SINDHUDURG, India (AP) — Two years after switching nets, Indian fishermen say local fish stocks are recovering since they adopted a square-shaped mesh that allows small fish to escape to maintain a breeding population.

The project is one of many being showcased at a major conference on oceans beginning Monday at U.N. headquarters, where the United Nations will plead with nations to help halt a global assault on marine life and ecosystems that is threatening jobs, economies and even human lives.

Communities along India's tropical western coast have suffered from overfished oceans and pollution. Though there is no data collected yet to prove it, the fishermen say the change in nets has yielded positive results already.

About 90 percent of wild fisheries around the world are over-exploited or collapsed.