The World’s Forgotten Fishes
The new report ‘The World’s Forgotten Fishes’ by the WWF highlights the importance of improving our care for freshwater fish.
Taken from the report:
Rivers, lakes and wetlands are among the most biodiverse places on earth. They cover less than 1% of the planet’s total surface, yet they’re home to almost a quarter of all vertebrate species – including over half of all the world’s fish species.
It’s an extraordinary fact: 51% of all known species of fish live in freshwater - 18,075 species. And more are being discovered all the time.
But few people have any idea of the unimaginable diversity that swims below the surface of the world’s freshwater ecosystems or how critical these undervalued and overlooked freshwater fishes are to the health of people and nature around the world.
Freshwater fishes account for almost 1/4 of all the world’s vertebrate species;
Freshwater fishes provide food for 200 million people;
And livelihoods for 60 million;
Recreational fishing is valued at over US$100 billion per year;
But 1/3rd of freshwater fishes are threatened with extinction;
And 80 species are already extinct.
The history of humanity is tied to waterways – and freshwater fish. About 25,000 years ago, people even carved a salmon on a cave wall. Our civilisations developed beside rivers and lakes; our cities, towns and villages relying on them for water, food, power, navigation and sanitation. People’s lives have long been shaped by the life cycles of fishes and the pulsing flows of the rivers they live in.
Promoting thriving populations of freshwater fishes and the ecosystems within which they thrive is a priority for WWF and the 15 organisations and alliances that produced this report.