Fish and shellfish are extremely important to the human diet. Consumption of these foods can help prevent heart disease and stroke. Eating fish is also very helpful for diabetics, because it is generally low in fat.
With more fears arising from the consumption of chicken, many people have turned to adding more fish to their diet.
However, with the depletion of fish stocks, which has remained steady for the last 15 years, several fish species are in danger, according to the FAO.
The report indicates that 25 percent of all the fish stocks being monitored by the FAO are either "overexploited, depleted or are recovering from depletion."
In addition, the FAO's world report states that "more than half of highly migratory oceanic sharks and two-thirds of high-seas fish stocks, including hakes, Atlantic cod and halibut, orange roughy, basking shark and bluefin tuna, are either depleted or at high risk of collapse."
The FAO also indicates that their monitoring and control of high seas fishing is currently not adequate enough to accurately manage, assess and preserve the fish stocks.
The FAO report revealed that recent years of political lack of commitment by some of the organizational members in their "unyielding positions that mitigate against sound regional fisheries management has thwarted, if not stalled" the efforts to address conservation of the fishery resources. This remains a challenge to manage the international governing of fisheries.
The FAO's Assistant Director-General for Fisheries, Ichiro Nomura stated, "While these stocks represent only a small fraction of the world's fishery resources, they are key indicators of the state of a massive piece of the ocean ecosystem."
Global fishery trade is the greatest food trade around the world with a new record high that has increased 23 percent since the year 2000.
