An important new study of the world’s fisheries has found that management efforts especially in developmentally advanced nations — notably the U.S., New Zealand and Iceland — have been effective in reversing declines caused by chronic overfishing. The headliners behind the new story are Boris Worm and his former nemesis, Ray Hilborn, who had sharply criticized Worm’s past work as being motivated by an anti-fishing agenda, not by true science.
A team of 21 scientists from academia and government, many with extensive ties to Pew, worked two years on the study, titled "Rebuilding Global Fisheries." And its findings contrast sharply with previous findings by Pew and other ENGO scientists, that suggested the oceans were so "overfished" that many stocks were on a path to extinction.
The report appears in the latest issue of Science magazine. It presents a more hopeful picture than previous alarmist predictions by the chief author, Boris Worm, and colleagues of his who have produced many academic studies funded by the Pew Environment Group and associated environmental non-government organizations.