If global overfishing continues, wild fish populations will be further reduced, regardless of how many boats are used or what techniques are employed. Today, most of the world’s major commercially valuable fish populations are overfished , and the remainder is exploited at their maximum possible level. (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration) In 1999, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 70-78% of worldwide marine fish stocks require urgent intervention to prevent population declines and to help rebuild species depleted by over fishing. In the waters surrounding the United States, the U.S. Department of Commerce listed 959 different fish stocks in the 2001 Annual Report to Congress on the Status of U.S. Fisheries. Of these nearly 1000 species, the status of 68.3% were listed as unknown; of the remaining 31.7%, almost one third are listed as overfished.