Human activity threatening various species of fresh water fish, scientists say
Kathmandu, February 24. Researchers have argued that human activities such as overfishing, industrialization and deforestation have endangered the freshwater fish biodiversity, with nearly one-third of the world’s species under the threat of extinction.
According to the latest report published by 16 conservation groups, 18,075 species of freshwater fishes make up 51% of all fish species, primary source of income for 60 million people worldwide. But, due to excessive fishing, 23% of the freshwater species are on the verge of extinction.
The team of French and Chinese researchers who studied 10,682 fish species living in 2,456 river basins, found that 84% of the world’s rivers have been heavily damaged by anthropogenic activities like Deforestation and industrialization. A total of 170 species are thought to have gone extinct. 80 species have already been declared ‘extinct’ by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, out of which, 16 species disappeared in 2020 alone.
Moreover, the population size of migratory species also shrunk by 76 per cent since 1970. And, the population of mega-fish has also seen a catastrophic decline by 94 per cent in the same period of time.
Click here to read the detailed research article entitled “The World’s Forgotten Fishes”.
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