WWF highlights bluefin tuna’s return to British waters
WWF cites the return of bluefin tuna to British waters as a conservation success, while its wider report estimates steep declines in monitored wildlife populations.
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Bluefin tuna have returned in large numbers off the British coast after overfishing of the fish and its prey had largely driven them from UK waters by the 1960s. WWF highlights the return in its 2026 Living Planet Report as an example of wildlife recovery. The report credits international measures including lower catch quotas, size limits and protection of spawning grounds. [1]
Hannah Rudd, head of marine at the Angling Trust, called bluefin tuna “a golden case study that fisheries management works”. WWF also points to an estimated rise in wild tiger numbers, from about 3,200 in 2010 to 5,700 in 2025. [1]
Those recoveries sit alongside a steep decline in WWF’s global wildlife index. Compiled with the Zoological Society of London, it tracks nearly 36,000 populations of almost 6,000 vertebrate species. WWF estimates that the average size of monitored populations has fallen by 73% since 1970. That figure measures average population change; it does not mean 73% of individual wild animals have disappeared. [1]
About half the populations in the index are stable or growing, but losses elsewhere outweigh those gains. Dr Katie Collins of London’s Natural History Museum says the index also leaves out plants, insects and other non-vertebrates. [1]
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