85 per cent of all fish stocks are overexploited, depleted, recovering or fully exploited

With the majority of the world’s people living in coastal areas, oceans are crucial for humanity’s future — whether through direct economic activities or because of the environmental services they provide. However, overfishing has led to 85 per cent of all fish stocks now being classified as overexploited, depleted, recovering or fully exploited, a situation substantially worse than two decades ago. Meanwhile, agricultural run-offs mean that levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the oceans have trebled since pre-industrial times, leading to massive increases in coastal “dead zones”. The world’s oceans are also becoming more acidic as a result of absorbing 26 per cent of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, affecting both marine food chains and coral reef resilience. If ocean acidification continues, disruptions of food chains and direct and indirect impacts on numerous species are considered likely with consequent risk to food security, affecting the marine-based diets of billions of people worldwide.