This article gives an idea of the main transformations that took place in the last decades, concerning the access rights, the management of the resources and the running of the fishing. At the end of Second World War, the fishing sector showed a considerable growth. The industrial fish catches were intensifying as fishing techniques have been developed: big trawlers, sonar fish finders, more and more sophisticated fishing equipment. Worldwide fish catches has shown a regular growth since (...)

Since several years, due to the gradual depletion of fish stocks and environmental deterioration, the fishing sector is facing the most serious crisis it has ever known. Commercial productivity of oceans has reached its lowest level and 75% of the world’s most important fishing areas are overexploited. In all parts of the world, ocean ecosystems and coastal populations suffer the consequences of unsustainable fishing. Depletion of fishing resources may increase due to private appropriation (...)