Conservationists have responded to the growing crisis in marine fisheries by seeking to strengthen laws and treaties and bolster government action. However, the northern fishing industry, dependent on a steady income to sustain boat mortgages and marginal businesses, has steadfastly resisted change. Thanks in part to this political stalemate, the decline of world fisheries has proven virtually impossible to reverse. In 1995, to help alleviate this global crisis, WWF launched a new, three-year effort known as the Endangered Seas Campaign to promote the conservation and sustainable use of marine fisheries worldwide. The campaign will work to build the necessary political will around the world to end chronic overfishing, restore devastated fisheries, improve management schemes, and reduce the use of destructive fishing practices.
Fisheries are the last major world industry exploiting wild natural resources for food.
Only a series of fundamental reforms of contemporary management, coupled with heightened public interest and powerful economic incentives, will bring chronic overfishing to a halt and shift the paradigm of fishery management from development and exploitation to conservation and sustainability. This increased public support, together with powerful market forces, must be used to create social, economic, and political incentives for fishing that is both sustainable and lean.