Marine fisheries are very important to the economy and well-being of coastal communities. Maintaining the long-term prosperity and sustainability of marine fisheries is not only of political and social significance but also of economic and ecological importance. This review presents an updated assessment of the current status of the world's marine fishery resources. Its aim is to provide the FAO Committee on Fisheries, policy-makers, civil society, fishers and managers of world fishery resources with a comprehensive, objective and global review of the state of the living marine resources of the oceans. The review was based mainly on official catch statistics up until 2009 and relevant stock assessment and other complementary information available until 2010. This review consists of four major components. The first is a global overview of marine fishery production and the state of marine fish resources. The second part is divided into chapters that summarize and compile the information available for each FAO major fishing area, together with a discussion of the major trends and changes that have occurred with the main fishery resources exploited in each area and comments on the stock assessment work undertaken in support of fisheries management in each region. The third section is allocated to special topics that attract great attention in the international community, including tuna and tuna-like species, sharks, the Pacific islands region, deep-sea fisheries, and fisheries and long-term climate variability. The final part lists all the tables that provide details about historical and recent catches for the major marine resources and, where possible, assessments of the most current state of exploitation of fish stocks.