This paper serves to set the stage for the conference on the history, status, and future of New England's offshore fisheries. From a global perspective, it provides a brief overview of the geological, physical, and biological processes and features that make New England one of the world's most productive temperate shelf regions, exceeding the primary and secondary production of other renowned temperate fishing grounds. Bathymetry, climate, and tides create a complex mixing regime that enhances nutrient cycling and primary productivity especially over Georges Bank and northeast Gulf of Maine. The glacially influenced coast and seabed create a unique benthic habitat along the US east coast that is a nursery to lobsters and cod, two of the regions most valuable fisheries. Considering the diversity of its habitats, however, New England's marine fauna are rather impoverished due to extinctions related to polar cooling, glaciation, and the absence of suitable refuge habitat to the south. Today's faunal distributions are attributed to recovered ranges pushed south during the glaciation and reinvasions from Europe. The steep north-south thermal gradient along the coast makes it a faunal transition zone. Over the past four centuries, man has contributed to dramatic shifts in the composition of New England's marine biotic communities through harvesting and species introductions. Growing human pressure and the dynamic nature of the productivity of New England waters raise increasing concern over the sustainability of its fisheries.