Whaling peaked at 1960s and was banned only in 1986. We have done some good in the past 20-30 years, yes, but at least 2/3rds of 20th century were pretty bleak, and situation at the end of 20th century definitely was lot worse than what it was 200 years ago.
I know whaling has strong cultural connotations to 19th century, through Moby Dick and such, but that was really just very small scale childs play compared to 20th century stuff.
Fishing has even bleaker situation. From 1950s we have gone from about 20 million tonnes yearly capture production to about 80 million tonnes in 1990s, and stayed at that level since. The sort of devastatingly massive factory ships we operate these days simply did not exist before. I guess the only good thing that can be said is that the total global catch growth has stopped?
I'd like to make a book recommendation. The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina. When I read this 12 months ago, I felt it was one of the most powerful accounts of the pillages still occurring in the world's oceans, as well as the horrific conditions many fishermen are forced to live in. I won't link to Amazon, but here is a review of the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/02/the-outlaw-oce...
I know whaling has strong cultural connotations to 19th century, through Moby Dick and such, but that was really just very small scale childs play compared to 20th century stuff.
Fishing has even bleaker situation. From 1950s we have gone from about 20 million tonnes yearly capture production to about 80 million tonnes in 1990s, and stayed at that level since. The sort of devastatingly massive factory ships we operate these days simply did not exist before. I guess the only good thing that can be said is that the total global catch growth has stopped?