Up to a third of freshwater fish are facing extinction making them the most endangered group of animals on the planet according to research being published by fishery scientists and reported in The Daily Telegraph.
Threatened species include the European eel, Shetland char, sturgeon, Mekong catfish and the Giant Freshwater Stingray; the latter two species the largest known wholly freshwater fish in existence.
As far as UK anglers are concerned the eel is perhaps the most pertinent example of a species in crisis as the number of new glass eels entering rivers declined to 10% of former levels during the 1990’s and recent figures show that this has now dropped to 1%.
The crash has occurred across the entire European continent with no single, obvious cause although possible causes include over-exploitation, inland habitat loss, climate and ocean current change, disease and pollution.
As far as the other species are concerned it is clear that there are diverse factors involved but over-fishing, river engineering works, such as dams which prevent migration, and pollution are all likely to be involved to a greater or lesser extent.
The loss of species to sport fishing is clearly of concern to anglers but more pertinent is the fact that species loss will have disastrous economic and social consequences; in Africa alone it is thought some 7.5million people rely on freshwater fish for food and income.
Dr William Darwell of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature is quoted as saying: “There are big gaps in our knowledge but of the 5,685 species that have so far been assessed, 36% are threatened.”
