Summoning the Will Habitat destruction is probably the major long-term threat to the viability of fish populations. However, many fish populations and fisheries are depleted and de-stabilized by overfishing. Not surprisingly, overfished species tend to be the most popular and valuable ones to commerce. Cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder populations off New England have been severely depleted by excessive fishing, causing great social damage to the historic fishing economy of the region. Atlantic swordfish and bluefin tuna populations have been driven down to only 10-30 percent of their historic population sizes.
Marine creatures are the only animals still hunted commercially on a large scale.
Difficulties in understanding their status can lead to the false impression that all is well and that we need not curb our imposing appetites. The recent Secretarial listing of overfished marine species, and the requirement that their status be reviewed annually, provides a framework for better and more timely tracking of what's going on with exploited marine populations. Now, the political will must be summoned to manage fishing effort in line with the biological realities of our marine environment.