The U.S. federal government released a report on July 28 this year that the domestic overfished fish stocks in the United States have expanded significantly from 23 in 2019 to 46, setting an all-time high for the data. Since the United States experienced a major recession in the last century, including cod, abalone, sailfish and other fishery resources, it has made sufficient efforts in the protection of fishery resources, and this report is one of the results.
The report was led by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The species tracked in the report include major commercially caught species in the United States, as well as target species favored by recreational fishing enthusiasts. If one of these species is caught too often or in large quantities, it will be included in the overfishing list if it is indeed beyond the scope of sustainable fishing, combined with references to its wild stocks.
The report's tracking list includes 244 species, and this year's report adds 46 of them to the overfishing list, compared to 23 last year, which doubled. It may seem that the numbers are a bit "shocking", but this reality may not be as serious as we think.
Sardine fishing Image source network
To name a few unspopular species, the 46 overfished species include sardines from the Pacific Ocean, bluefish from the Atlantic coast, white hake from the Maine coast, and winter flounder from Georgia.
Sardines are not eaten much in our country, but everyone must have heard a lot, such as the "infamous" canned herring. This small middle and upper-class "bait" fish, in fact, has a high economic value, on the taste, it is rich in oil, the nutritional value is very high, in addition to easy to spoil, some small thorns, is really an excellent food. Because of its high yield and low price, it is the main source of protein for people in many poor areas.
Canned herring Image source network
Don't look at sardines everywhere, but basically the world's sardines are suffering from different degrees of overfishing, because they are cluster characteristics, has become a very good target of modern fishing, group combat, very easy to find through electronic equipment, fishing boats past, trawling a face is completely annihilated, they gather together in nature to fight predators, now well, encountering humans has become a disaster.
This blue fish is a fish species that Americans love to fish for, with a pair of fangs, explosive power and taste are very good, and are deeply loved by the old beauty. Maine also once had the world's top cod fishery - Newfoundland, but the crazy momentum of the last century did not succeed in braking, and together with Canada, the Atlantic cod, haddock, Atlantic yellow flounder and other major fish species have been exterminated, and have not yet recovered.
White albacore cod Image source network
Now some of the remaining niche species such as the white albacore cod are also beginning to face threats, and the Winter Flounder in Georgia, which is particularly popular in the United States, has indeed surprised many Americans, who should be more confident in the protection of their country's fishery resources.
Of course, there is good news. Two species of fish that were once overfished were declared successful in population reconstruction because of proper protection. The American plaice and the smooth cowcod off the coast of Southern California.
Cowcod
In general, the protection of fishery resources in the United States is relatively good, especially in Alaska waters. But I have to say that the United States is also a populous country, the consumption of fish is very large, although a large number of imported fish enter the U.S. market every year, but because of trade disputes, fish imported from China has been affected to a certain extent, such as tilapia, this kind of affordable fish, it is quite popular with the American people, the domestic economic downturn, is bound to affect the table and life of the Chinese people.
In July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the government would purchase 7.258 million pounds of Alaskan cod products from The country for $20 million to provide for the domestic food and nutrition services portion for welfare food distribution. It can be seen that the US authorities also know that the American people are "short of fish".
Cod
Because of the epidemic, the unemployment rate in the United States was once very high, and many families were not allowed to receive food subsidies. As a fishing enthusiast known as tens of millions of levels, many Americans who are idle at home, a large part of them are fishing enthusiasts, and now it is the migration season of salmon in the United States, many anglers are estimated to have set off to fish with a purpose, and the fish are taken home with pure natural wild ingredients, and may also be sold for money.
Although the impact of this huge group of fishing enthusiasts on fish resources is very large, but overall, if you rely on fishing alone, it is difficult to cause a fatal blow to a certain species of fish, perhaps, the United States fishing, to a large extent, is that natural resources after so many years of fishing, are slowly showing fatigue, perhaps, many of their so-called fishery protection, in fact, far from reaching sustainable fishing.