How to Use overfish in a Sentence

overfish

verb
  • Activists argue the shark is overfished and should be released when caught.
    — Barbara Boyer, Philly.com, 25 July 2017
  • Over a century ago, pallid sturgeon were overfished for their eggs, which were sold as caviar.
    — Kelsey Ryan, kansascity, 6 July 2018
  • The most popular fish for poke is ahi tuna, which is overfished in certain regions of the world.
    — The Washington Post, NOLA.com, 11 Aug. 2017
  • Canada, in turn, threatened to overfish its own rivers to keep American boats from nabbing the harvest.
    — Craig Welch, National Geographic, 14 June 2018
  • The need to fill hungry bellies yesterday created overfished reefs today.
    — Dana Snitzky, Longreads, 20 Feb. 2018
  • Bloomberg QuickTake explains the looming crisis of overfishing our oceans.
    — Bloomberg.com, 30 Aug. 2017
  • Despite growing areas of local depletion, on a regional basis only a few species so far are overfished.
    — Fredrik Lind and John Tanzer, CNN, 7 June 2017
  • The discovery could help with conservation efforts so that new species aren't overfished before they can be understood, the researchers said.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 7 Dec. 2019
  • This is the second year the state has imposed a moratorium on crabbing, after finding that the blue crab population was overfished.
    — Todd A. Price, NOLA.com, 19 Apr. 2018
  • Red snapper are easy to catch and fishing pressure can become severe due to the value of the fish, so the species can be quickly overfished without proper management.
    — Frank Sargeant, AL.com, 18 June 2017
  • The fisheries commission has directed Atlantic states to reduce the catch because striped bass are being overfished.
    — Scott Dance, baltimoresun.com, 19 Sep. 2019
  • That means protecting reefs from local threats like overfishing and pollution, taking steps to slow climate change and helping reefs deal with impacts from climate change now.
    — Jenny Staletovich, orlandosentinel.com, 24 July 2019
  • Also select sustainable; overfishing causes the decline of certain fish populations, which isn't good for the ocean or you.
    — Woman's Day, 19 Sep. 2018
  • If fishers in those neighboring countries overfish the remaining population or shift to other species, the disturbance can grow.
    — James Rising, The Conversation, 18 Sep. 2019
  • Many of the world's populations of wild fish harvested for humans to eat are now overfished, or over exploited beyond what the fish can replace through reproduction.
    — Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, 4 Mar. 2019
  • As a result of modern fleet technology, overfishing in both Japanese coastal waters and high seas areas has led to the depletion of many whale species.
    — Ephrat Livni, Quartz, 9 June 2019
  • Fresh sardines are also touted as a sustainable fish choice, preferable to larger fish that are higher on the food chain, such as tuna and swordfish, which are overfished and have high mercury levels.
    — David Tanis, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2017
  • Florida’s reefs have been badly damaged over the years, not just by climate change but by more direct human assaults, like overfishing that disturbs the ecological balance.
    — Damien Cave and Justin Gillis, New York Times, 20 Sep. 2017
  • For example, each year NOAA designates how many pounds of catch is acceptable, and how many pounds would put the species at risk of being overfished.
    — Ann Parson, BostonGlobe.com, 15 July 2019
  • After more than two decades of management, the Gulf-wide red snapper population has increased significantly and is no longer considered overfished.
    — Shannon Tompkins, Houston Chronicle, 17 Mar. 2018
  • Commercial overfishing damages fish populations, marine habitats and ecosystems — consequences that also affect people who depend on the ocean for food and work.
    — Lacy Schley, Discover Magazine, 6 Feb. 2017
  • According to the report, species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past, with overfishing being one of the five main ways that people are reducing biodiversity.
    — Sophie Lewis, CBS News, 6 June 2019
  • Other specialists argue that British waters were overfished long before the fisheries policy took effect in 1983.
    — Kimiko De Freytas-Tamura, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2016
  • Symonds now works as a senior adviser to conservation charity Oceana, and her Twitter feed is filled with stories ranging from overfishing to banning trophy hunting.
    — Sheena McKenzie, CNN, 26 July 2019
  • Although the species had been overfished by commercial netters and had critical spawning habitat degraded over most of the last two centuries, whitefish have rebounded in Green Bay in recent decades.
    — Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Jan. 2018
  • In the Great Lakes, conservationists battle invasive sea lampreys, overfished in their home region of southwestern Europe.
    — Marion Renault, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2019
  • Sawfish, which are part of the ray family, have been unintentionally overfished because of a their saws getting entangled in fishing nets and other capture tools, the FWC said.
    — Joe Mario Pedersen, orlandosentinel.com, 4 Nov. 2019
  • On the Shengsi islands, the part of the Zhoushan archipelago that was closest to the accident, the spill could threaten an industry already strained by polluted runoff from the Yangtze and by overfishing.
    — Steven Lee Myers and Javier C. HernÁndez, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2018
  • Great Lakes' native lake trout populations were dwindling, overfished by commercial fishermen and preyed upon by invasive sea lampreys, an eel-like fish with a sharp-toothed suction mouth that looks like something straight out of the Alien movie.
    — Keith Matheny, USA TODAY, 23 Oct. 2017
  • Blaming shark fishers Jobu believes that factors other than overfishing, such as industrial pollution, especially in Tamil Nadu, are being ignored as a threat to shark populations.
    — Bhanu Sridharan, Quartz India, 25 Nov. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overfish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: