overexploitation

plural overexploitations · alternative over-exploitation

1. uncountableusuallyExcessive and damaging exploitation.

   Near-synonyms: overuse, overutilization

   2 more examples

   The overexploitation of forests left the island nearly denuded of trees.

   Waitrose has become the first UK supermarket to suspend the sale of mackerel because of overfishing and will start pointing customers toward herring and other species. The Marine Conservation Society warned last year that stocks were at breaking point owing to overfishing, and it downgraded mackerel from a three to a four on its five-point Good Fish Guide sustainability scale. […] A University of East Anglia study published in January urged supermarkets to encourage customers to expand their fish diet to include more environmentally friendly and locally caught fish, such as herring and sardines. Last September, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) recommended that mackerel fishing in the north-east Atlantic be cut by 70% to help replenish numbers to a sustainable level after overexploitation. […] In December, the UK agreed to reduce mackerel fishing by 48%, well short of the cut the ICES had called for.

   2026 February 26, Tara Russell, “Waitrose to halt the sale of mackerel because of overfishing”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2026, page 9

   Synonyms: overuse, overutilization · Antonyms: underexploitation, underuse, underutilization