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SHOAL has launched an ambitious new initiative to mobilise conservation action for 1,000 of Earth’s most threatened freshwater fish species by 2035.
Conservation action for 1,000 freshwater fishes by 2035? There’s a reason for conservation optimism. Keep scrolling to learn more about one of our most ambitious campaigns to date.
In April we launched the SHOAL Blueprint for Accelerated Conservation Action for 1,000 Freshwater Fishes by 2035, an exciting and ambitious new initiative that will place at least 1,000 threatened freshwater fishes on the path to recovery by 2035.
It’s not just a plan for 1,000 fishes. It’s a plan for hundreds of critical freshwater habitats, vital to thousands of other species and communities – very often the poorest on the planet – that rely on these fish and the freshwater habitats for their everyday lives.
The Blueprint was pulled together with the expert support and guidance from SHOAL partners the IUCN SSC Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG) and IUCN Biodiversity Assessment and Knowledge Team (BAKT).
Freshwater fishes have been largely neglected in conservation planning and yet the ecosystems they inhabit are vital to the survival of the planet. The incredible diversity of freshwater fishes in only 1% of the Earth’s surface area represents more than half of fish diversity overall. The Blueprint is therefore an extremely welcome and important call to action to halt the loss of so many species under the threat of extinction.
Brian Zimmerman, Co-Chair, IUCN SSC Freshwater Fish Specialist Group
The blueprint was launched in April at an event kindly hosted by the Fishmongers’ Company at Fishmongers’ Hall in London, where SHOAL‘s executive director Mike Baltzer presented how the crucial initiative will mobilise collaborative conservation efforts for global conservation impact.
The Blueprint is a fundamental framework to Phase Two of SHOAL‘s strategy, and will define the organisation’s work for the coming decade. It is wildly ambitious – perhaps the single most ambitious conservation framework in terms of species numbers ever written*!
*We’d welcome people pointing us in the direction of a more ambitious framework!
Freshwater fishes are slipping through the net of conservation and are silently sinking towards extinction. The Blueprint identifies which species need urgent attention and how to cost effectively and collaboratively implement conservation action at scale to ensure at least 1,000 species are under suitable conservation action within a decade. This is the scale of action required to save freshwater fishes and the time to act is now.
Barney Long, Senior Director of Conservation Strategies, Re:wild
This Blueprint is the level of ambition that is desperately needed to make up for the damage caused by decades of neglect in the world’s freshwaters, and to ensure they are conserved and protected long into the future. With funding and support from those able to offer it, it is very much achievable.
Hear what our partners say about working with SHOAL, and why the Blueprint is so critical 👇
The Blueprint shows the level of ambition and determination we need to turn back the tide on the freshwater biodiversity crisis, and halt extinctions and recover populations of the world’s most threatened freshwater fish. It is collaborative to its core and puts local communities at the forefront of impactful conservation action. It is urgent that we now push on and mobilise the conservation actions outlined by The Blueprint – our planet’s freshwaters depend on them.
Michael Baltzer, Executive Director, SHOAL
For freshwaters, the time for action is now.
Together – as a strong and determined shoal – we’ll show that collaborative conservation can change the trajectory for freshwater fishes and save the world’s freshwater ecosystems.
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