conserving fresh water fishes

8/14/2019 Conserving Fresh Water Fishes

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Conserving Freshwater Fishes

Helen Meatcher


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Water as a resource

Freshwater is afinite resourceglobally.

Of the worldsfresh water 99%is unavailable toterrestrial and

freshwaterorganisms.


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Water as a resource

Lakes and riversconstitute < 0.001% ofthe worlds total watervolume.

22, 000 fish speciesextant globally, almosthalf found in freshwater

habitats.


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Freshwater habitats

Considered to be transient in time and space compared tomarine habitats.

River systems considered to be longer-lived than mostlakes.

Persistence reflected in species diversity. Can also be seenin long lived lakes such as Baikal and Tanganika.


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What is a fresh water fish?

Not all freshwater fish are restricted to afreshwater habitat. Stenohaline, live all their live in fresh water and

are physiologically adapted to cope with arestricted osmotic range of fresh water, e.g.cichlids, carps.

Euryhaline, can adapt to a wide range of

salinities. These include migratory fish such assalmonids and those that live in brackish waters,e.g. elasmobranchs and eels.


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Freshwater Fish as a resource:Food

Capture fisheries

Comprising of subsistence /artisanal orlarge scale fisheries.

Evidence that the actual capturefisheries catch may be twice thereported total i.e. 12 million tones peryear (Coates, 1995).

Aquaculture. Breeding fish for consumption


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Freshwater Fish as a resource:For Fun

Ornamental fish trade:

where they can have culturaland aesthetic significance.

$5 billion global ornamental fisherygrows 8 per cent annually. thelargest importer is the U.S. ($500million), followed by Europe andJapan (NABARD).

Sports fisheries.


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Why conserve freshwater fishspecies?

They provide good research tools as models forevolutionary processes

guppies, Anne Magurran.

Used in drug discovery

zebra fish, eggs and larvae.

Can help reduce vectors of significant diseases such asDengue fever

the mosquito fish, Gambusia affinis, in southern USA.


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Conflict between human uses of freshwater and protecting biodiversity

Examples are: Abstraction, irrigation for agriculture

or for industrial processing.

The Aral sea is all but dried up due toindustrial abstraction upstream, withconsequent release of toxins into thedwindling water supply.

Habitat modification, fragmentationand destruction.

2006

1964


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How are the problems beingresolved?

Condition of extant species monitored, evaluated andreported on.

Conservation organisations are providing informationto stakeholders in economic infrastructure.

Information disseminated to wider public as well asstakeholders, as education key to change.


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What is the future of fresh waterfish conservation

IUCN and Wetlands Group have created the Freshwater FishSpecialist Group, which brings together a global network of experts.

Aim of FFSG is to bring awareness of the importance of conservingfreshwater fish species and wetland habitats to the fore, and raise

funds for conservation action in the field and the production ofreference literature - Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes.

Threatened species can quickly become extinct, with a loss toglobal biodiversity. Where species drive an economy or are a staple

food, action must be taken by governments to prevent their loss.

Change will be driven by the educated choice of ordinary people.This will come about by bringing wider attention to this very politicalsubject.


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Any questions?

conserving fresh water fishes

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