(NORMAL, Ill.) – Enjoy that shrimp cocktail while you can because a report published last week claims that the world will run out of seafood by the year 2050.

The report, published in the journal Science, claims that things such as overfishing and pollution are destroying species and impairing the ocean’s ability to produce seafood.

“I’m not sure about the date, but in most cases our attempts to manage fisheries have been unsuccessful,” William Perry, an Illinois State University associate professor of biology, said.

“With global warming and global change, that adds a wrinkle to the story that makes it even more difficult,” he added.

Fourteen researches from Canada, Panama, Sweden and the U.S. spent four years analyzing data from 12 ecosystems on fish populations and ocean ecosystems. The report stated that 29 percent of seafood species have collapsed, which is hampering marine ecosystems’ ability to resist environmental stresses.

“Overfishing and pollution, those are the two big factors,” David Rubin, an assistant professor of physiology, said. “I’m from the East Coast and the striper population from the New Bedford, Massachusetts, area was wiped out because of PCBs.”

Perry said mismanagement of fisheries is also to blame for the problem.

“There’s very few, if any, fisheries that we have successfully managed to keep producing fish for the long term,” he said. “There are a lot of mathematical models out there, and a lot of attempts that could, in theory, manage fishery yields, but we’ve rarely been successful.”

Rubin said pollution is also a big problem. He suggested imposing limits on pollution that would be standard for all countries.

“That’s the function of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” he said. “They’re supposed to set standards and they do, but certain countries don’t necessarily abide by those standards.”

“There aren’t any punishments,” he said about why nations do not follow NOAA’s guidelines. “It’s an agreement between gentlemen.”

With the recent report, many people are looking to Alaska as an example of how the world’s seafood supply can be sustained.

“We’re considered a model,” Laura Fleming, the spokesperson for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, said. “Conservation is one of the founding principals of our constitution.”

Fleming said there are strict guidelines as to how fisheries are managed.

“The concept of sustained yield is the leading factor,” Fleming said. “Basically what that means is that the welfare of the fish comes first. After the welfare of the stocks is assured, then we’re allowed a surplus to harvest.”

Alaska is home to over 37,000 miles of coastline, over 15,000 streams and is mostly undeveloped.

“There are a lot of natural benefits that we just stumbled into,” Fleming said.

“What we’re trying to do is use that for a strong foundation for proper management.”