Oceans: Last Chance for Fish; New U.N. rules could be too little, too late.(Cover story)

Byline: Ginanne Brownell (With Jessica Au in London)

Salt-codfish cakes with tapenade and fried oregano may be one of the healthier items on the lunch menu at the United Nations delegates' dining room in New York. But it's also one of the more controversial. The cod, along with tuna, swordfish and other dinner-table favorites, has soared to the top of the U.N. agenda. A recent World Wildlife Fund report says that if stocks continue to decline at the current rate, cod will be extinct in the Atlantic Ocean in less than 15 years. Last week the European Commission delivered a report to the U.N. General Assembly calling for an end to "bottom gear" fishing--which employs towed dredges and netting--and requiring states to identify and map vulnerable marine habitats so they can be preserved.

Although scientists have known for years that fish stocks are being depleted, climate change has added new urgency to the issue. Although some ocean regions are governed by international regulatory bodies, many others aren't. As sea temperatures rise, many fish that would have been relatively safe in the Atlantic, say, are moving north into the colder, unregulated Arctic waters, where they're particularly vulnerable to "pirate" boats. "You can't educate fish on where they can and ...