Chinese paddlefish, last seen in 2003, now officially extinct due to human activity
July 21 (UPI) -- The Chinese paddlefish, a freshwater fish that has been known to live for as many as 100 years, has been officially ruled extinct and more than two dozen similar fish are also threatened, wildlife officials said Thursday.
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The World Wild Fund for Nature announced the status changes in a report that was based on a 13-year sturgeon and paddlefish study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Sturgeon Specialist Group.
The study said that the Chinese paddlefish, which are closely related to sturgeons, were last seen almost 20 years ago and has died out due to human activity such as overfishing and dam-building.
"The assessment officially declares the extinction of the Chinese paddlefish, the extinction in the wild of the Yangtze sturgeon and the regional extinction of ship sturgeon in the Danube," the WWF said in a statement Thursday.The study also said almost two-thirds of sturgeon and paddlefish species are now critically endangered on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.
"There's something to be said about humanity, when a species that's outlived the dinosaurs is pushed to the brink of extinction by humans who have, in comparison, existed for a mere blip in time," Beate Striebel-Greiter, WWF Lead of the Global Sturgeon Initiative, said in a statement.
"We call on countries to stop turning a blind eye to the extinction of sturgeon and implement the solutions they know can help save these iconic species.
Sturgeon are among the planet's largest freshwater fish and can grow to 23 feet and weigh up to 1.6 tons. The WWF said sturgeon have been around since the dinosaurs and have remained almost unchanged since.
"The world's failure to safeguard sturgeon species is an indictment of governments across the globe, who are failing to sustainably manage their rivers and live up to their commitments to conserve these iconic fish and halt the global loss of nature," Arne Ludwig, chair of the IUCN Sturgeon Specialist Group, said in a statement.
"These shocking -- but sadly not surprising -- assessments mean that sturgeon retain their unwanted title as the world's most threatened group of species."
We have a choice: thriving healthy rivers that nourish and sustain communities around the world or stick with today's failed policies -- leaving us with empty rivers that benefit neither people or nature."
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