Overfishing
Topic: Biodiversity and its Conservation · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 2 "Oceans and Continents"; Class 8, Ch 1 "Natural Resources and Their Use"
Meaning
Overfishing means catching fish faster than they can breed and replace themselves. Large commercial fleets with big nets can catch fish in great numbers, including young fish that have not yet bred. Fish stocks then shrink, and the ocean food chain is upset. This harms both marine life and the fishing communities that depend on it.
Example
India has a 61-day fishing ban along its coasts during the monsoon. This is the spawning season, when fish lay eggs, so the ban gives fish time to breed and stocks time to recover.
Don't confuse with
- Poaching: illegal hunting of protected animals such as tigers or rhinos. Overfishing can happen through legal fishing that is simply too heavy.
Related concepts
- Loss of biodiversity
- Habitat loss
- Exotic species
- Invasive alien species
- Poaching
- Extinction
- IPBES
- Living Planet Report