World Wildlife Fund

In order to achieve conservation results, WWF employs innovative strategies, like using market incentives to promote responsible fishing.
© WWF-Canon / Tanya PETERSEN

WWF's Work and What You Can Do to Help

WWF's work
Life on Earth depends on healthy oceans - from coral reef communities teeming with life to mangrove swamps that provide a home for thousands of species. Our planet's oceans are in trouble and the plant and animal life they sustain are being threatened.

WWF calls its marine initiative Ocean Rescue. As the global leader in safeguarding these marine ecosystems, WWF aims to achieve a bold goal in the next 10 years: 

the creation of stable marine networks that encompass 100 marine protected areas worldwide. At the same time, we will continue our landmark efforts to end destructive fishing practices, stop illegal trade in marine wildlife, and reduce pollution on land and sea. WWF's marine conservation experts work in more than 40 countries, conducting research, initiating dialogue with decision-makers and fishing industry leaders, and advocating solutions -- all in an effort to champion the conservation of the marine environment and fishing communities around the world.

In order to achieve conservation results, WWF employs innovative strategies, like using market incentives to promote responsible fishing, and works with governments and other conservation partners to advance policies that will sustain the vital and diverse wildlife and habitats that constitute the ocean's web of life. WWF is crafting solutions for fishermen, coastal communities and the tourism industry that make economic sense while saving vulnerable species and their habitats.

Entanglement
Scientists believe that accidental drowning in fishing gear is the single greatest threat to the survival of many of the world's 86 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The most recent study on entanglement estimates that it kills more than 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises annually.

Partnering with WWF, a group of leading scientists agreed to form a global rapid response team -- the Cetacean Bycatch Task Force -- that will provide expert assistance to regions where species are in crisis. Working on the ground, they will join with fishermen, governments and other stakeholders to find solutions that work for individual fisheries.

Overfishing
WWF aims to reverse the global threat of overfishing of marine fishes and their ocean habitat. Using market forces and consumer power to promote well-managed, healthy fisheries, WWF helped establish the Marine Stewardship Council to create an international certification scheme for sustainable fisheries as well as markets to purchase their products.

WWF is working around the world to reform policies, such as fishing subsidies, that encourage overfishing. We are also fighting unsafe commercial practices of dynamite fishing and cyanide fishing, which threaten not only noncommercial fish, but other marine life, including coral.

What You Can Do

Here are three steps you can take to reduce the impact on marine ecosystems and species:

• Be an informed consumer of fish and other seafood. Ask where the fish comes from and the status of the fishery.
• Avoid products from fisheries with excessive levels of bycatch. Visit Cetacean Bycatch Resource Center to learn more.
• Choose to buy marine ornamentals from responsible aquarium industry operators who provide healthy, high quality animals from well-managed coral reefs.
  Purchase conscientiously. Look for products displaying the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and make smart decisions when ordering seafood.
• Avoid purchasing over-exploited stocks such as Atlantic swordfish, wild-caught Atlantic salmon, and sharks.

The right fish to eat

• Halibut - Alaska/Canada
• Striped Bass - Atlantic
• Squid - Pacific "market"
• Albacore - Pacific
• Mahi-mahi
• Lobster - Australian rock lobster
• Shellfish; mussels, clams, oysters - farmed (various sources), cockles (Burry Inlet, U.K.)
• Dungeness crab
• Caviar - farmed U.S.
• Salmon - wild Alaskan