US EditionDecline in migratory fish populations prompts fight for protection
- On Tuesday, a United Nations report released at the COP15 summit in Campo Grande, Brazil, detailed rapid collapse of migratory freshwater fish populations, urging "urgent coordinated cross-border collaboration" to prevent further losses.
- Migratory freshwater fish populations have plummeted by roughly 81% since 1970, driven by dam construction, habitat fragmentation, pollution, and overfishing that disrupt essential spawning and feeding corridors.
- Dr. Zeb Hogan, biology professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, identified 325 species as candidates for urgent international protection, with 97% of currently listed species facing extinction.
- Brazil and regional governments are proposing a Multi-species Action Plan for Amazonian Migratory Catfish, targeting priority basins including the Amazon, Ganges-Brahmaputra, and Nile for coordinated management.
- Managing rivers as connected ecological systems rather than isolated national waterways is the only fundamental solution to ensure species recovery, as experts emphasize that "rivers don't recognize borders.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Hidden 'Beneath the Surface,' Freshwater Fish Migrations Collapsing Worldwide
“Rivers don't recognize borders—and neither do the fish that depend on them," said one researcher. "The crisis unfolding beneath our waterways is far more severe than most people realize, and we are running out of time."
Freshwater migratory fish populations have fallen by some 81% since 1970.
The stocks of migratory freshwater fish have collapsed by 81 percent since 1970, warns a Uno report. Some animals travel distances of more than ten thousand kilometres – in the future this will probably no longer work.
Migratory fish collapse 81% and alert global extinction in an ecological crisis that advances below the surface and that already places these species among the most threatened on the planet. The data is strong and not visible: since 1970, their populations have fallen 81%, while 97% of the species protected by the UN are already at risk of disappearance, a collapse that compromises not only biodiversity, but also the food and economy of hundreds…
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