Statement from the Pew Environment Group on the Hilborn-Worm Study on Rebuilding...

Statement from the Pew Environment Group on the Hilborn-Worm Study on
Rebuilding Global Fisheries Published in Science

WASHINGTON, July 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rebecca Goldburg, director of
Marine Science at the Pew Environment Group, issued the following statement
today in response to a paper published in the journal Science. The paper's
lead authors, Dr. Ray Hilborn and Dr. Boris Worm, who have held differing
views about the status of global ocean fisheries in the past, collaborated on
the research for this study. They were joined by 19 co-authors.

"A large and diverse group of leading fisheries scientists and ecologists have
concluded that the common benchmark now used to determine the amount of ocean
fish to catch is not a viable approach for managing our oceans. The study
disproves the notion that we can push catch targets to their limits and still
maintain healthy ocean ecosystems. Fishing targets must be more conservative
than they have been in the past.

"Two scientists who once held opposing views about the state of ocean
fisheries now agree about the significance of global fisheries declines and
the solutions needed to reverse these trends. If fishery managers worldwide
heed these important scientific findings, then we have an extraordinary
opportunity to restore ocean fisheries."

The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable
Trusts, a non-governmental organization that applies a rigorous, analytical
approach to improving public policy, informing the public and stimulating
civic life.

SOURCE Pew Environment Group

Jo Knight of Pew Environment Group, +1-202-552-2070, jknight@pewtrusts.org