Global conservation status of the world's most prominent forage fishes (Teleostei: Clupeiformes)

Abstract

Understanding the extinction risk of taxonomic groups increases our ability to prioritize efforts to address biodiversity loss. Over 400 species of herrings, shads, sardines, anchovies, menhadens, and relatives belong to the Order Clupeiformes and include many of the most important forage fishes. These small, schooling fishes are ecologically, economically, and culturally significant. However, despite their global contribution to fisheries and our increasing reliance on them for food and modern commodities, we lack critical information regarding basic biology and population trends for most species. We applied the IUCN Red List methodology, a comprehensive and systematic approach to assess extinction risk, to all clupeiform species. The best estimate suggests nearly 11% of species are of elevated conservation concern, although this could be as high as 36%. Two regions, the Caribbean and the Indo-Malay-Philippine Archipelago have high concentrations of threatened and Data Deficient species and are areas of conservation concern. Major threats include overexploitation, pollution, and habitat modification. Immediate conservation priorities include: 1) increasing research and mitigative action directed toward species assessed as threatened or Data Deficient; 2) improving fisheries management regulations for the understudied but heavily exploited species, and 3) promoting local, intensive habitat restoration to reduce pollution and remove dams. These extinction risk assessments and subsequent analyses should be used as an informative tool for fisheries and conservation managers and to monitor conservation progress.