What is Overfishing?

Overfishing can occur when governments, politicians, managers, or industries fail to set or enforce catch levels. Overfishing is closely tied to bycatch—the capture of unwanted sea life while fishing for a different species. This, too, is a serious marine threat that causes the needless loss of billions of fish, along with hundreds of thousands of sea turtles and cetaceans. There are 4,600,000 commercial fishing vessels at sea. The Government almost had given up on enforcing the regulation.