The global seafood industry will collapse by mid-century if current fishing trends continue unabated, an international team of ecologists and other scientists has found.

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“There is an end in sight, and it's within our lifetime,” said lead author Boris Worm, of Dalhousie University in Halifax.

“If we were to continue exactly what we've been doing over the last 50 years for the next 50 years, 100 per cent of seafood will be collapsed. ... And this includes everything from mussels to cod and swordfish.”

About 29 per cent of worldwide seafood species has already reached a “collapsed” state, where catches of that variety have declined to less than 10 per cent of average fishing output. At that level, populations start losing the ability to multiply.