Water pollution killing off EU freshwater species

Freshwater fish and molluscs in Europe are now listed as endangered creatures, with a new report revealing that alien species, habitat loss, overfishing and water pollution are contributing to their decline.

The list of threatened species in Europe includes 13 per cent of all birds, 15 per cent of mammals and dragonflies, 19 per cent of reptiles, 23 per cent of amphibians, 37 per cent of freshwater fish and 44 per cent of all freshwater molluscs.

Now, the European Commission is calling on all member states to adopt sustainable forestry and farming methods in a bid to prevent this loss of biodiversity.

"When combined with the high level of threats faced by freshwater fishes and amphibians, we can see that the European freshwater ecosystems are really under serious threats that require urgent conservation action," Annebelle Cuttelod, International Union for Conservation of Nature coordinator of the European Red List, remarked.

This comes after the Marine Conservation Society revealed that there are thousands more untreated sewage discharges in the UK than it was first thought.

Posted by Lauren Steadman