More than four in ten of Europe’s freshwater fish species at risk of extinction, new Red List warns

More than four in ten of Europe’s freshwater fish species at risk of extinction, new Red List warns

Updated European Red List shows the situation has worsened since 2011 — Institute of Fisheries Management calls findings “a wake-up call” and urges urgent, basin-scale action across the UK and Ireland.

A major new assessment published by the European Commission and the IUCN warns that more than 42% of Europe’s freshwater fish species are now threatened with extinction — and that the proportion of threatened species has risen by 5% since the last assessment in 2011. The Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM) is calling on UK and Irish governments, regulators and industry to translate the findings into urgent, science-led action.

The European Red List of Freshwater Fishes — the second edition since the original 2011 assessment — covers all 558 native species across the continent. It finds that nearly two-thirds of Europe’s freshwater fishes (around 59%) are now of elevated conservation concern, either threatened or close to qualifying for a threatened category. Twenty species are now considered globally extinct.

Key findings

  • Europe-wide, more than 42% of freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction; in the EU-27 the figure is more than 41%.
  • Of extant species, 9% are Critically Endangered (46 species), 19% Endangered (101 species), 14% Vulnerable (75 species) and a further 18% Near Threatened.
  • The proportion of threatened species has risen by 5% since 2011.
  • All sturgeons, freshwater eels, mudminnows and European toothcarps are now threatened.
  • Migratory fish are faring far worse than non-migratory species: almost 39% of migratory species are in decline, compared with around 14% of non-migratory species.
  • Population trends remain unknown for nearly 75% of species — a critical knowledge gap.

Why this should concern us

The report identifies four principal drivers of decline that will be deeply familiar to UK and Irish fisheries managers: dams and other water-management infrastructure (affecting 69% of Europe’s freshwater fishes), pollution (agricultural runoff affecting 66% of species, domestic and urban wastewater 62%), invasive non-native species (56%) and climate change.

Freshwater fishes are not just vital to angling, commercial fisheries and food security. They are powerful ecological indicators: when fish populations decline, our rivers, lochs and lakes are telling us they are in trouble. The report also notes that nearly a third of EU species identified as being of elevated conservation concern remain unprotected under existing legislation — a gap the IFM believes the UK and Ireland must avoid replicating.

UK SPOTLIGHT
The European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) — Critically Endangered
Once one of the most abundant fish in British and Irish waters, the European Eel is now Critically Endangered and singled out in the new report as “a particularly prominent case.” Eels need free-flowing rivers to complete their remarkable transatlantic life cycle, but the report notes that millions of wild-caught individuals are translocated and restocked across Europe each year, often without rigorous monitoring — with conservation benefits the authors describe as “uncertain and contested.”The eel’s decline matters far beyond the species itself: it is an indicator of the ecological health of rivers across the UK and Ireland, and a test of whether modern fisheries management can rebuild what generations of obstruction, pollution and overuse have eroded.

Statement from the IFM Chief Executive

“This Red List is a wake-up call. More than four in ten of Europe’s freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction, and the picture is worse, not better, than it was in 2011. From the European Eel struggling to navigate our rivers to the salmonids feeling the heat in our lochs and lakes, our fisheries are signalling distress, and the science could not be clearer.”

“We’ve spent years talking about catchment-scale management, barrier removal, pollution control and invasive-species response. The Red List shows that talking is no longer enough. We need joined-up, basin-scale action backed by proper investment in monitoring and research, and we need it now — matched by political will and policy that follows the evidence.”

— Paul Coulson, Chief Executive, Institute of Fisheries Management

What needs to happen

The IFM echoes the report’s call for an integrated, basin-scale response and is urging UK and Irish governments to act on five priorities:

  1. Restore free-flowing rivers — an estimated 1.2 million dams, weirs and barrages now fragment Europe’s freshwater systems. Removal of obsolete structures and fish-passage solutions for those that remain must be accelerated.
  2. Cut pollution at source — particularly the agricultural and urban-wastewater inputs that affect more than 60% of Europe’s freshwater fishes.
  3. Strengthen invasive non-native species control, monitoring and rapid response.
  4. Invest in long-term population monitoring — the report’s biggest single knowledge gap is that population trends are unknown for nearly three-quarters of species.
  5. Close the legislative gap so that threatened species are properly protected in law, with enforcement to match.

You can read the full report below

european red list of freshwater fishes-KH0924558ENNDownload