suffer from poor management and continued irresponsible practice. Based on figures from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s SOFIA report, a two-yearly report documenting the state of the world’s fisheries and aquaculture, 52% of fish stocks are fully exploited, 20% of fish stocks are moderately exploited, 17% of fish stocks are over exploited, 7% of fish stocks are depleted, and 1% of fish stocks are recovering from depletion. In effect, approximately over 80% of global fish stocks are in precarious situations, facing at least full exploitation by fishing industries and potentially being depleted of its natural stock. Furthermore, 25% of fish stocks suffer from extreme fishing practices, sustaining grave irreversible ecological damage as fish stocks are hunted to near or complete depletion. In essence, overfishing on the current scale results in two critical issues: destruction of whole ecosystems and entire species and loss of valuable sources of protein and sustenance.[8]

The ecological damage caused by extensive overfishing is best exemplified in the Steller’s Sea Cow extinction case study. Discovered in 1741 in the Bering Sea along the Asiatic coast, the Steller’s Sea Cow was hunted to extinction merely 28 years after its initial discovery. Due to habitat loss and overfishing, the Steller’s Sea Cow was unable to cope with the extreme and drastic changes in its environment and habitat, thus leading to its imminent extinction. This is significant because this incident was the first documented case of humans hunting marine life to extinct and it was before the advent of advanced fishing techniques and technologies that make capturing mass quantities of aquatic life today simple.[9] Consequently, this example continues to precipitate itself in today’s fishing challenges, depleting commercial fish stocks and driving many marine animals to near, if not complete, extinction. As a result of irresponsible management of fishing resources and dangerous fishing practices, many ecosystems and marine environments face a real threat to their existence in the impending future.

Effects: Endangering Local and Global Economics

Overfishing presents an intricate complexity in its relationship with economies all over the world. Objectively, fish is among the world’s most traded food commodity, worth almost $130 billion in U.S. dollars, with developing economies accounting for 54% of total fish exports by value and developed economies accounting for the other 46% of total fish exports by value. Furthermore, fishing and aquaculture as an industry employs 10-12% of the world’s population with 84% of the employees coming from Asia, 10% coming from Africa, 4% coming from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 2% coming from North America as well as Europe. In effect, it is evident that the fishing industry represents a significant portion of many developing economies in terms of export value and sector employment. Additionally, fishing production as of 2014 is at 158 million tons, with 91.3 million tons (approx. 58%) coming from global marine and inland capture fisheries and 66.6 million tons (approx. 42%) coming from aquacultures and fish farms. Regarding societal consumption, fish makes up 17% of the global population’s animal protein intake (approx. 19 kg per capita) and provides essential vitamins such as Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Fish also plays a critical role in many commonly used products such as fishmeal, dietary products, cosmetics, fertilizers, and others.[10] Evidently, the fishing industry is a strong global market with utilizations in various fields from food consumption to byproduct presence in products of leisurely use. However, despite the prevalence of fish in today’s economies, the production of fish has stagnated and declined in the past few decades. With overfishing depleting many fish populations, the production of fish has been on the decline since 1989, when the industry hit its high-water mark at 90 million tons in catches taken from the ocean.[11] As a result, the complexity of overfishing with worldwide economies is evident; whether overfishing is continued or replaced with sustainable practices, society inevitably faces economic challenges, either through supply crises plaguing the markets or the complete depletion of a slowly dwindling fish population causing future supply shocks. Because many economies depend on fishing for their livelihood, overfishing is their only option to compete with global economic hardships and develop their already developing and fragile economy. However, doing so endangers their economic future as unsustainable fishing practices will ultimately lead to significant damage and collapse of their economies that depend solely on fish production. Although overfishing provides local and global economies with short-term economic relief, growth, and stability, it also represents the instrument of their own economic demise, creating an unhealthy dependence on a single commodity that faces annual declines and lower yields every passing year.

Is Overfishing ethical?

In deciding whether overfishing is ethical, consider all stakeholders and their respective roles. The primary stakeholders are society, employees, consumers, government, and shareholders. Although government and shareholders play a considerable role in fueling the need to overfish, with the U.S. government alone providing nearly $25 billion in subsidies in a 2010 study and shareholders pressuring companies to maximize output to drive up stock prices, their stake in the matter is not nearly as significant as the key players whose livelihoods ultimately depend on whether overfishing is continued or not.[12] As a result, we can primarily focus on the roles of employees, consumers, and society. As 10-12% of the world’s population depends on the fishing sector for their livelihood, they have an incentive to overfish to increase their economic