Over 100 types of seafish live in the German eastern and North Sea, but almost a quarter of it is bad, as the latest red list reveals. Many species are therefore at risk of inventory or extremely rare. A few marine fish have even died out in our marine waters. But there is also reason to hope.
If you want to know how the animals, plants and mushrooms are doing on your doorstep, you only have to take a look at the red lists in Germany. Like inventory lists, these existing surveys perform all species occurring in Germany and their risk status. Now the Federal Office for Nature Conservation and the Red List Center in Bonn have presented the latest red list of marine fish. This list, created under the leadership of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (Lib), has been the first major inventory of this group of animals in German marine areas since 2013.
Every fourth species is in trouble
The core result: it could be better about the fish in the German North Sea and the Baltic Sea. In the new red list, around a quarter of all 105 species of sea fish in Germany are either listed as endangered, extremely rare or even already extinct. The latter applies in two ways: the Stechrochen, which was most recently seen in Germany in 1980, and the sea angel, also known as Engelhai. Not yet extinct, but shortly before that, the dog shark and the small pane belly (Liparis Montagui).
In addition to human interventions in the ecosystem, these declines are also due to climate change. “The increase in water temperatures due to climate change contributes to serious changes in the distribution of intended types of sea fish and thereby changes in their inventory sizes,” explains Ralf Thiel, main author of the Red List. “In the past 20 years in the German North Sea areas, for example, the existence of the cod, which is a northern, cold -loving species, has increased significantly, while the existence of the wolf bass, which is a southern and heat -loving species, significantly increased.”
More protected areas necessary
While climate change is difficult to change ad hoc, it looks different for human interventions in the east and North Sea. Thiel and his colleagues emphasize the importance of sustainable fishing management and low -risk retreat areas for German marine dwellers. “Sea nature needs more retreats than ever so that fish populations and threatened species can recover,” Sabine Riewenherm, President of the Federal Office for Nature Conservation.
If these demands are implemented, some of the German seafish could put their hazard status again promptly, as several positive examples show from the new red list. Several species that were considered rare or threatened ten years ago are spotted more often. These include, for example, the nail ray that was formerly endangered and the short -leaned seahorse, which has been rarely considered, and has been observed more often on the German North Sea coast since 2020.
Source: Red List Center
