But in the succeeding decades, one prize species after another was overfished and disappeared.
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The sale came amid continued warnings from environmentalists that tuna stocks are dwindling and overfished.
"College basketball has become like a pond that has been systematically overfished, " ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said.
But fishing is an expensive proposition when going after overfished varieties such as cod, so prized in the established markets.
As America already thinks the Atlantic bluefin tuna is overfished by Europeans, Mr Irranca-Davies will probably be pushing on an open door.
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There are certain species that are overfished, yet there are hundreds of thousands of species of fish in the ocean that are untouched.
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But catching overfished varieties such as cod is an expensive proposition.
Atlantic bluefin tuna is the most overfished species in European waters.
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We're seeing a very high value fish continue to be overfished.
The kelp cover returned, but the bottom feeders continued to be overfished (Maine's cod catch plummeted by 70% during the decade), so the lobster population shot up.
The green paper admits that previous reforms to achieve sustainable fisheries have not been met, with 88% of fishing stocks in EU waters overfished, compared to a global average of 25%.
Costco last week said it halted sales of five wild-caught fish species that are on Greenpeace's "red list" of overfished species, including Greenland halibut, certain types of grouper, and skates and rays.
Red Fish: A victim of its own success, redfish was heavily overfished 30 years ago and when the supply dried up, so did regional demand, though it is delicious and still in favor in other regions.
One of its scientists, Kimberly Warner, told the BBC that mislabelling of fish and seafood mattered not only because of the deception of consumers, but also because threatened fish, in overfished parts of the ocean, could be sold as unthreatened, abundant varieties.
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