WWF

An oil drilling rig operated by Royal Dutch Shell ran aground on a pristine wildlife-rich island in Alaska on Monday. This came after a series of technological failures in gale force winds and high seas—driving home serious concerns of WWF about drilling in the Arctic. "This incident is a clarion call to America that the rush for Alaska's oil is dangerous and irresponsible," says Margaret Williams, managing director of the WWF-US Arctic ...

Today the European Parliament's fisheries committee voted 13 to 10 in favour of the draft report on the Common Fisheries Policy Basic Regulation, the cornerstone of the Common Fisheries Policy reform package and the key to sustainable fisheries in the European Union. It was a difficult vote but all of the five WWF key asks for the Common Fisheries Policy reform were voted through on: Maximum Sustainable Yield – above MSY (BMSY) ...

Brussels, Belgium: An analysis launched today by WWF shows that over the past nine years fisheries ministers have only followed scientific advice  in 13 per cent of their decisions; and set fishing quotas on average 45 per cent higher than the recommended scientific advice. This means that ministers have approved fishing of 6.2 million extra tons of fish, in addition to the scientifically proposed catch levels – this is legalised overfishing.

The Fiji Albacore Tuna Longline Fishery has become the first in Fiji to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, an environmental standard to identify sustainable fisheries. This achievement, WWF says, promotes a future for tuna in the region, bringing major benefits to the fishing industry, and will result in positive impacts for consumers worldwide.

Manila, Philippines: WWF deplores that tuna managers once again are deferring meaningful action on bigeye tuna conservation by denying effective management measures adopted at the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCFPC) meeting closing today, ultimately risking the long term security of the region's people. While the commission made positive progress on conservation measures for seabirds, whale sharks, and satellite monitoring of fishing vessels, it failed to address two of the central species ...

Manila, Philippines: WWF urges the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) bringing together Pacific Island, Asian, the US, EU and other countries in their annual meeting, to adopt pragmatic rules for limiting the catch of species in the Western Central Pacific Ocean in an effort to stem overfishing occurring in the region.

WWF congratulates the Maldives Pole and Line Skipjack Fishery today for becoming the first Indian Ocean tuna fishery to receive certification according to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standards. WWF has been an active supporter of the Maldives aspirations for certification, as well as an active player throughout the whole assessment and accreditation process.

Conservation efforts by WWF and other environmental organizations have continued to forge ahead following Kenya designating the Tana River Delta as a Wetland of International Importance. With the Ramsar Secretariat's announcing that the Tana River Delta is now a Ramsar Site, the 163,600-hectare delta (02°27'S 040°17'E) becomes East Africa's second most important river mouth wetland after the Rufiji Delta in neighbouring Tanzania.

For the first time this year, one of the most threatened fish in the World, the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Bluefin tuna, could be now on the right road to recovery, thanks to decision makers deciding to stick to scientific advice for fishing quotas as from 2013, following ICCAT* meeting last Monday.

WWF congratulates decision makers from the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) for taking scientific advice and not increasing Atlantic bluefin tuna quotas to unsustainable levels. At the closing of the 18th Special Meeting of ICCAT the 48 Contracting Parties decided to follow advice provided by the Scientific Committee and agree on annual fishing quotas of 13,500 t from 2013.

Sydney, Australia - This morning, WWF congratulated the Federal Government of Australia on finalising the boundaries and basic layout of the world's largest network of marine parks. The conservation organisation also praised the high level of community support for the move. "This is an historic moment for marine conservation in Australia.

WWF reacted today to the warning issued by the EC to eight developing countries that they risk being identified as "non-cooperative" in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The countries in question are Belize, Cambodia, Fiji, Guinea, Panama, Sri Lanka, Togo and Vanuatu.