Will there be fish in the ocean to feed our children and grandchildren? Can the marine environment continue to supply goods and services while maintaining biodiversity? Recent high-profile scientific publications have questioned this, but the science behind such predictions is incomplete, at best, and not necessarily resonating with policy-makers. The speakers will present new global assessments, with a focus on marine biodiversity and how food security is affected by the growing demand for seafood products. An interesting question, raised in connection with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 2010 Conference of the Parties, is, what will the cost for humanity be if we do not restore the world fisheries to produce maximum sustainable yield? The panel also will present a first estimate for how the abundance of fish in the world's ocean has changed over the last 60 years and will relate this to the first comprehensive analysis of the major driver for change in the oceans: the capacity of the world's fishing fleets. Based on global assessments and policy outlooks, we present how the future ocean may be shaped, and we draw lessons from a current World Bank study on future global fish supply and demand. To affect the future in the face of climate change and increasing demand, we focus on the use of economic instruments and on how networking between institutions with regional mandates can be used to develop and implement global policies for conservation, thereby helping avert a hunt for the last fish.