Near threatened
Close to qualifying as threatened. 71 fish on EveryFish so far.
Near Threatened is the IUCN Red List category for species that do not yet qualify as threatened but are close to it, or are likely to qualify soon without action. It is a warning: numbers or range are shrinking, but not fast enough, or not yet far enough, to be listed as Vulnerable. Several well-known food and game fish sit here, including the Pacific bluefin tuna, the Atlantic salmon and the Bombay duck.
Fish on the edge
The Pacific bluefin tuna was moved from Vulnerable to Near Threatened in 2021 after a partial recovery under catch limits. The Atlantic salmon moved the other way in 2023, from Least Concern to Near Threatened, as wild numbers fell by about a quarter between 2006 and 2020 because of dams, pollution, farm escapes and sea lice, and changes at sea. Tiger sharks and blue sharks, both caught in large numbers by longlines, are Near Threatened.
Indian fish near threatened
Several familiar fish of Indian markets are listed as Near Threatened, including the Bombay duck, assessed in 2019, the seer fish, the chital of Bengal's rivers and pabda. These fish are still caught and eaten widely, but scientists have recorded falling catches or shrinking ranges. Near Threatened fish are not protected by law because of the listing alone, but the category often prompts closer study and management.
Famous near threatened fish
Pacific bluefin tunaNear Threatened since 2021
Atlantic salmonMoved to Near Threatened in 2023
Tiger sharkHeavily caught in many seas
Blue sharkCaught in very large numbers on longlines
Bombay duckAssessed Near Threatened in 2019
Narrow-barred Spanish mackerelThe seer fish
Indian featherbackChital of Bengal's rivers
Atlantic halibutSlow to recover from overfishingFurther reading
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Atlantic halibut: Vsevolod Rudyi, CC BY 4.0, source
- Shovelnose sturgeon: Kbh3rd, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tiger shark: Albert kok, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Blue shark: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bombay duck: Hamid Badar Osmany (hamid61612002@yahoo.com ), CC BY 3.0, source
- Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel: ppericard, CC BY 4.0, source
- Reedfish: Michał Zalewski, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Atlantic salmon: Hartley, William W., Public domain, source
- Pacific bluefin tuna: aes256, CC BY 2.1 jp, source
- Indian featherback: Cangadoba, CC BY-SA 4.0, source