Global Fishery Collapse

One of the greatest challenges facing our planet is the need to feed the nine billion people expected to inhabit the Earth by 2050. Grains and vegetarian sources will be important for providing the calories and protein—but animal-source foods are essential, especially in developing countries, for the provision of nutrients critical to human health such as iron, zinc, vitamins A and B12, and fatty acids. Today, more than two billion people globally are afflicted with micronutrient malnutrition which lead to increases in anemia, diarrhea, cognitive deficits, and maternal and infant mortality, among others. The majority of those in impoverished regions rely on fish as a means to prevent micronutrient deficiencies. This relationship demonstrates that the future of our global fisheries is thus inextricably linked to the fate of global human health. Overfishing, climate change, industrial fish poaching, and marine habitat degradation all threaten fishery health. The FAO (2010) acknowledges this impending socio-ecological disaster stating that, “it is undeniable that overfishing and potential depletion of fishery resources constitute a real threat to many coastal livelihoods"—and yet, we lack the analytical tools necessary to track and respond to the intensification of this threat. We propose to link together global experts in ocean informatics, public health, fisheries modeling, and marine conservation to create a series of models that will enable us to forecast how changes in the health of global fisheries affect global health. This model will draw from eight of the largest and most powerful datasets available on global fisheries health and dietary reliance on fish. Products from this collaboration will position us to more effectively address and motivate sustainable management of global fisheries and proactively safeguard both fisheries health and global health.