Freshwater Fish thrown a lifeline by Global Conservation Experts
19 March 2007 | News story The plight facing freshwater fishes
was tackled by some of the world’s leading conservationists in a
week long gathering earlier this month. Many of the world’s
14,000 freshwater fish species are in difficulty because of
climate change, over-fishing, pollution, damming and habitat
destruction. The effects have already been felt in the Amazon
Basin, where 5,000 species are at risk as the basin faces its
worst drought in many years. In a global effort to tackle these
problems, Chester Zoo, UK, hosted a five day meeting of the IUCN
SSC Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (managed jointly by IUCN
and Wetlands International). Professor Gordon McGregor Reid,
IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group Chair and Chester Zoo’s
Director General chaired the meeting, where experts united to
pull together action plans to identify and monitor the
situation, publicise the work in progress and develop a global
strategy for fish conservation.