national geographic had some great coverage on this a couple years ago...

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/04/global-fisheries-crisis/montaigne-text

it is crucial to recognize the values behind the industrial destruction of nature. As Colin Clark's publication, "The Economics of Overexploitation" suggests that the profits derived from harvesting as much as fast as possible (whales, for instance) and then investing the money in other areas is "good business" while slow, sustainable harvesting would bring in less of a "profit."

as bluefin tuna (and the rest of biodiversity on the planet) is driven to extinction, prices will rise and the incentive to harvest will increase.

a sushi shop in hong kong paid $55,700 for one bluefin in 2008 at an auction.

its also interesting to note that what the mass media refers to as "Somali pirates" are actually former fishermen and residents concerned about the illegal exploitation of the oceans there.

"Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention." (empasis added)"

"At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia's unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."

source> http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13193