IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Promote additional scientific analysis and synthesis of the factors associated with depletion and endangerment of marine species.

Encourage publication of the results in peer-reviewed journals, and convene meetings to discuss management policy and practice issues.

Disseminate the science beyond the scientific and management communities and distilling it for policy-makers including through the expansion of the IUCN Red List assessment process for marine species and development of a set of core resources

Provide information to guide policy decisions, such as those taken by FAO, that influence marine management

Identify opportunities for, and secure, specific management decisions that demonstrate the rejection of the myths

Develop media opportunities to support the above activities.

Conducting the Global Marine Species Assessment

The SSC, custodian of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species,will conduct a major effort over the next 5-10 years to assess the conservation status of marine species . See The IUCN Red List’s expanding efforts to document the status of marine species (PDF)

“Defying Ocean's End”

In May 2003, an international gathering of experts working to help reverse the decline in health of the world's oceans took place in Mexico. The meeting, called “Defying Ocean's End” brought together scientists, economists, conservationists, and representatives from governments and industry from more than 20 countries. The goal was to create a specific agenda for conserving marine biodiversity and identify high priority solutions . See IUCN Global Marine Programme and 10 Marine Species on the Brink: An agenda for Action.

Encouraging sustainable management of commercially valuable species

In the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, the listing of over 100 fish species, many of them commercially valuable sparked an international debate about extinction risk in marine species. This debate quickly moved beyond the scientific community to national policy processes and international policy forums, including the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The IUCN participated to the Marine fish and the Twelfth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in 2002 to consider five proposal to list marine fish species in the CITES Appendices: IUCN and TRAFFIC briefing document: English ( PDF 631KB), Español( PDF688KB), Français (PDF 675KB).

The IUCN also participated to the Sharks and the Twelfth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in 2002 to take further measure to encourage the sustainable management and conservation of sharks species in trade: IUCN and TRAFFIC briefing document: English (861KB), Español (1933KB)

Disseminating and distilling scientific knowledge for policy-makers and the general public

Although the project is in the early stages of development, several targets have been set including the publication of a statement on extinction risk in marine species and the development of a set of core resources on marine extinctions and endangerment, such as:
- bibliography of marine extinctions and endangerment
- database of historic marine extinctions
- database of threatened marine species
- case studies that illustrate the biological factors that make marine species vulnerable to extinction and the external factors that are causing them to be at risk