With the tremendous increase in the human population since the industrial revolution, there has been an ever increasing use and, often, exploitation of many of the world's natural resources. The demand for fish and shellfish has exemplified this misuse of natural resources. Paralleling the changes in agriculture, the fisheries industry has progressed from a small-scale, subsistence operation to a highly mechanized, ultra-efficient means of securing huge quantities of fish and shellfish to satisfy the burgeoning market demand. These industrialized commercial fisheries have allowed fishermen to easily work the far offshore waters, and more efficient refrigeration has allowed greater travel time, thus allowing for longer excursions.

Overfishing results in the removal of a substantial portion of a species' population so that there are too few individuals left to reproduce and bring the population back to the level it was the year before. Overfishing has a tremendous negative impact on...