In the United States, this international data is useful to NOAA's National Weather Service in delivering operational services, as well as to academic researchers and the private sector. It provides an important complement to the data that we ourselves collect and make available from satellites, Doppler weather radars, and other instruments and observing systems. There continue to be some unresolved issues concerning the free and open exchange of international data, and these issues will be discussed at the WMO's 13th Congress in Geneva next May. We would greatly appreciate your support with upcoming demarches on this and related data exchange issues. Now I would like to turn your attention to another issue where international cooperation is critical, and that is the issue of fisheries management.
Fisheries are a vital part of the world's economy.
Fisheries provide jobs for about 200 million people worldwide and about 15 percent of the animal protein that we consume. Yet many of the world's fisheries are being fished at or beyond their sustainable limits. Management action is urgently needed for 62 percent of commercial stocks today. And given the needs of a growing population, the pressures on fisheries will only increase. Concerted international action is essential in rebuilding and sustaining the world's fish stocks.