FAO Voices Concern at High-Seas Overfishing

FAO voices concern at high-seas overfishing

ROME, March 5 (Xinhua) — Uncontrolled high-seas fishing is jeopardizing certain species, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned Monday.

Up to 66 percent of high-seas fish species, such as hake, Atlantic cod and halibut, orange roughy, basking shark and bluefin tuna, are either over-exploited or depleted, said the Rome-based UN body in a report on the state of world fisheries.

More than a quarter of the fish stocks monitored are over- exploited and 7 percent are depleted, said the report.

Although the figures represent only a small fraction of the world’s fishery resources, they are hugely reflective of the oceanic ecosystem, it warned.

Among the most over-fished high seas are the Southeast Atlantic, the Southeast Pacific, the Northeast Atlantic.

The FAO urged governments to adopt “more cautious and effective” measures to regulate fishing in areas out of national jurisdictions.

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