Healthy and plentiful fisheries are not only good for marine ecosystems, but they are critical to the health, employment and prosperity of over a billion people around the world that rely on fisheries for food and jobs. Yet, half the globe’s fisheries have been pushed to their limits and another third have been pushed beyond their limits. The percentage of these “overfished” species has nearly quadrupled since the 1970s. A rights-based management program is one tool to address this issue. They convey and manage exclusive entitlements that allow a person, company, fishing vessel, community or village to fish in a particular place at a particular time.

The United States is the world’s largest consumer and importer of coral reef associated species for ornamental purposes, including aquaria, jewelry, curio and home décor. This report analyses the trade of coral reef associated species imported to the U.S. for ornamental purposes and examines issues and concerns related to the harvest, supply chain, and overall trade of some of the most threatened species in the trade. 

WWF commissioned these three reports to examine the current governance regime, identify governance and regulatory gaps and analyze options for improvements.

This report summarizes what has changed, and what remains unchanged in the 20 years since the 300-meter-long oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989.

This BioScience journal article presents the idea of Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW), a hierarchical global system of 12 realms, 62 provinces, and 232 ecoregions. MEOW offers a higher level of organization of marine life and is a critical planning and pattern analysis tool for conservation organizations like WWF.