The oceans are being emptied of fish. A forthcoming United
Nations report lays out the stark numbers: only around 25% of
commercial stocks are in a healthy or even reasonably healthy
state. Some 30% of fish stocks are considered collapsed, and 90%
of large predatory fish — like the bluefin tuna so prized by
sushi aficionados — have disappeared since the middle of the
20th century. More than 60% of assessed fish stocks are in need
of rebuilding, and some researchers estimate that if current
trends hold, virtually all commercial fisheries will have
collapsed by mid century. "Fisheries across the world are being
plundered, or exploited at unsustainable rates," said Achim
Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations
Environment Programme. In some respects, Steiner could have
stopped at "plundered," because as much damage as the legal,
commercial fishing trade has wrought on the oceans, it's the
illegal trade that could spell their doom. Legal fishermen — the
everyday farmers of the seas — have licenses t