London, Europe Brief News – Illegal and unsustainable fishing, pollution, climate change and disease are devastating both plant and animal marine species, a new study has revealed.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s updated Red List of Threatened Species affirmed that more than 1,550 marine animals and plants are currently at risk of extinction, with climate chance impacting at least 41% of threatened marine species.
One of the new marine species at risk of extinction are populations of dugongs, large herbivorous marine mammals found in East Africa and New Caledonia, according to the list.
There are now fewer than 250 mature individuals in East Africa and under 900 in New Caledonia, where they are considered critically endangered and endangered, respectively.
The primary threats the dugongs face are unintentional capture in fishing gear in East Africa and poaching in New Caledonia, and boat injuries in both locations.
In addition, oil and gas exploration and production, bottom trawling, chemical pollution and unauthorized coastal development are damaging and destroying the seagrasses that dugongs depend on for food, especially in East Africa, the conservationists said.
Marine heat waves, many spurred on by climate change, are also killing off the species, animal conservationists said. About 99% of Roe’s abalones, located in the most northerly regions of western Australia, have died as a result of mass mortalities from the severe heat waves.
