Fish may be off the menu by 2048 if ocean species continue to be lost at the present rate, a study has shown.
A major investigation of marine ecosystems around the world predicts their wholesale collapse in the next 40 years.
If nothing is done to reverse the trend, in a mere four decades, little sustainable fish or sea food will remain. At this point, commercial fishing will no longer be viable.
The extent of the crisis is revealed in one of the most wide-ranging and thorough studies of marine biodiversity trends ever conducted.
Researchers first analysed the results of 32 experiments that manipulated the fate of marine species on small local scales.
Next they tracked 1,000 years of change in species diversity across 12 coastal areas. In each one they looked at trends affecting between 30 and 80 economically and ecologically important species, drawing information from old archives, fishery records, sediment cores and archaeological data.
Then the team sifted through all the available catch records for 64 ocean-wide regions spanning the years 1950 to 2003. Collectively, these large marine ecosystems produced 83 per cent of global fisheries yields over the past 50 years.
Finally, the scientists investigated the recovery of biodiversity in 48 marine reserves and areas closed to fishing.
There was still hope for the oceans, if action was taken now, said the scientists. - (PA)