Fish products are also an important source of protein in animal and fish feeds.
In 1950, the global fish harvest had risen to 21 million tonnes. By 1996, the global harvest of fish rose to a new record of 121 million tonnes. Some of the most profitable species of fish have been fished to the brink of commercial extinction in many areas. There is now a rapidly growing consensus among fisheries experts that the precipitous decline in so many of the world's commercial fish stocks is the result of disregard for the complex functioning of aquatic ecosystems and repeated failures of management. Intensive fishing effort has led to the collapse of many important commercial fisheries in the northern hemisphere and pressures are now mounting on southern fisheries.