Global Fish Stocks

[aknobloch]

Alex Knobloch

Global Fish Stocks:

When looking at the health of fish stocks it is important to take into account all fisheries. For many, myself included, we compare fish stocks to what we have experienced. Coming up from Washington state I may be inclined to assess fish stocks as in peril due to the low returns we have witnessed on our home waters. However, this may not present a true assessment of the health of global fish stocks. While salmon continue to struggle in Washington state, there are other areas of the world that are experiencing significant returns. It is important not to get tunnel vision when thinking about large scale fisheries. The global fish stocks also include many other species rather than just salmon. On a whole I would rate the health of our fish stocks at around a six on the one to ten scale. This is in large part to the fact that I believe a decent number of our stocks are in the healthy range. I would like to believe that we have learned from our mistakes through areas such as the Cod fishery and we are making meaningful policies and regulations that may prevent such an event from taking place again.

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