Beijing, 08 June 2018 – The number of marine species inhabiting the Northwest Pacific areas of China, Japan, the Korean peninsula and the Russian Federation that are at risk of survival is higher than previously estimated, according to an assessment by a United Nations regional marine and coastal conservation programme.
An evaluation by the UN Environment-sponsored Action Plan for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Northwest Pacific Region (NOWPAP) has found that more endangered species are living in NOWPAP member countries than those listed in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The findings of the study by the NOWPAP Beijing-based Data and Information Regional Activity Centre (DINRAC) for its Endangered Species Database were revealed at an annual meeting of NOWPAP Member States held here.
Up to 143 species living in at least one of the member countries of the quarter century-old NOWPAP were evaluated as endangered in the IUCN Red List. The DINRAC assessment found the distribution range of these species to be wider than the area reported by IUCN.
“I hope the new findings of DINRAC will contribute to better planning for conservation of endangered species in the NOWPAP member states”, Dr. Yoshihisa Shirayama of the Japan Agency for Marine and Earth Science and Technology, who led the DINRAC assessment said.
The findings underline the urgency of the message of the annual World Oceans Day today recognized by the United Nations General Assembly to protect the shared global seas and its inhabitants. This year’s theme is preventing plastic pollution of the oceans which is a growing problem, especially for the animals that call the seas their home. It strengthens the call of this year’s World Environment Day marked on 5 June to “Beat Plastic Pollution”.
Most marine endangered species in the region are animals. Zalophus japonicus, commonly known as the Japanese Sea Lion that was widely found in the north-western Pacific till the 1950s was hunted into extinction with the last surviving individual killed in 1974.
However, as many as 10 species, consisting of 6 bony fishes, 3 birds and 1 sea turtle, ranked as critically endangered by IUCN, were confirmed living in the NOWPAP region. The rank of hawksbill sea turtle was raised from endangered to critically endangered during the second and latest phase of the DINRAC assessment.
Twenty-seven species were found to be endangered and 104 ranked as vulnerable by IUCN. These include a variety of groups such as whales, birds, sea-turtles, rays, sharks, corals, sea cucumbers and sea grasses.
Some invertebrate groups in the region are still to be evaluated by IUCN. For example, one of living fossil brachiopod species, Lingula adamsi, rated as critically endangered in the Japanese Red List of Marine Species published in March 2017, is not included in the IUCN Red List.
The 30-31 May 16th NOWPAP DINRAC Focal Points Meeting in Beijing endorsed the third phase. of data collection for species in the Red Lists of NOWPAP Member States. The activity during 2018-2019 aims to support proactive biodiversity conservation in member countries.
Member countries also endorsed DINRAC project proposals to evaluate the environmental impacts of human activity in marine areas and of land reclamation from the sea. Sea farms, seaports, oil and oceanological platforms, underwater pipelines, industrial and municipal sewage, river run-off from industrially developed areas are a major source of marine pollution in the region as is growing land reclamation.
DINRAC is one of four NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres that support evidence-based policymaking and help build preparedness in member countries to protect and sustainably use the marine and coastal environment in keeping with their commitment to the global 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda adopted by world leaders in September 2015.
Photo Credit Tennōji Zoo, Osaka, Japan. Japanese Sea Lion, stuffed specimen at Tennōji Zoo, Osaka, Japan.
