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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
overfishing
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As coastal fisheries have become less profitable through overfishing, more fishermen have taken to killing small cetaceans to supplement their incomes.
▪ Habitat destruction and overfishing have also taken their toll.
▪ He rejected claims by environmentalists that drift nets led to overfishing.
▪ The overfishing of herring and other fish has caused problems for bird species dependent on these stocks, particularly in wintertime.
Wiktionary
overfishing

n. fishing that reduces the stock of remaining fish in an area to below that which is acceptable. vb. (present participle of overfish English)

Wikipedia
Overfishing

400 tons of jack mackerel caught by a Chilean purse seiner

]] [[ US stocks 2015.png|thumb|300 px|right|

Overfished US stocks, 2015

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Overfishing is a form of overexploitation where fish stocks are reduced to below acceptable levels. Overfishing can occur in water bodies of any sizes, such as ponds, rivers, lakes or oceans, and can result in resource depletion, reduced biological growth rates and low biomass levels. Sustained overfishing can lead to critical depensation, where the fish population is no longer able to sustain itself. Some forms of overfishing, for example the overfishing of sharks, has led to the upset of entire marine ecosystems.

The ability of a fishery to recover from overfishing depends on whether the ecosystem's conditions are suitable for the recovery. Dramatic changes in species composition can result in an ecosystem shift, where other equilibrium energy flows involve species compositions different from those that had been present before the depletion of the original fish stock. For example, once trout have been overfished, carp might take over in a way that makes it impossible for the trout to re-establish a breeding population.

Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural reproduction. Gathering as many fish as possible may seem like a profitable practice, but overfishing has serious consequences. The results not only affect the balance of life in the oceans, but also the social and economic well-being of the coastal communities who depend on fish for their way of life.