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beginning of overfishing
The earliest overfishing occurred in the early 1800s when humans, seeking blubber for lamp oil, decimated the whale population. -
1900s
Some fish that we eat, including Atlantic cod and herring and California's sardines, were also harvested to the brink of extinction by the mid-1900s. -
tuna
Tens of thousands of bluefin tuna were caught every year in the North Sea in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, they have disappeared across the seas of Northern Europe. -
2003
In 2003, a scientific report estimated that industrial fishing had reduced the number of large ocean fish to just 10 percent of their pre-industrial population. -
2005
over 70% of the world’s fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. The dramatic increase of destructive fishing techniques worldwide destroys marine mammals and entire ecosystems. -
tuna
in 2006, it was estimated that bluefin tuna would be extinct by 2012. luckly, the population has increased becasue of new laws passed concerning overfishing. -
coral reef
There's a coral reef off Norway that was discovered in 2007 and it's likely to be dead by 2020. many coaral reefs have been destroyed because of all the chemicals, waste, and lack of fish to keep the ecosystem alive. -
2009
The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 focused U.S. government efforts on interdisciplinary research, long-term monitoring, and outreach opportunities around ocean acidification. -
2010
The Census of Marine Life, a decade-long international survey of ocean life completed in 2010, estimated that 90% of the big fish had disappeared from the world's oceans, victims primarily of overfishing. -
2050
At current rates of take, some predict the global commercial fishing industry could collapse by 2050 – a threat not only to biodiversity but global food security.