Bluefin tuna have come back in numbers off the Cornwall coast

Atlantic bluefin tuna are showing up again in numbers off Britain, including off Cornwall, after nearly vanishing from UK waters. BBC News reported on October 8, 2026, that WWF's Living Planet Report uses the return as evidence that conservation can work. Britain once had large tuna fisheries. Overfishing of the tuna and of the smaller fish they eat meant that by the 1960s the species had largely gone from these waters.

The report credits an international effort: lower catch quotas, size limits, and protection of spawning grounds, backed by campaigns from consumers, chefs, and retailers. Hannah Rudd, head of marine at the Angling Trust, told the BBC the result was close to an explosion in the population, and called bluefin a case that fisheries management works. Mike Barrett, WWF-UK's chief scientific adviser, said it is not too late.

The same report found that monitored wildlife populations worldwide have fallen by an average of 73 percent since 1970, and WWF said nature is still in freefall even with these recoveries. The tuna off Cornwall are a comeback with a paper trail. They are not a claim that the global average has turned around.