Three per cent of fish species in the Arabian Gulf are at an elevated risk of regional extinction due to over-exploitation by commercial fisheries and widespread coral reef degradation and modification, a workshop has been told.
It has also been pointed out that 20% of species do not have enough data to enable assessment, highlighting the critical need for research that needs to be undertaken on these species.
The second and final IUCN Regional Red List Assessment workshop was run by the Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA), Qatar University (QU) and Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), examining the relative risk of extinction of Arabian Gulf fishes. This key conservation effort is supported by the Qatar National Research Fund.
At the workshop, experts from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Iraq and Iran met with international fish experts and representatives of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to assess the likelihood of extinction of marine fishes in the Arabian Gulf under the IUCN Regional Red List Categories and Criteria.
A total of 452 species of fish were assessed, including major commercial species such as the Zubeidi (Pampus argenteus), Anfuz (Pomacanthus maculosus) and Safi (Siganus caniculatus).
The principal investigator for this assessment initiative, Dr Abdulrahman al-Muftah (assistant professor of Marine Sciences, QU), said: “The highlight was having participants from all the Arabian Gulf countries working together to determine which of our marine fishes are most at risk of extinction in the near future.”
Three per cent of marine fish species, including Hamour (Epinephelus coioides), Zubeidi (P argenteus) and Knaad (Scomberomorus commerson), were determined as having a heightened risk of extinction and listed as either “Vulnerable” or “Endangered”.
The vast majority of species were determined to have a relatively low risk of extinction and listed as “Least Concern’ (74%), which means that these fishes are at a relatively low risk of becoming extinct in the near future. Besides, 3% were listed as “Near Threatened” and, alarmingly, 20% as “Data Deficient”, including commercial species such as Hamman (Carangoides coeruleopinnatus). This means that not enough is known about these species to determine their risk of extinction.
The findings underline that it is vital that more research is undertaken to enable the assessment of the conservation status of “Data Deficient” species and, if required, appropriate management action should be taken to ensure their long-term survival. All assessments were completed at the regional level of the Arabian Gulf and need to undergo a period of review before they are formally accepted.
A combination of unique environmental characteristics in the Arabian Gulf (extreme temperature regimes, oceanographic conditions), coupled with widespread threats (coastal development, pollution, habitat degradation, exploitation), is contributing to higher vulnerability to extinction of these fishes.
In addition, these workshops highlight the importance of intrinsic life history characteristics such as habitat preferences, longevity and complex trophic and reproductive methods as also contributing to the increased risk of extinction of fishes in the Arabian Gulf.
Assessing the conservation status of biodiversity found in this unique and globally important marine region and identifying the threats allows for prioritisation of the development and implementation of management plans for the conservation of species that are of concern, it has been observed.
“Improved knowledge of the conservation status of the fishes in the Arabian Gulf will not only allow us to combat the loss of biodiversity and plan for future climate change impacts in the region, but also enable region-specific conservation actions to be enacted,” said Dr Fareed Krupp (project manager, QMA).
“A wealth of knowledge about fish from the Arabian Gulf was gained during these regional workshops, but there is still much to learn. Our hope is that when it is time to reassess these species in the future, we will be able to do so for all of the marine fishes, including the 89 species listed as ‘Data Deficient’,” added Dr Kent Carpenter, lead principal investigator and initiator of the project from Old Dominion University and manager of the Marine Biodiversity Unit of the IUCN Global Species
Programme.