MEANING
Catching fish at a rate that exceeds the population’s ability to replace them through reproduction and growth.
Use it for
explaining declining fish stocks; describing unsustainable fishing pressure; distinguishing excessive harvesting from sustainable catchesNames fishing pressure that exceeds a population’s replacement capacity, not simply a large catch. Writing functions: Unsustainable fishing pressure.
Words that belong together
- prevent overfishing
- commercial overfishing
- a history of overfishing
On the page
The recovery plan set catch limits to prevent overfishing.
Decades of overfishing had altered the balance of the bay.
Word forms
- Base
- overfishing
Usage notes
Mass noun: overfishing. Lexicalized process noun; related verb overfish is not added as a second word. Register: neutral. Commonness: common in environmental reporting (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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