Changing climatic conditions are affecting the relationship between fishing communities and the marine resources they depend on. This shift will require an adaptive response on the part of policy makers and fishery managers. In the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) established, in its fisheries agency (NOAA Fisheries), a set of social indicators of fishing community vulnerability and resilience to evaluate the impacts of changes in fishery management regimes.

It is widely documented that marine debris is detrimental to the marine ecological environment. While there are various sources of marine debris, that generated by ships constitutes a significant proportion. Annex V of MARPOL 73/78 is to regulate the discharge of garbage from ships; in particular, it prohibits all kinds of plastics from being discharged into ocean. However, most fishing vessels are virtually exempt from such regulations due to their low gross tonnage, below 400 t.