Summary
Our Shared Seas aggregates ocean statistics and trends to support the marine conservation community-including funders, advocates, practitioners, and policymakers-in making better, faster, and more informed decisions. This report, which is also available as an online platform (https://oursharedseas.com/) builds on first edition published in 2017 as a primer on ocean threats, trends and solutions. The report reiterates that healthy and resilient ocean and coastal ecosystems underpin the world's economic, political, cultural, and climate systems, and we know enough now to act on behalf of the ocean, recognizing that important knowledge gaps still exist. Research agendas can and should fill important knowledge gaps-such as how much fish (and bycatch) we're taking out of the sea and the condition of marine habitats globally-to thornier statistics, such as the extent of Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing, the amount of plastic entering the ocean and marine food webs, or the true cost of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them for food and livelihoods. Partners across all sectors-from academia and government to industry and funders-are emerging as strong ocean stewards and champions, seeking solutions that work for people and our blue planet. The scale of ocean-climate challenges before us, the diversity of communities both affected by and working to improve the state of our global ocean resources, and common understanding that collaboration is essential to changing the trajectory for the ocean-all underscore the urgency and importance of our collective action.