Illegal and unsustainable fishing, fossil fuel development, the climate crisis and disease are driving marine animals to the brink of extinction, including populations of dugongs, abalone shellfish and pillar coral, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Marine life is facing a “perfect storm” of human overconsumption that is threatening the survival of some of the world’s most expensive seafood, according to the conservation organization, which publishes the most up-to-date information on the health of Earth’s wildlife populations.
From South Africa to Australia, 20 of the world’s 54 abalone species are now threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN’s first scientific assessment of the species group. In East Africa and New Caledonia, dugongs — marine mammals that feed primarily on sea grass — are threatened with extinction as they have been harmed by oil and gas exploration, bottom trawling, chemical pollution and mining.
The information comes as countries at Cop15 negotiate biodiversity goals for this decade to protect the planet and put forward proposals for radical action on biodiversity loss this decade.
“Today’s IUCN Red List update reveals a perfect storm of unsustainable human activities decimating marine life around the globe. As the world looks to the ongoing UN Biodiversity Conference to set the stage for nature’s restoration, we simply cannot afford to fail,” said Dr. Bruno Oberle, Director General of IUCN. “We urgently need to address the related climate and biodiversity crises with profound changes in our economic systems, otherwise we risk losing the crucial advantages that the oceans offer us.”
Endangered species include the critically endangered Omani abalone, found off the Arabian Peninsula, which has disappeared from more than half of its range due to pollution from agricultural and industrial runoff that causes harmful algal blooms. On the west coast of South Africa, poaching by criminal networks, many linked to the international drug trade, has devastated Perlemoen abalone populations.
There are fewer than 250 adult dugongs in the western Indian Ocean, fewer than 900 in New Caledonia.
“Strengthening community-led fisheries governance and expanding job opportunities beyond fisheries are critical in East Africa, where marine ecosystems are fundamental to food security and people’s livelihoods,” said Evan Trotukuk, who is the Reds’ assessment List of mammals in East Africa headed.
“In addition, the creation of additional protected areas where dugongs live, especially around the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park [in Mozambique]would also empower local communities and other stakeholders to find, implement and benefit from solutions that halt the long-term decline in dugong abundance and seagrass extent and quality,” he said.
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The IUCN has moved the status of the columnar coral from endangered to endangered after a dramatic decline in its population. Photo: Francoise Cabada-Blanco/IUCN
Found from the Caribbean to the Yucatan Peninsula, the columnar coral was also part of the most recent round of IUCN Red List assessments, going from vulnerable to critically endangered after its population dwindled by more than 80% across its range since 1990. The decline was caused by disease, bleaching from the climate crisis, and fertilizer runoff.
There are 150,388 species assessed by scientists for the IUCN Red List, of which 42,108 are critically endangered. More than 1,550 of the 17,903 marine animals and plants analyzed are threatened with extinction, with global warming affecting at least 41% of threatened marine species.
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