'The news is a "powerful sign" that despite increasing pressure on our oceans, species can recover, if states commit to sustainable practices, said IUCN Director General, Dr Bruno Oberle.
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the "gold standard" for measuring how close animal and plant species are to dying out. Some 139,000 species have been assessed over the last half-century, with nearly 39,000 now threatened with extinction, while 902 have gone extinct.
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Tuna stocks in some areas remain of concern, such as bluefin tuna in western parts of the Atlantic and yellowfin in the Indian Ocean.
"The take home message for the general public is that things like albacore tuna - which is the one that is widely on supermarket shelves - is of least concern now - it means that what they're eating has been sustainably caught and is well managed," Craig Hilton-Taylor, who heads the IUCN Red List, told BBC News.
But he said while some marine species are recovering many others are under huge pressure. "We can't sit back - this is a wake-up call to the world that we need to do much more about our oceans and the biodiversity in them."
Tuna have been at the forefront of efforts to make fishing practices more sustainable. The likes of skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye and albacore tuna are consumed by millions of people across the world and one of the most commercially valuable fish.
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Susan Lieberman, vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, who is a conference veteran, said the release of the latest update would drive government and multi-lateral action to save threatened and endangered species.
She said the meeting, postponed since 2020 and taking place both online and in-person, was crucial for determining the future direction of conservation policy amid the crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and the pandemic.'
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Tuna bounce back, but sharks in 'desperate' decline, September 4, 2021
Context(Global Healing 2020 - 2050)(BBC) - Oceans can be successfully restored by 2050, say scientists'Humanity needs to "grow up" and deal with the issue of climate change .. very substantial reductions by 2030.'