A review of conservation status of freshwater fish diversity in China

China harbors a high species diversity of freshwater fishes not shared with any of its neighboring nations. Freshwater fish diversity in the country has been under severe threat from human activities over the past decades, thus conservation freshwater fishes and ecosystems is urgently needed. To accumulate baseline data for guiding protection actions, the third red list assessment of Chinese freshwater fishes was carried out. Among Chinese freshwater fishes assessed, there are 355 at‐risk species (22.3% of the total), including 69 ranked as Critically Endangered, 97 as Endangered, and 189 as Vulnerable. Two species are classified as Extinct and one as Regionally Extinct. China's threat level seems to be lower than the known average level found in the IUCN's global assessment of freshwater fishes, but this is an artifact of a high rate of species classified as Data Deficient. Conservation of freshwater fishes is presently facing a grim situation in China. Imperilment of Chinese freshwater fishes is primarily attributed to habitat loss and degradation arising from human perturbations, particularly river damming. Despite the adoption of protected areas setting up, captive breeding and release, and a fishing moratorium, conservation efforts for freshwater fishes are compromised by disproportional attention in China's biodiversity conservation, baseline data deficiency, insufficiently designed protection networks, and inefficient or inadequate implementation of conservation strategies. To achieve the objectives of Chinese freshwater fish conservation, it is proposed to conduct a national‐scale survey of fish diversity and reassess their at‐risk status, develop systematic conservation planning of freshwater fish diversity and ecosystems, prioritize strategies for protected areas development, perform genetic‐based captive breeding for releasing in concert with other protection actions, and implement flexible fishing moratorium strategies in different water bodies. 摘要 中国拥有丰富的淡水鱼类物种多样性，超过了其所有邻国。然而，长期以来人类活动对中国的淡水鱼类和生态系统造成了严重威胁，亟需采取保护措施。中国淡水鱼类红色名录第三次评估为物种多样性保护提供了重要的基础数据。本次评估显示，中国淡水鱼类受威胁物种有355种(占物种总数的22.3%)，其中69种为极度濒危物种，97种为濒危物种，189种为易危物种，2个物种为灭绝，1个物种为区域灭绝。中国淡水鱼类受威胁程度低于世界自然保护联盟 (IUCN)全球淡水鱼类评估受威胁程度平均值，但是这是被评为数据缺乏等级物种比例较高所致。当前我国淡水鱼类保护仍面临严峻形势。人类活动尤其是河流筑坝造成的栖息地丧失和退化是主要威胁因素。尽管已采取了建立保护区、鱼类增殖放流和禁捕等措施，但中国淡水鱼类的保护仍受到在生物多样性保护方面关注度不足、基础数据缺乏、保护体系设计不合理以及保护措施效率低下等不利因素的影响。为实现中国淡水鱼类保护目标，建议在全国范围内开展鱼类多样性调查，重新评估物种濒危状况，制定淡水鱼类多样性和生态系统的系统保护规划，确立优先发展保护区的策略，结合其他保护措施实施基于遗传信息的鱼类增殖放流，在不同水体实施灵活的禁