Nature & Animals Quote by Bjorn Lomborg

Lomborg’s line is a pressure-release valve for a debate that loves absolutes. He starts with a disarming concession to optimism: “we’re catching more fish per person than we’ve ever done before.” That framing borrows the authority of a big, clean metric and the seduction of progress narratives: if the trend line is up, the system must be working. Then he pivots on “doesn’t mean,” a compact rebuke to the statistical fallacy of mistaking aggregate success for universal health.

The intent is strategic moderation. Lomborg isn’t trying to join the apocalyptic choir about oceans collapsing, nor is he handing industry a victory lap. He’s carving out a third position: yes, human ingenuity, markets, and management have boosted yields; no, that doesn’t absolve us of localized failure. The phrase “particular places” matters. It shifts the problem from a global morality play to a map. Fisheries aren’t one ocean-sized patient; they’re a patchwork of regimes, enforcement capacities, and incentives. Bad rules in one region can coexist with good governance elsewhere, and averages will happily hide the wreckage.

Subtext: the fight is over what counts as evidence. Environmental arguments often rely on emblematic disasters; technocratic rebuttals rely on broad indicators. Lomborg is saying: you can have both, and policy should be built to handle that complexity. Contextually, it echoes his broader brand of “measured” contrarianism: acknowledge real damage, resist totalizing narratives, and push for targeted interventions over sweeping panic. The line works because it calls out a common rhetorical scam: using “overall” as a synonym for “fine.”