It has already started. But it's not too late to change tactics. Fish populations can recover - if governments and the fishing industry act now. As fish stocks dwindle and fishers face bankruptcy, instead of scaling fleets down, governments have done the opposite, plying the industry with more money to build more and bigger boats to catch more fish. Many marine fisheries are open to anyone who wants to fish.
Boats then work like crazy to catch as many fish as they can within that period.
The devastated Alaska halibut fishery now lasts a total of two days. Unregulated open access causes overfishing and the armed combat between fishing boats that regularly hits the headlines. Today the stocks of squid, cuttlefish, and octopus are so low, the deal isn't worthwhile. Both countries lose out because of lack of management. These largely traditional fishers, who eat their catches themselves or sell them locally, find that the mega-trawlers are encroaching on their stocks.