Brazil's government has agreed to review its updated Red List of the country's threatened marine species. This review represents a victory for lobbyists in the fishing industry. It is not based on new biological information.
The list that was issued in December 2014 by Brazil's environment ministry (through decrees 444 and 445) was the culmination of a six-year process involving 1,300 national and international scientists, overseen by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It restricts or bans the capture of several commercially valuable fish, such as groupers and sharks.
The fishermen's unions last month questioned the criteria for inclusion and persuaded Helder Barbalho, minister of fisheries and aquaculture, and environment minister Izabella Teixeira to review the list.
A repeal of decree 445 or an amendment of the Annex I list, which regulates the capture of 409 fish species and 66 aquatic invertebrates, would be a serious setback for conservation and for the sustainable management of fisheries in Brazil.
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Lees, A. Leave Brazil's Red List alone. Nature 518, 167 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/518167b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/518167b
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