The world's salt-water fish stocks are in dire straits and will face a grim future unless steps are taken soon to reverse the trend, a damning new report has revealed.

The report, released Friday, says governments around the world are failing to prevent over fishing on the high seas -- pushing many of the world's fish stocks to the brink of commercial extinction.

Groups set up to manage fisheries in international waters often do little to improve the situation, the report from the World Wildlife Federation and TRAFFIC  (the wildlife trade monitoring network) says.

"Vast overcapacity in authorized fleets, overfishing of stocks ... the virtual absence of robust rebuilding strategies for seriously depleted stocks and a lack of precaution ... are all characteristic of the management regimes currently in place," the report says.

Illegal fishing and deep sea bottom-trawling practices that wreak havoc on the ocean floor have put species such as tuna and orange roughy at risk.

And in other cases, such as on the Grand Banks off Canada's east coast, vital cod stocks are being devastated, despite Canada's best efforts to protect them.

Dr Simon Cripps, the director of the WWF's Global Marine Program, told The Associated Press that the Canadian government is protecting cod stocks in its national waters, but is unable to police the Grand Banks, which extend into international waters where others are overfishing.

As a result, cod stocks are being decimated and Atlantic Canada communities that garner their income from fishing are feeling the financial crunch.

The report was released ahead of a New York meeting to review the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement.

The agreement manages the legal framework for the international management of salt-water fish stocks in international waters -- areas not protected by national fishing laws.

Cripps said countries like Canada, Australia and England must take more responsibility to help solve the problem.

Within the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, for example, some members have ignored established fishing quotas and set their own without consultation, with many regularly exceeding the quota limits.

Other countries refuse to join regional Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) altogether, a trend the report describes as "alarming," because it undermines the efforts of countries working to establish sustainable fishing practices.

"RFMOs are an established and critical mechanism for combating over-fishing," Cripps said.

"RFMOs must immediately implement their conservation and management measures if they're to prevent empty oceans, empty plates and lost livelihoods in the future."

Although overfishing is a major contributor to the problem, better law enforcement on its own won't solve the problem, according to the report.

"One hundred per cent legal, reported and regulated fishing activity would still result in unsustainable fishing in the absence of improved decision-making and the robust application of the precautionary approach," the report states.

The report recommends RFMOs implement a number of measures, including the following:

• Establish management strategies with the goal of ensuring sustainability within specific species;
• Set targets for the rebuilding of over-fished and struggling stocks;
• Communicate more clearly about plans to expand and allocate fishing opportunities;
• Establish a mechanism to facilitate communication and sharing of experiences and methods.

"These recommendations are directed towards strengthening the will and capacity of RFMOs and their member States, promoting the adoption of precautionary and ecosystem approaches to management, facilitating continuous improvement and accountability, and maximizing opportunities for collaboration and transparency," according to the report.

The goal of the 64-page report dubbed Follow the Leader: Learning from experience and best practice in regional fisheries management organizations, is to inform the upcoming discussions in New York.