The ad hoc Consultative Meeting on Large Marine Ecosystems (LME), the first-ever meeting to what will become an annual consultation for the LMEs of the world, was held on the 23-24 January 1997 in UNESCO headquarters, Paris. The consultation was convened by The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and The World Conservation Union (IUCN). It was sponsored by IUCN and hosted by IOC in UNESCO, Paris. The meeting was chaired jointly by Dr Gunnar Kullenberg (IOC) and Dr Kenneth Sherman (NOAA). This Meeting was a follow up to the first Consultative meeting on the “Report of the meeting of the ad hoc Committee on Large Marine Ecosystems” held at IOC, 22-23 March. 1991.