Oceans and Fisheries
Why WCS?
100 years
WCS has been a leader in marine scientific discovery and marine conservation for over 100 years. Our world-renowned scientists conduct groundbreaking research to ensure that we can effectively prioritize threats to ocean ecosystems, invest in regions where we can have the greatest impact, and monitor conservation outcomes.
7 species protected
WCS plays a key role in the global marine policy arena. In March 2013, we helped secure a historic decision to restrict trade for the first time ever in five shark species, and both reef and giant manta rays, under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
On Our Strategies
Protect Key Ocean Habitats
For fisheries, marine ecosystems and threatened species to recover, it is essential that Marine Protected Areas—where fishing is limited both legally and in practice—be expanded and improved. WCS conservationists work with partners around the globe to study the life cycles and the distributions of various marine species to identify the most important coastal and open-ocean areas for protection. We seek to support the efforts by governments around the world to expand protected areas to encompass 10 percent of the world's oceans by 2020. In addition, we support effective monitoring and management, so that protected areas provide sanctuary to fish and other marine life at critical life stages, allowing them to reproduce and repopulate larger swaths of ocean. We also seek innovative solutions to support the creation, management, and enforcement of marine protected areas.
End Coastal Overfishing
Fishing that occurs outside of protected areas must also be regulated. Coastal communities obtain a significant portion of the fish and seafood they consume from small-scale fisheries, where over 90 percent of the world's fishers are engaged. However, in many countries, these fisheries are largely unregulated. As a result, they are quickly being depleted, often causing larger ecosystem decline and hardship to coastal communities. WCS is working with local communities and governments to build co-management systems where communities, fishers, and government work together to manage their local fish stocks.
Steward the Recovery of Marine Mammals
As our closest relatives in the oceans, marine mammals were nearly eliminated en masse in the last century. While these iconic species captivate millions, their global populations continue to be threatened by increasingly complex drivers of change. Today, we use cutting-edge science to understand the modern threats they face on the road to recovery: the effects of sonar, shipping, oil and gas, overfishing, climate change, and other human activities.
Reverse the Decline of Sharks and Rays
Demand for shark and ray parts for meat, shark fin soup, traditional medicines, and other uses is driving relentless fishing of these animals. Compounding these pressures, sharks and rays are accidentally caught in nets set for other fishes. As a result of overfishing, a quarter of the world's shark and ray species are now threatened with extinction. In response, WCS is catalyzing a global effort to conserve the world's sharks and rays over the next decade. Our goal is to protect the most endangered species, build sustainable fisheries, regulate trade in sharks and rays, and reduce demand for shark and ray products. This will enable the recovery of these globally important fishes.
Inspire an Ocean Constituency
WCS is engaging the public in ocean conservation in part through our New York Aquarium. Thanks to the Aquarium, the over 10 million annual visitors to Coney Island encounter WCS's ocean conservation messages, encouraging many to become ocean advocates. In 2016, Ocean Wonders: Sharks! will open, connecting visitors to our work globally and further encouraging guests to engage in our local conservation efforts in the New York Seascape.
Related News
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February 1, 2021
New Global Platform Connects Small-scale Fishers to Improve Sustainability, Livelihoods
A global coalition of partners working in and with small-scale fisheries has launched the Small-Scale Fisheries Resource and Collaboration Hub, or SSF Hub, a multilingual, interactive online platform to strengthen small-scale fisheries governance...
Read the story
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January 26, 2021
Southern Africa’s Most Endangered Shark Just Extended its Range by 2,000 Kilometers
A team of marine scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has confirmed that southern Africa’s most threatened endemic shark – the Critically Endangered shorttail nurse shark (Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum) – has been found to...
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December 14, 2020
TURTLE TSUNAMI! WCS releases incredible footage of mass hatching of locally endangered turtle
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released an amazing video showing tens of thousands of Giant South American River turtle hatchlings (Podocnemis expansa) emerging from a sandy beach in a protected area along the Purus River – a tributary of...
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View All News
New Global Platform Connects Small-scale Fishers to Improve Sustainability, Livelihoods
A global coalition of partners working in and with small-scale fisheries has launched the Small-Scale Fisheries Resource and Collaboration Hub, or SSF Hub, a multilingual, interactive online platform to strengthen small-scale fisheries governance...
Read the storySouthern Africa’s Most Endangered Shark Just Extended its Range by 2,000 Kilometers
A team of marine scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has confirmed that southern Africa’s most threatened endemic shark – the Critically Endangered shorttail nurse shark (Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum) – has been found to...
Read the storyTURTLE TSUNAMI! WCS releases incredible footage of mass hatching of locally endangered turtle
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released an amazing video showing tens of thousands of Giant South American River turtle hatchlings (Podocnemis expansa) emerging from a sandy beach in a protected area along the Purus River – a tributary of...
Read the storyWe Stand for Wildlife
Join more than one million wildlife lovers working to save the Earth's most treasured and threatened species.
