Continuing momentum and funding for the final phase-out is crucial to maintaining this unprecedented international success story. However, depletion of fish stocks below sustainable-yield levels is also a major driver of ecological and evolutionary harm to marine ecosystems. The percentage of overfished stocks that remain within safe biological limits has been falling over time. As a result of this 40-year deterioration in the condition of global fisheries, fish stocks are now below the level at which they can produce maximum sustainable yields.