Threatened freshwater fish need protection

Fish species in freshwater habitats are under threat worldwide due to overexploitation, pollution, species invasion, dam construction, and climate change (1–3). About one-third of freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction; 80 species were declared extinct in 2020 (2). Action plans such as the 2020 Yangtze River fishing ban (4) and the 2021 US Recovering America's Wildlife Act (5) have been adopted to restore and conserve biodiversity in freshwater habitats, but they are not enough. The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15) will be held in Kunming, China, in October to consider the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (6). Conference attendees should include improvements in monitoring and protecting freshwater fish in their discussions.