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HRH Prince Philip Launches Call
to Action for International
Year of the Ocean

Overfishing, Pollution & Coastal Development Threaten Oceans

(En Français)

January 12th, 1998

fish and coral LONDON -- At a news conference here today marking the beginning of the International Year of the Ocean, His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, President-Emeritus of the WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature highlighted the growing threats facing the world's oceans and called for a sea change in the way human use of the marine environment is managed.

"There may have been a time when it was legitimate to question whether there was conclusive evidence that the oceans were being over-fished," said His Royal Highness.  "That time has long since gone. There is overwhelming evidence that, not just the fish stocks, but the vast bulk of the renewable resources of the oceans are being over-exploited."

WWF stressed the need for governments, businesses and individuals to take urgent action during the International Year of the Ocean. Specifically, WWF called for more responsible fisheries management and the creation of an effective global network of marine parks and reserves to safeguard critical ocean habitats.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, at least 60 percent of the world's 200 most commercially valuable fish species are either overfished or fished to the limit.  Overfishing and destructive fishing practices have pushed numbers of many valuable species to all-time lows.  More than 100 marine fishes, along with many other species that live in the oceans, are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.  Less than one percent of the world's oceans and seas have been designated as protected.

"For more than 30 years, WWF has been an active and effective force in marine wildlife and habitat conservation," said Dr. Claude Martin, WWF Director-General.  "The International Year of the Ocean presents an opportunity to expand and accelerate our marine conservation efforts, to call governments and industry to account, and to demand a change in policies and practices."

WWF is calling for the following kinds of action:

  •    Governments should eliminate the tens of billions of dollars in government subsidies that contribute to overfishing, establish new marine protected areas and improve the management of existing reserves.  Governments can also support international treaties such as the UN Fish Stocks Agreement, which sets new international standards for marine fishing but has yet to enter into force for lack of political will.

  •    The fishing industry should reduce the incidental killing of fish and other marine wildlife that now accounts for more than one-quarter of the world catch, and support market incentives for sustainable fishing, such as the Marine Stewardship Council, a new initiative designed to label seafood from independently-certified, well-managed sources.

  • "During this Year of the Ocean, we need everyone's help to guarantee that our children will inherit a living planet, abundant with fish and other marine life," said Dr. Martin.  "The lives and livelihoods of millions of people around the world, in both the North and South, are at stake."

Notes to Editors:

  •    The United Nations has designated 1998 as the International Year of the Ocean in recognition of its importance of the ocean, the marine environment and its resources for life on earth and for sustainable development.  This will provide a window of opportunity for governments, organisations and individuals to become aware of the ocean situation and to consider the actions needed to undertake our common responsibility to sustain the greatest common heritage we have and without which we cannot exist.

  •    Through its global Marine Programme, WWF is working in more than 100 nations with governments, industries and conservation partners to reduce pollution on land and sea, eliminate overfishing and destructive fishing practices, and establish marine protected areas.

  •    In 1995, WWF launched the Endangered Seas initiative to address one of the most pressing ocean conservation issues: the rampant destruction of our magnificent ocean fisheries.

  •    The Endangered Seas initiative  is working to reverse the effects of overfishing and other destructive fishing practices on marine fishes and the ocean ecosystems on which they depend.

  •   IUCN-The World Conservation Union updates and publishes its Red List of Threatened Animals every three years.

For more information, contact: WWF's Conservation News Service in Switzerland (+41) 223 649554 or Leigh Ann Hurt at WWF's Endangered Seas Campaign in the United Kingdom (+44) 1483 419294.