Ocean Conservation Reports

Search • RSS Feed

Executive Summary

America’s oceans are home to whales, dolphins, sea turtles, fish and an enormous variety of other sea life. But today our oceans are in trouble. Destructive overfishing, pollution, global warming
and habitat damage are putting important marine animals at risk. Many populations are in serious decline. The result of this poor management is a drastic reduction in fishing opportunities for
commercial and recreational fishermen.

On the West Coast, about one in ten (9 percent or 5 out of 53) of all federally managed fish stocks for which there is adequate information are overfished. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) is one of eight regional fishery management councils that cover U.S. coasts. Together with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Pacific Council is supposed to determine how much of each type of fish can be caught on a sustainable basis and establish other types of fishing rules.