What is Overfishing?
[[File:Surexploitation morue surpêcheEn.jpg|thumb|350px|right|[[cod|Atlantic cod]] stocks were severely overfished in the 1970s and 1980s, leading to their abrupt collapse in 1993]] [[File:Walleye pollock.jpg|thumb|[[Alaska pollock]], another species of fish suffering from overfishing]] [[File:Chilean purse seine.jpg|thumb|This net contains about 360 tons of fish.]] [[File:Shad fishing.jpg|thumb|[[Altlantic menaden]] is only caught to make [[fertilizer]] and [[pet food]]. ]] '''Overfishing''' is catching too much [[fish]]. It is a type of [[overexploitation]] where fish stocks are reduced to low levels. It is a good example of what is good for the short term is not good for the long term. Also, what is good for some fishermen is not good for all of them ([[tragedy of the commons]]). The [[United Nations]] [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] estimated in a 2018 report that 33.1% of world fish stocks are subject to overfishing.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.fao.org/state-of-fisheries-aquaculture/en/|title=SOFIA 2018 - State of Fisheries and Aquaculture in the world 2018|last=fao.org|work=www.fao.org|access-date=9 November 2018|language=en-EN}}</ref> So much fish is caught that there are too few adults of certain species left. With [[cod]], for example, the greatest production of eggs is from large females. But these are caught, the average size of spawning females goes down. Eventually this gets so that the production of eggs is significantly reduced. The artificial selection of large fish has gradually reduced the size of mature females. The Northwest Atlantic cod has been regarded as heavily overfished throughout its range, resulting in a crash in the [[fishery]] in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]] during the early 1990s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020|url=http://www.fao.org/state-of-fisheries-aquaculture/en/|access-date=2021-05-11|website=www.fao.org|year=2020|doi=10.4060/CA9229EN|hdl=10535/3776|isbn=978-92-5-132692-3|s2cid=242949831|language=en}}</ref> Sometim