Abstract
Biodiversity loss is a global problem, accelerated by human-induced pressures. In the marine realm, one of the major threats to species conservation, together with climate change, is overfishing. In this context, having information on the conservation status of target commercial marine fish species becomes crucial for assuring safe standards. We put together fisheries statistics from the FAO, the IUCN Red List, FishBase, and RAM Legacy databases to understand to what extent top commercial species’ conservation status has been assessed. Levels of assessment for top-fished species were higher than those for general commercial or highly commercial species, but almost half of the species have outdated assessments. We found no relation between IUCN Red List traits and FishBase Vulnerability Index, depreciating the latter value as a guidance for extinction threat. The RAM database suggests good management of more-threatened species in recent decades, but more data are required to assess whether the trend has reverted in recent years. Outdated IUCN Red List assessments can benefit from reputed stock assessments for new reassessments. The future of IUCN Red List evaluations for commercial fish species relies on integrating new parameters from fisheries sources and improved collaboration with fisheries stakeholders and managers.
Highlights
Mankind has had an especially close bond with the sea
The objective of the present study is, to understand how top-fished marine commercial species are categorized in the IUCN Red List and evaluate the degree of knowledge we have on their conservation status
Solutions for restoring marine and the fish species that live in them are still under debate, but scholars and international ecosystems and the fish species that live in them are still under debate, but scholars and organizations agree that sustainable management is becoming more and more urgent in international organizations agree that sustainable management is becoming more and more urgent in several fish stocks [37]
Summary
Marine fisheries are the main contributors of seafood (referred to as finfish and marine invertebrates) for human consumption [3,4], with almost six-billion tons of fish and invertebrates taken from the oceans since the 1950s [5], contributing to 17% of global human protein intake and sustaining millions of jobs [6]. In this context, their importance is closely linked to their long-term sustainability. SDG14 on “Life below water” had the same goal of effectively regulating overfishing and rebuilding stocks to levels that produce maximum sustainable yield by 2020 (sub-target 14-4)
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