Failing Fish

A sampling of creatures at serious risk of disappearing from our oceans and our dinner plates

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bluefin tuna

Bluefin Tuna

Warm-blooded bluefins, which can weigh 1,500 punds, are one of the largest bony fish swimming the seas. The Atlantic bluefin population has fallen by more than 80 percent since the 1970s; Pacific stocks are also dwindling.

blue crab

Blue Crab
Since Chesapeake Bay harvests are half of what they were a decade ago, at least 70 percent of crabmeat products sold in the United States now contain foreign crabs.


eastern oyster

Eastern Oyster
Ships in the Chesapeake Bay once had to steer around massive oyster reefs. Poor water quality, exotic parasites, and habitat destruction have reduced the Chesapeake oyster stock to 1 percent of its historic level.


blue marlin

Blue Marlin
Since longlines replaced harpoons in the early 1960s, the Atlantic blue marlin has been driven toward extinction. A quarter of all blue marlin snared by longlines are dead by the time they reach the boat.


atlantic swordfish

Atlantic Swordfish
Another victim of long-lining, swordfish can grow to 1,000 pounds. But by 1995, the average fish landed weighed only 90 pounds, and most were killed before they could spawn. Better management has led to something of a rebound.


white abalone

White Abalone
Slow-moving bottom dwellers, abalone rely on proximity to spawn. As over-harvesting led to density losses, the abalone population declined by 99 percent. By 2004, only some 6,000 were thought to exist.


atlantic halibut

Atlantic Halibut
Taking 10 years to mature, halibut are vulnerable to overfishing. Even though restrictions have been in place for decades, the halibut population is still less than 10 percent of what it was in the 1950s.


atlantic cod

Atlantic Cod
Until the 1950s, cod was among the most plentiful fish on the eastern seaboard, but overfishing following the collapse of the halibut fishery has caused stocks to dwindle by 90 percent.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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