Overfishing in Southeast Asia’s coastal waters has been reported since the 1970s, driven by overcapacity, high demand and population growth. While most studies point to the depletion of nearshore fisheries, new research offers a more optimistic outlook. Overall, it shows, fisheries in the region are in a healthier state than they are globally, with fewer stocks overfished and many more underfished. The study, published in Fisheries Science, finds that Southeast Asia’s fisheries remain relatively abundant, with 43% of marine stocks classified as underfished, more than three times the global average. The finding draws on 105 resource assessments conducted by governments and academic researchers between 2018 and 2022 across the Indian and Pacific oceans. These assessments covered pelagic (open-ocean) fish, neritic (coastal) tuna, and demersal (bottom-dwelling) species, with 63%, 50% and 38% of their stocks classified as underfished, respectively. “Fishery resources in Southeast Asia are still abundant,” study author Takashi Fritz Matsuishi, a fisheries science professor at Hokkaido University in Japan, told Mongabay by email. “While many studies have long pointed to overfishing in the region, these claims have not been based on comprehensive quantitative assessments.” Southeast Asia’s 11 nations collectively span a vast swath of ocean, with a combined continental shelf area of more than 3.5 million square kilometers (1.35 million square miles) — an area larger than India — and exclusive economic zones totaling nearly 9.5 million km2 (3.7 million mi2), or the size of China. Home to coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds and river deltas, the region’s waters…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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