And some of the causes are also undisputed, and decades old: fishing, pollution, habitat changes.
The main driver of their decline is not clear because of the sheer range of human activities operating along China's longest river, but sand dredging, shipping, legal and illegal fishing, pollution, habitat degradation and a reduction of fish prey are all factors.
The treaty would regulate deep-sea mining, maritime transit, fishing, pollution and oceanic research.
It also pointed out that when local threats from fishing, pollution, and so forth diminish, reefs can rebound.
The study looked at a number of factors, including fishing, pollution and sea temperature, but did not consider the impact of coastal development.
Species still occurring on the Korean Peninsula have survived near total deforestation of the landscape, heavy fishing, pollution, and, in South Korea, a period of rapid urbanization since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
In addition, specific threats to the world's oceanic ecosystems include habitat loss, global climate change, overexploitation and other effects of fishing, pollution, species introductions/invasive species, the physical alteration of coasts and watersheds, and marine litter.
Another concern is that reefs that are already stressed from other human insults such as dynamite fishing, pollution, and sedimentation are less resilient to more frequent bleaching events.
For decades, President Remengesau, who comes from a family of fishermen himself, witnessed the impacts of illegal, unregulated fishing, pollution, coastal runoff and other stressors.
Overfishing, illegal fishing, pollution and climate change are just a handful of the many problems facing our seas which the report highlights.
