Water Wheel May/June 2021: Freshwaterfish

Abstract

New movement aimed at saving region’s freshwater fish Nowhere is the world’s biodiversity crisis more acute than in freshwater ecosystems. Around a third of freshwater species are threatened with extinction. Only a third of the world’s large rivers are still free-flowing and around 35% of wetlands have been lost in the past five decades. This stark reality has been outlined in a recent report, The World’s Forgotten Fishes. Scientists involved say populations of migratory fish have fallen by three-quarters in the last 50 years. Over the same time, populations of larger species, known as “megafish” , have crashed by 94%. In this report, scientists warned of a “catastrophic” decline in freshwater fish over recent decades. Approximately 80 species were known to have gone extinct, 16 in the last year alone. Much of the decline is driven by the poor state of rivers, mostly due to pollution, dams and sewage ending up in waterways. The report also lists the introduction of invasive non-native species, overfishing and climate change as threats to aquatic biodiversity.

Categories