“It wasn’t long ago that America’s fisheries were in a state of collapse, with cratering fish stocks and impractical regulations that threatened a $180 billion dollar industry.

Then, an unlikely alliance of environmental activists and fishermen turned things around, leaving the nation’s 4 million square miles of fishing grounds healthier – and more profitable – than they’ve been in decades…

Today, more than 50 U.S. fish stocks have bounced back from disaster, or are on track to, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In the Gulf of Mexico, renamed Gulf of America by the U.S. government, there are up to three times as many red snapper as estimated in 2009. In Cape Cod and the Gulf of Maine, stocks of adult yellowtail flounder have jumped from 218 metric tons in 2006 to 3,800 metric tons in 2020…

As commercial fishing profits have gone up, 94% of assessed fisheries in the United States are now sustainable, according to NOAA.”

From USA TODAY.