{"id":336389,"date":"2026-04-24T16:15:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=336389"},"modified":"2026-04-24T16:15:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:15:40","slug":"study-warns-of-global-decline-in-fish-growth-linked-to-overfishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=336389","title":{"rendered":"Study warns of global decline in fish growth linked to overfishing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"760\" height=\"480\" src=\"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hake-fishing.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-182729\" srcset=\"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hake-fishing.jpg 760w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hake-fishing-300x189.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><figcaption>For illustration purpose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>SYDNEY, April 24 (Bernama-Xinhua) &#8212; Scientists warn that overfishing and environmental change are eroding the biological foundations of many fisheries, with a new analysis revealing a global decline in fish growth over the last century, reported Xinhua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers from Australia&#8217;s James Cook University (JCU) analysed nearly 7,700 growth records covering 1,479 marine species from 1908 to 2021, and found a decline in growth performance from around 1908 onwards, with the greatest declines concentrated among commercially valuable species, according to a recent university statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Human-driven pressures are causing large-scale changes to the ecologies and life histories of fishes, said Helen Yan, who led the study as part of her PhD programme at JCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers measured growth performance \u2013 a life-history trait that captures the trade-off between growth rate and body size \u2013 across 113 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Managed fisheries experienced an average nine per cent decline in growth performance over the last century. This indicates fish are growing to relatively smaller sizes and\/or at slower rates,&#8221; said Yan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commercial size-based fishing practices, not temperature, are the primary drivers of the global pattern of declining growth, although climate change may amplify the effects, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Intensive fishing is leaving a clear biological imprint on fish populations, Yan said, noting that the trend is most evident in temperate regions where fishing pressure is highest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientists warn that smaller, slower-growing fish alter food webs, reduce fishery yields, and complicate recovery efforts, stressing the need for stricter catch limits, size and habitat protections, and longer-term monitoring to detect life-history changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212; NNN-BERNAMA-XINHUA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYDNEY, April 24 (Bernama-Xinhua) &#8212; Scientists warn that overfishing and environmental change are eroding the biological foundations of many fisheries, with a new analysis revealing a global decline in fish growth over the last century, reported Xinhua. Researchers from Australia&#8217;s James Cook University (JCU) analysed nearly 7,700 growth records covering 1,479 marine species from 1908 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":182729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[288,286],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336389"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336390,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336389\/revisions\/336390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/182729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}