Almost a quarter of the native freshwater fish species in Britain are extinct, close to extinction or seriously endangered, according to a new report. Their plight is blamed mainly on overfishing, air and water pollution and the growing number of dams and weirs blocking the passage of fish that run up rivers to spawn.
Urgent action is needed to protect fish habitats in rivers, lakes and estuaries and to establish new populations of rare species, according to Peter Maitland, a freshwater biologist, who has made a five-year study of native fish stocks for the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC), the government's chief wildlife advisory agency.
Britain is, or has been, home to 42 native species of freshwater fish. Of these, Mr Maitland says, 10 require special conservation measures if they are to survive in, or be restored to, British waters: the burbot, the houting, the vendace, the allis shad, the twaite shad, the powan, the pollan, the smelt, the arctic charr and the common sturgeon. No burbot have been seen for years; the sturgeon is rare; the allis shad has no known breeding areas and the smelt and arctic charr, though more common, are in decline.
The most immediate priorities, Mr Maitland believes, are to safeguard rare and localised species by creating new populations, and to protect and clean up habitats such as estuaries. English Nature, the newly formed England section of the NCC, is sympathetic to the idea. The vendace is likely to become the first fish to join the list of rare plants, insects and other creatures covered by the species recovery programme launched last spring with a รบ100,000 budget that is due to be doubled from next April.
Only four fish - the burbot, vendace, powan and allis shad - are on Schedule V of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, which makes it an offence to catch or handle them intentionally. Legal protection came too late (the burbot was already extinct) to be of much use.
