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Many freshwater fish species have declined by 76 percent in less than 50 years
Around the world, migratory freshwater fish numbers are dropping faster than migratory species both on land and in the ocean, a new study finds.
Migratory freshwater fish are among the most threatened animals on the planet, a new report by a coalition of environmental organizations shows.
The global assessment, described as the first of its kind, found that populations of migratory freshwater fish have declined by 76 percent between 1970 and 2016—a higher rate of decline than both marine and terrestrial migratory species.
“We think migratory freshwater fish might be in even greater peril” than the dramatic drop the report indicates, says the report’s lead author, Stefanie Deinet of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). “Adding currently missing information from tropical regions where threats of habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, and climate change have been increasing, will surely bend the curve of loss downwards.”
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