overharvest
Take too much
To overharvest is to take more from a natural resource than it can sustainably replenish.
The term applies most often to fishing, hunting, or logging: Overharvesting of cod collapsed the Atlantic fishery.
The noun overharvest names the practice or a particular instance of it.
The word carries an implicit warning—what's overharvested today may be gone tomorrow.
Capacity to endure indefinitely
- conservationPreventing waste or loss
- quotasMandated numerical limits
- moratoriumTemporary prohibition or delay
- regulationOfficial rules governing conduct
reforestation · replenishment · restoration · enforcement · monitoring · permitting · stewardship
Unsustainable marine harvest
- deforestationLarge-scale woodland elimination
- overexploitationExcessive resource depletion
- poachingUnlawful wildlife capture
- overcultivationExhausting soil through excess
extinction · endangered · overgrazing · overhunting · bycatch · clear-cutting · strip-mining · overextraction
Insufficiency of something needed
- shortageDeficient supply of necessities
- famineSevere food shortage
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
- erosionGradual wearing away
desertification · starvation · dearth · insufficiency · barren · infertility · exhaustion · collapse
sustainability
Capacity to endure indefinitely
- conservationPreventing waste or loss
- quotasMandated numerical limits
- moratoriumTemporary prohibition or delay
regulation · reforestation · replenishment · restoration · enforcement · monitoring · permitting · stewardship
overfishing
Unsustainable marine harvest
- deforestationLarge-scale woodland elimination
- overexploitationExcessive resource depletion
- poachingUnlawful wildlife capture
overcultivation · extinction · endangered · overgrazing · overhunting · bycatch · clear-cutting · strip-mining · overextraction
scarcity
Insufficiency of something needed
erosion · desertification · starvation · dearth · insufficiency · barren · infertility · exhaustion · collapse · decline
- overexploitationoverfishing, overfish, overhunting, overgrazing, overgraze
- depletedeplete, drain, exhaust, use up, consume
overharvestsustainable harvest
Resource extraction matching regrowth
sustainable yield · conserve · protect · preserve · spare
overharvestconservation
Preventing waste or loss
sustainable management · stewardship · preservation · protection · rewilding