Although many people worldwide employ traditional fishing practices to subsist, industrial fleets are responsible for the majority of fish harvested from the sea. Technological advances have resulted in highly efficient fishing methods. As reported by "The Daily," the University of Washington student newspaper, global fishing catches increased 400 percent between 1950 and 1994.
Higher catch levels depress market prices, which makes commercial fishing less profitable. At the same time, retailers waste fish because they're cheap and abundant. Due to declining fish populations from overfishing, industrial fleets must become more efficient to sustain high catch levels or they go bust. This leads to better technology and the cycle begins again.
Overfishing causes catch losses, or the difference between the landings of fish and what can be sustainably caught. According to researchers at the University of British Columbia, catch losses amounted to 10 million tons in 2004 at a value of $36 billion.