World Bank President robert Zoellick proposed a Global Partnership for Oceans on Friday in a campaign that aims to get various parties involved to restore the health and productivity of the world's oceans.

One of the first goals of the campaign is to increase the area covered by marine protected areas worldwide to about 5 percent of the ocean surface in the coming ten years, up from less than 2 percent currently, Zoellick said at the World Oceans Summit organized by the Economist magazine in Singapore.

In comparison, now around 12 percent of the world's land area is protected.

The goal is achievable and realistic, Zoellick said, adding that it will be followed by further steps when the goals are realized.

The campaign also aims to rebuild at least half of the world's fish stocks identified as depleted in the next ten years.

About 85 percent of the ocean fisheries are fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted, including most of the stocks of the top ten fish species, or about 30 percent of the world's marine capture fisheries production.

"There's no room for further expansion -- we need to start rebuilding," Zoellick said in a keynote speech.

The annual benefits of fisheries shall also be increased to between 20 billion and 30 billion U.S. dollars in the same period.

It is estimated that the global fisheries currently run a net economic loss of about 5 billion U.S. dollars per year, he said.

Zoellick said that the world's oceans are now threatened by overexploitation, pollution and the impact from the changing climate such as rising sea levels, higher temperatures and ocean acidification.

"We need a new S-O-S: Save Our Seas," he said, adding "to make our oceans healthy and productive again, we need greater cooperative and integrated action around the globe, so that our efforts add up to more than the sum of their parts."

The World Bank chief said the partnership will bring together the different countries, scientific centers, non-governmental organizations, foundations and the private sector to pool knowledge, experience, expertise and investment around the set of agreed upon goals.

The World Bank has track record in efforts to protect the oceans. Discussions are being held with Australia, Monaco, New Zealand and Norway about the partnership.

The response has been encouraging from many international organizations, environmental groups and foundations including the Prince of Wales Charities, too.

As a starting point, the Global Partnership for Oceans is committed to mobilizing at least 300 million U.S. dollars in catalytic finance, which would be used for technical assistance to support key governance reforms.

In total, it aims to leverage as much as 1.5 billion U.S. dollars over the next five years.

The World Bank will also be convening the first meeting of the Global Partnership for Oceans in Washington, the United States, in April this year, he said.

More than 70 percent of the Earth is covered by oceans, which provide about 15 percent of the animal protein for the world's population.

It is often the poor who feel the greatest harm when we devalue our natural capital, Zoellick said.

It is estimated that 1 billion people in developing countries depend on fish and seafood for their primary source of protein, and over half a billion in developing countries depend on fishing as a livelihood.

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