According to the international environmental group the cost of managing such reserves -- which would need to cover 30 percent of the world's oceans to ensure the regeneration of stocks -- would be between 12 and 14 billion dollars (10-11.6 billion euros).

"This is less than the 15-30 billion dollars (12-24 billion euros) already spent each year on economically and environmentally damaging subsidies to commercial fisheries," the report said.

WWF said that although the idea of creating special marine reserves was first mooted at the UN-organised World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, this is the first time the scheme has been costed.

The study showed that its proposed marine parks, which currently represent just 0.5 percent of the world's oceans, would increase the value of the catch to 80 billion dollars (66 billion dollars) each year.

"These networks of marine protection areas would generate between 830,000 and 1.1 million full-time jobs," the study said.

The group argues that the system of subsidising fishing fleets around the world contributes to the over-exploitation of marine resources and to over-capacity in the sector.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is currently discussing a proposal by New Zealand to eliminate subsidies.

It has been backed by about a dozen countries including the United States, Chile, Australia and Norway but criticised by the European Union and Japan.

TERRA.WIRE