Even as Fish Stocks Decline, the World Eats More Seafood Than Ever

According to an FAO statement, the report found that “almost a third of commercial fish stocks are now fished at biologically unsustainable levels, triple the level of 1974.” In some waters, including the Mediterranean and the Black seas, overfishing has reached what the report called “alarming” levels. The bright spot in reporting on aquaculture, which fish conservation groups criticize for the heavy use of wild fish–based feed in operations that raise fish such as salmon, is that nearly half of production came from “non-fed species” such as mussels and oysters.