Fishing

Illegal fishing in arctic waters: Catch of today – gone tomorrow? (PDF, 1.21M)
New WWF Report - Illegal Fishing in Arctic Waters, finds that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing remains a concern in the western Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East, The report lists specific recommendations for eliminating the scourge of illegal fishing, and ensuring the sustainability of fisheries, throughout the world.

Read the report: Worldwide Costs of Marine Protected Areas (PDF, 486k)
Establishing a global network of marine parks is critical to restoring the health of the oceans and keeping fisheries operating so that we can enjoy seafood (while cultivating the health of the oceans). This investment of $12-14 billion would help safeguard, and over time increase, a global fish catch worth US$70-80 billion per year. With fisheries in steep decline, and with rates of habitat loss now equal or exceeding that of rainforests, this "connecting of the dots" with marine protected areas, would create between 830,000 and 1.1 million full-time jobs.

Cold-Water Coral Reefs: Out of Sight -- No Longer Out of Mind (PDF, 357k)
Cold-water coral ecosystems are long-lived and fragile, which makes them particularly vulnerable to physical damage. The impacts of human activities are evident in almost every survey, regardless of the depth of the corals. Fisheries with bottom trawls have already destroyed or scarred numerous reefs and represent one of the major threats to these ecosystems.

NASCO's Future: A Vision Statement (PDF, 462k)
On the eve of a pivotal meeting in Iceland, fisheries experts called Thursday for critical new measures to stem an alarming decline in wild Atlantic salmon stocks, which have plummeted 50 percent over the past two decades. The urgent call to strengthen the enforcement of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) comes as that body is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The authors of NASCO's Future: A Vision Statement, are former heads of governmental and non-governmental delegations to the conference. WWF and the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) convened the report's panel and supported their independent findings.
For more information, read The Status of North American Wild Atlantic Salmon (PDF, 634k)

Money Talks: Economic Aspects of Marine Turtle Use and Conservation (PDF, 2.67M)
This is the first study to assess the economic value of sea turtles on a global scale. This WWF research clearly shows the link between species conservation and economic development by asserting how marine turtle tourism brings in almost three times as much money as the sale of turtle products.

The Barents Sea Cod - The Last of the Large Cod Stocks (PDF, 1.18M)
This WWF report shows that global cod catch has suffered a 70 percent drop over the last 30 years, a trend that could cause the world's cod stocks to disappear in 15 years. Despite the dramatic collapse of North American cod populations in the mid-1990's signaling damaging overfishing of the species, fishing management on the far side of the North Atlantic has not changed, causing significant long-term costs to the marine environment and to local economies.

Conserving Marine Turtles on a Global Scale (PDF, 536k)

Protecting Wild Atlantic Salmon from Impacts of Salmon Aquaculture (PDF, 1.82M)
This report catalogues the failures of seven of the largest salmon-producing countries to properly regulate the industry, and safeguard the wild salmon. The U.S. was second to last in the report rankings, demonstrating a lack of sufficient progress, in areas of minimum distance from salmon rivers, exclusion zones, fish husbandry (health), standards for design and deployment of equipment and standards for fish containment, monitoring and enforcement.

Managing Risk and Uncertainty in Deep-sea Fisheries: Lessons from Orange Roughy (PDF, 2.01M)
The study finds that rapidly expanding and unregulated fishing in deep waters is fast depleting species that could become commercially extinct if protective measures are not taken immediately.

The Fishery Effects of Marine Reserves and Fishery Closures (PDF, 1.29M)
Marine reserves are areas of the sea where fishing is not allowed. They provide refuge where populations of exploited species can recover and habitats modified by fishing can regenerate. In some places, closed areas have been used for fisheries management for centuries and, until recently, natural refugia also existed, inaccessible through depth, distance or adverse conditions. Developments in technology have left few areas of fishing interest beyond our reach. Recently, the idea of marine reserves as fisheries management tools has re-emerged with keener interest in ecosystem-based management, and observations of incidental fisheries benefits from reserves established for conservation. In light of new evidence, scientists Roberts and Gell argue that, by integrating large-scale networks of marine reserves into fishery management, we could reverse global fishery declines and provide urgently needed protection for marine species and their habitats.
Read the Article from Trends in Ecology and Evolution that updates this report. (PDF, 294k)

A Conservation Decade for Tropical Oceans (PDF, 301K)
Coastal development, destructive fishing practices, pollution, climate change and other global dynamics are endangering our tropical oceans. This brochure outlines WWF's bold new strategy for conserving the rich biodiversity of our oceans and raising marine conservation to the level where it can reverse global trends.

Healthy Reefs and Fish, Healthy Business and Hobby: A Sustainable Future for the Marine Ornamental Trade (PDF, 367k)
by Bruce Bunting, WWF, and Marshall Meyers, PIJAC (OFI Journal, May 2002)
WWF and its partners four years ago spearheaded a coalition of international conservation organizations, industry representatives, public aquariums and hobbyist groups to form the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC). Among the key concepts behind MAC is the belief that the local communities, the private sector and consumers have a vast potential to become a major force for coral reef conservation, by enabling consumers to identify marine aquarium organisms that were collected in an environmentally safe manner.

Trawling in the Mist
Illegal fishing in the Russian Bering Sea is contributing to the collapse of the fishery that supplies Russia and the United States with more than half their harvests of fish, according to this report by TRAFFIC. The report also shows that organized crime has infiltrated the Russian fishing industry and widespread poaching is costing Russia up to $5 billion (US) each year and placing numerous marine species at risk.
Summary: English (PDF, 1M)
Summary: Russian (PDF, 353k)
Full Report: English (PDF, 3.5M)

Hard Facts, Hidden Problems: A Review of Current Data on Fishing Subsidies (PDF, 500k)
Government subsidies to the commercial fishing sector have been a topic of growing policy debate for nearly a decade. From the outset, a primary question has been, how much are governments actually giving in support to their fishing industries?

The Status of Wild Atlantic Salmon - A River by River Assessment (PDF, 1.72M)
The Atlantic Salmon is among the most revered species on the planet. Its ability to navigate the ocean, to return to its natal stream, to leap over seemingly impassable obstacles, and to detect through its olfactory senses the very gravel of its origin, has amazed and inspired humans for thousands of years.

Negotiating Fishing Access Agreements
A template to guide conservation - conscious countries through the process of creating fishing access agreements. The guide is intended for use by parties in the negotiation of bilateral and regional access arrangements in developing state Exclusive Economic Zones
English (PDF, 904k)
French (PDF, 1.05M)
Spanish (PDF, 1.24M)

Marine Reserves: Protecting the Future of Our Oceans (PDF, 1.61M)
For centuries communities have closed areas by tradition or law to protect their resources and livelihoods. The use of marine protected areas (MPAs) is not new. However, with more and more pressure on the world's dwindling fisheries and vulnerable ocean habitat, there is an urgent need to create additional MPAs to conserve fish and other marine life for future generations.

Why Fishermen Support Marine Reserves (PDF, 276k)
More and more fishermen are supporting the establishment of 'no-take-zones' or marine reserves. They have realized that protecting some fish so that they can grow larger and breed more successfully is common sense.

Creating a Sea Change for Fisheries (PDF, 2.84M)
Fish populations are plummeting all over the planet. Overfishing, destructive fishing practices, inadequate management, and habitat loss have pushed numbers of Atlantic salmon, sharks, swordfish and other species to their lowest levels in history.

Fishing Subsidies Publications

Turning the Tide on Fishing Subsidies (PDF, 1.47M)

Evidence of Poor Transparency in Fishing Subsidy Programmes (PDF, 62k)

Fishing in the Dark: An Issue Brief (PDF, 564k)

Underwriting Overfishing (PDF, 572k)
Even as fish stocks dwindle, some of the world's richest nations are paying billions of dollars to keep flagging fishing industries afloat. The result: a growing series of economic, social and environmental crises around the world.

Toward Rational Disciplines in the Fishery Sector: A Call for New International Rules and Mechanisms (PDF, 97k)