The World's Forgotten Fishes - 5

FOREWORD
World ignores freshwater fish at their peril - and ours
We're entering a critical time
for the future of the planet, and
the nations of the world finally
seem to be getting the message.
Governments are working to
ramp up their climate change
commitments under the Paris
Agreement and will be meeting in 2021 to
agree new targets to protect and restore nature
under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
There's consensus on the urgent need to stop
deforestation, wetland degradation, ocean
pollution and the decline in species populations,
and a growing wave of support for conserving
30 per cent of our planet by 2030. Meanwhile,
environmental issues like the impact of our
food systems, unsustainable production and
consumption, and microplastics are becoming
mainstream concerns.
In short, there's never been more awareness
of - or efforts made to solve - the pressing
environmental challenges we face. But there's
one glaring exception that seems to have
slipped under the decision-making radar: our
overlooked and undervalued freshwater fishes.
Not many people realize how important these
species are and even fewer realize quite how
seriously they're threatened.
Let's take their importance first. Did you know
there are more fish species living in fresh
water than in all our seas and oceans? Or that
hundreds of millions of people around the world
rely on them for their food and livelihoods,
particularly in vulnerable communities and
among indigenous peoples? Freshwater fishes
are also critical for the health of all kinds of
ecosystems, and support food webs that extend
from birds to bears, and from mountains to
mangroves. Beyond that they drive multibilliondollar industries for anglers and aquariumlovers alike, while historically they've been
entwined in cultures on every continent.
Nevertheless, our freshwater fishes are in
terrible trouble. Migratory populations have
fallen by three-quarters in the last 50 years.

During the same period, populations of
larger species - the so-called 'megafish' -
have crashed by a staggering 94 per cent.
Nearly a third of all freshwater fish species are
threatened by extinction - and for 80 extinct
species it's already too late.
There's no mystery about why freshwater
fish numbers are falling so precipitously:
habitat degradation, poorly planned
hydropower, pollution, over-abstraction
of water, unsustainable sand mining, the
introduction of invasive non-native species,
wildlife crime and, of course, climate
change are among the factors pushing fish
populations to the brink.
Clearly this can't continue: we must act, and
we must do it urgently because if we leave it
much longer it'll be too late. That's why WWF
and the 15 NGOs and alliances signed up to
this report are championing an Emergency
Recovery Plan for freshwater biodiversity and
taking action to reverse decades of decline.
The six-pillared plan is based on sound
science and real experience: we know the
measures it contains can work. By protecting
and restoring natural flows, water quality
and critical habitats while working to undo
the harm caused by overfishing, sand
mining and invasive species, we can make a
decisive difference.
We can and we must act now. Freshwater
fishes, in all their dazzling diversity, have
been forgotten for too long. I hope that
when you read this report you'll agree,
and that together we can pull them back
from the brink.

Dr Jon Hutton,
WWF Executive Director
Global Conservation Impact
The World's Forgotten Fishes page 5

The World's Forgotten Fishes

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The World's Forgotten Fishes