Commercial fishing

Common card · No. 408849

Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions. Large-scale commercial fishing is called industrial fishing. The major fishing industries are not only owned by major corporations but by small families as well. In order to adapt to declining fish populations and increased demand, many commercial fishing operations have reduced the sustainability of their harvest by fishing further down the food chain. This process, often is referred to as "fishing down the food web," and raises serious concerns among scientists and fishery managers. Removing too many organisms from the lower levels of the food chain can disrupt entire ecosystems and threaten long-term sustainability. Commercial fishermen harvest a wide variety of animals. However, a very...

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