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201912015 Nalional Geog'aphic Magazine- NGM.com

the fishery at peakspawn, although it did increase the minimum catchweight in most areas to 66 pounds (3o kilograms) and ban spotter aircraft. But
without inspection and enforcement, the commission's newrules will, like the old ones, mean little.

Another crucial step, both in the Mediterranean and around the world, wouldbe the creation oflarge marine protected areas. A1so important are campaigns
by su.ch groups as the Marine Stewardship Council, wbich is working with consumers as well as retail giants to promote trade in sustainably caught fish.

The news from the fisheries front is not unremittingly grim. Ind.eed, where sound fJBheries management exists, fish populations-and the fishing industry-
are healthy. A prime example is Alaska, where stocks of Pacificsalmon and pollock are bountiful. Iceland's cod fishery is thriving, because it, too, follows a
cardinal conservation rule: Limit the number ofboats that can pursue fish.

But ali agree that the fundamental refonn that must precede ali others is nota change in regulations but a change in people's minds. The world must begin
viewing the creatures that inhabit the sea much as it looks at wildlife on land. Only when fish are seen as wild things deserving ofprotection, only when the
Mediterraneanbluefin is thought to be as msgnificent as the Alaska grizzly or the Africanleopard, will depletion ofthe world's oceans come to an end.

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