Scientists Challenge WWF Claim that Global Tuna and Mackerel Stocks are down by 74%
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton October 5, 2015
The WWF claimed in a new report called 'The Living Planet Index' that tuna and mackerel populations have declined by 74% between 1970 and 2012.
"Louise Heaps, chief advisor on marine policy at WWF UK, said: “This is catastrophic. We are destroying vital food sources, and the ecology of our oceans.” She also said there were solutions. “It’s not all doom-and-gloom. There are choices we can make. But it is urgent.”
Unfortunately, it is the doom and gloom headlines that drive money and interest for the WWF.
Among the CFOOD group of scientists responding to false fishery claims, several have made substantive comments about this WWF claim, and found it wrong. (Their full arguments
can be found here.) Their criticisms do not mean that there should not be more effective tuna management in the Pacific, but rather, WWF should not support such efforts with scientifically questionable claims.
Victor Restrepo, chair of the scientific advisory committee of the ISSF, said "A new publication, the Living Blue Planet Report, states that the populations of tunas and their mackerel and bonito relatives (i.e., the family Scombridae) declined 74% between 1970 and 2010. This certainly caught my attention because I am familiar with the stock assessments of tunas conducted by the scientific bodies of the Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (TRFMOs) and their combined status does not seem to support that magnitude of decline...
To Read Full Story Login Below.