Over the past 50 years, the world has witnessed a massive decline in the health of its fisheries as we remove fish from the ocean at a far greater rate than they can naturally replenish.

A staggering 90.3 million tonnes of fish were caught globally in 2020 — an estimated value of AU$206 billion. These fisheries provide billions of people with income, food and nutrition — yet information about the state of the world’s fisheries is lacking.

Nearly half the world’s fish stocks are overfished yet many countries won’t deliver commitments on sustainable fishing. Worse, more than half the world’s fisheries lack the data to determine stock status. Most countries are also falling short in implementing science-based management across fisheries, neglecting vital stakeholders to manage essential processes.

The GFI’s data on fish stocks and governance capacity allows us to rate a country’s fisheries against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.4 targets and grade it from ‘A’ to ‘F’. Tragically, no country received an ‘A’ or ‘B’ — not one did enough to manage their fisheries or restore stocks to sustainable levels.

The GFI calls for urgent action to hit global sustainability goals and challenges governments and fishing industries to respond to our findings. To heed this call to action, the GFI offers recommendations on strengthening governance systems, reversing fisheries decline and restoring the health of oceans.

The GFI’s findings have reached over 1.2 billion people via mainstream news and social media, with 600 digital stories generated by top tier publishers ABC, Al Jazeera, Sky News and Bloomberg. In Australia, the GFI reached 9.9 million people with 673 national news items, and 377 radio stories. Over 1,400 NGOs, influencers and advocates posted on social media about the GFI, delivering over 400 million impressions.

Some countries and fisheries organisations challenged the GFI’s results, presenting us with the opportunity to promote conversation, improve resources, and collaborate on solutions.

Minderoo Foundation’s quest is to end overfishing. By connecting decision makers with the GFI findings on the global state of fisheries and the systems governing them, we’re able to identify gaps in fisheries management and recommend areas for improvement.

We are already developing strategies to work directly with Pacific nations, such as Viet Nam, Philippines, and Timor Leste. However, we call on all governments and businesses to declare their intent and demonstrate action to reverse fisheries decline.

The 2021 GFI is first of a series published every three years. Minderoo Foundation wants it to be a resource to governments, businesses, and communities to use on the path to meeting SDG 14.4, a platform for turning good intentions into meaningful action.