Commercial fishing contributes significantly to the world food supply. This is mainly due to improved fishing methods. The result is that in many fishing grounds, fishes are being caught at a faster rate than can be naturally replaced. This is called overfishing. Many fish species are being threatened with extinction. Laws and regulations are now being used to curb overfishing. However, enforcing them, especially in international waters, is difficult.
Methods used to conserve fishing grounds and protect endangered fish species include
• banning the use of drift nets which indiscriminately traps all forms of sea life;
• using nets with a certain mesh size so that young fishes are not caught;
• regulating the size of ships allowed into fishing grounds;
• limiting the period of fishing in the grounds;
• banning the harvesting of endangered species; and
• raising fishes in hatcheries and releasing them into fishing grounds where the fish populations are decreasing.
International Whaling Commission (IWC) :
This organization was set up to prevent the extinction of whales. It restricts whaling by using quota system in which each member country is allowed to catch a certain number of whales. In 1985, the IWC declared a complete ban on whaling. However, enforcing these measures is difficult.
