There are less fish in the sea than ever before but also more fishermen trying to net them than ever before.

That equation amounts to huge financial losses for the fishing industry, over 50 billion dollars a year and a serious global depletion of centuries old food supply.

Over the last three decades more than 2 trillion dollars have been lost due to poor management, inefficiencies and over fishing according to a recently released report from the World Bank and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

“Fisheries are a tremendous source of income, employment and wealth creation if managed properly,” said Daniel Gustafson, Director of the liaison office for North America at the FAO.

The report contends that better management and a move to more sustainable fishing practices could convert many of the lost billions of dollars into economic benefits for fishermen and their communities.

The report highlights that the significant financial losses are due to depleted fish stocks and fishing fleet overcapacity.

Fish populations have been shrinking in size as a result of over fishing, pollution and habitat loss keeping the annual global catch to around 85 million tons for the last decade.

In order to increase the size of the catch fishing fleets have been expanding in the hope that more boats will net more fish. The only change more boats have made is more pollution by burning more fuel to secure less fish per boat.

The report said that only half the current fishing resources would be needed in order to maintain the current level of fishing stock, if the fish stocks were rebuilt.

“Sustainable fisheries require political will to replace the incentives for over fishing with incentives for responsible stewardship,” said Kieran Kelleher, the fisheries team leader at the World Bank. He added the fisheries are in a global crisis and are adding to lost opportunities for economic growth.

The report concludes that strong efforts need to be made to replenish fish stocks which would increase the yields available to fishermen. Efforts also are needed to control the size of fishing fleets at sea in order to boost productivity and profitability back into the fishery sector.

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