Bluefin tuna, which disappeared from British waters in the 1960s after overfishing and depleted prey stocks pushed them to near disappearance, have now returned in striking numbers off the UK coast.

WWF's Living Planet Report 2026 presents the species as a standout success in fisheries management: governments reduced catch quotas, imposed size limits, and protected crucial spawning grounds, while consumers, chefs, and retailers backed campaigns for more responsible choices.

Hannah Rudd, head of marine at the Angling Trust, described the result as close to an "explosion" in the population and called bluefin a "golden case study" proving fisheries management works when science, policy, and public support align.

The surprise is the speed and scale of the rebound. A species that heavy international fishing pressure had effectively erased from UK seas is now abundant enough that the Angling Trust's Hannah Rudd describes a near-explosion in numbers, according to the report coverage.

The recovery followed a concentrated international effort rather than any single measure, combining binding catch quotas and size limits with habitat protection for spawning grounds.

Crucially, the story shows that even heavily depleted, commercially targeted predatory fish can rebuild when enforcement and monitoring are sustained — a real-world counterexample to the assumption that large ocean predators are beyond saving once collapsed.

The tuna revival sits inside a sobering bigger picture.

Working with the Zoological Society of London, WWF tracked nearly 36,000 populations of almost 6,000 vertebrate species and found monitored wildlife populations have fallen by an average of 73% since 1970 — a figure reflecting population size changes, with roughly half of populations stable or increasing.

Alongside the tuna, the report records other wins: wild tigers rose from about 3,200 in 2010 to around 5,700 by 2025, the green sea turtle became the first marine turtle downgraded from "endangered" to "least concern" in 2025 after work in roughly 80 countries, and elephant numbers have stabilized or grown in parts of southern Africa thanks to community-benefit laws.

The report also flags an economic imbalance: in 2023 an estimated $7.3 trillion flowed into activities that harm nature, versus about $220 billion spent protecting or restoring it — roughly 33 to one.

Mike Barrett, WWF-UK's chief scientific adviser, told the report's publishers this is the first Living Planet Report whose main message centers squarely on hope — a "science of hope" rooted in action, clear goals, and credible plans rather than wishful thinking.

Yet he also framed the moment as a closing window of opportunity, warning that pressures from habitat loss, intensive farming, and fossil-fuel-driven climate change keep growing.

Experts caution the index itself has blind spots: Dr Katie Collins, a senior curator at the Natural History Museum in London, notes it largely covers vertebrates and excludes plants, insects, and invertebrates such as garden snails, whose loss can cascade — song thrushes that feed on snails would suffer too.

WWF's challenge now is scaling the tuna, tiger, turtle, and elephant successes so they become the rule rather than the exception.