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Over the past 100 years, as evidence to the contrary has mounted, we have responded by fishing harder, simply switching to new species when others grew scarce. Many countries, including the U.S. and Japan, have subsidized people to go into, or stay in, fishing businesses that would otherwise have been unprofitable.
Behind this behavior lies the regrettable human tendency to take as much as possible of something that’s free to everyone but owned by no one. This works as long as there’s enough to go around. Emptying the ocean has been highly productive in the short term, but in the long run, it can only be disastrous.
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