Fisheries

Abalone once supported important commercial and recreational fisheries in California, but the impacts of overfishing and disease have prompted the listing of two species of abalone, white and black, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Pacific leatherbacks face significant threats from entanglement and/or hooking in fisheries (bycatch), direct harvest - including eggs and adults - coastal development, pollution, marine debris, disease and climate change.

Threats to marine bird populations worldwide include competition for food with fisheries; entanglement in fishing gear; ingestion of marine debris and disturbance of roosting and breeding birds by watercraft, aircraft, humans and introduced species (especially cats, rats and foxes), environmental pollution and oil spills.

Seabirds are impacted by a variety of human-related activities including oil spills, fisheries interactions, contaminants, disturbances, and habitat destruction.

In 2015, researchers with the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center revealed the opah, or moonfish, as the first fully warm-blooded fish.

Many coastal and island communities depend on coral reef fisheries for their economic, social, and cultural benefits.

The ocean is divided into three zones based on depth and light level. The upper 200 meters of the ocean is called the euphotic, or "sunlight," zone. This zone contains the vast majority of commercial fisheries and is home to many protected marine mammals and sea turtles.

"We keep making choices to borrow from the future to live well today," said Jake Rice, Canada's chief government scientist for fisheries and oceans.

The state of Hawai‘i is developing management options to promote coral reef recovery from widespread bleaching events caused by warmer waters that threaten tourism, fisheries, and coastal protection from wind and waves.

Tackling the illegal trade in endangered wild fauna and flora and strengthening trade rules for fisheries, timber, and exotic pets are just a few of the many controversial and emotional issues to be discussed over the next two weeks at a World Wildlife Conference opening in Geneva Saturday.