This presentation by Nicolas Bailly, Douglas Beare and John A.H Benzie was delivered as part of a workshop for the "Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Network".

1. Fish biodiversity and food supply:
Species numbers in the wild and exploited;
Importance to document the aquatic genetic
resources (stocks, populations, strains)
AFBC 2014, Penang Malaysia
13 Feb. 2014
Nicolas BAILLY, Douglas BEARE, John A.H. BENZIE
WorldFish
n.bailly@cgiar.org

2. Messages
For sustainable fish food supply
• Taxonomy is important for biodiversity
management
• Aquatic genetic resources are important to
document at global scale

3. Outline
• Fish species numbers
• Some notes: classification, subspecies
• Genetics to species: Taxonomy matters
• Species to genetics: Aquatic genetic resources matter
• Documenting Aquatic Genetic Resources:
an old unresolved issue
• Suggestions to move forward
• Conclusion: aquatic food supply

4. Fish species numbers

5. Database versions
• FishBase (FB): www.fishbase.org 31 January 2014
• Catalog of Fishes (CofF) W.N. Eschmeyer
research.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp
05 February 2014

6. FB drown by numbers (as of 31 January 2014)
32,780
32,630
93,833
302,953
180,531
31,648
129,060
59,316
18,467
1,666
53,686
49,743
species-group taxa; 99 species have 150 subspecies
species
[CofF February 2014: 33,065]
“synonyms” [86,771 names + 7,062 misappl.]
common names in 333 languages for 259 “countries”
country rec. for 295 “countries”
subcountry rec. for 171 “subcountries” for 6 “countries”
ecosystem records for 856 “ecosystems”
FAO area records for 27 areas
morphology records
identification keys for 8,196 species
fish images for 18,099 species
bibliographic references [592,724 citation rec.]
(~3 million rec.; >200 tables, ~60 main)

7. CofF (as of 05 February 2014)
•
•
•
•
•
Orders:
Families:
Genera:
Species:
References:
64 (28 suborders)
554 (272 subfamilies)
10,849 Total / 5,078 Valid
57,871 Avail./ 33,065 Valid
27,007
• Recent work on family-level authorship

8. For the most updated numbers
Refer to the page in CofF
“Species by
Family/Subfamily”

11. Number of valid species by milieu
Total:
Fresh:
Brackish:
Marine:
32,780
16,338 (49.8%)
2,983 (9.1%)
17,111 (52.2%)
Brackish only: 95 (0.3%)

12. Number of species described per year
800
SppAll (59,889)
SppValid (32,315)
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
2000

13. Number of species described per year (1982-2011)
600
One new fish
species described
per day for the
last 15 years
SppAll (59,889)
SppValid (32,315)
500
400
300
200
100
0
1982
1987
1992
1997
2002
2007
9,654 described (322 / yr); 9,051 valid
603 already put in synonymy, 6.2% - comp 46% total
2012

14. Cumulated number of species described per year
70000
SppAll (59,889)
SppValid (32,315)
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
2000

15. http://wp.worldfish.de/?page_id=44

16. Note on the classification of bony fishes
www.deepfin.org/
• Betancur-R, R., E. Wiley, M. Miya, G. Lecointre, N.
Bailly, and G. Ortí. 2013.
New and Revised Classification of Bony Fishes Version 2
(http://www.deepfin.org/Classification_v2.htm).
• Betancur-R., R., R.E. Broughton, E.O. Wiley, K.
Carpenter, J.A. Lopez, C. Li, N.I. Holcroft, D. Arcila, M.
Sanciangco, J. Cureton, F. Zhang, T. Buser, M.
Campbell, T. Rowley, J.A. Ballesteros, G. Lu, T. Grande, G.
Arratia & G. Ortí. 2013. The tree of life and a new
classification of bony fishes. PLoS Currents Tree of Life.
2013 Apr 18.

17. A call for collaboration

18. Note on subspecies in ichthyology
• No more subspecies in ichthyology … PLEASE
• Issues in matching name in GBIF, and IUCN
• Remains a number of subspecies in FishBase:
to be treated case by case
• Number of discrepancies between FB and
CofF are due to subspecies issues

19. Number of species per ocean and some seas
145
177
725
201
560
1,884
1,208
3,704
6,416
5,091
10,030
1,561
283
1,116
1,566

20. Number of species per FAO area
Freshwater
Marine
145
884
699
1100
1803
5208
5448
6332
1109
2401
778
1685
5246
4080
3458
1744
4265
755
4654
240
2219
170
1893
1753
249
7

21. Genetics  Species

22. Barcode: some studies in progress
• Brazil: Potentially 3,7 times more spp.
identified through barcode than
morphologically recognized (Oliveira, FishBoL
Conf. 2012);
• Kenya: 3 times more (Nyingi, Bart et coll.
TDWG Conf. 2013)
• France: Gobio sp. 1  4 spp.
(Kottelat, Doadrio et al.); Confirmed by
barcode (Denys)
• West Africa: Hepsetus 1 sp.  4/5 spp.
separated by basins from Senegal to Gabon
Decru, Vreven et coll.)

23. Gobio gobio
Gobio alverniae
Gobio lozanoi
Gobio occitanae

24. Gobio gobio
Gobio alverniae
Gobio lozanoi
Gobio occitaniae
Maps from IUCN

25. Consequences
• Estimation of number of spp.:
33,000 valid spp. today
(7,500 exploited, 22.5%)
3 times more potentially with Barcode
Should we expect 100,000 spp. in final ???
• Flaws in this estimation:
– “Potential” not confirmed yet;
– Only in freshwaters (but think about Mugil
cephalus that could be a complex 14 different spp.
around the world; Durand et coll.)

26. Taxonomy matters
• If 100,000 spp.
 22,500 species are potentially exploitable
(using the same current ratio 33,000 spp. with
7,500 exploited)
• Some are already exploited,
but we did not know they were different spp.
or worse, we still don’t know
• Consequences for biodiversity management both
for exploitation and conservation

27. Species  Genetics

28. Species  Genetics

30. Fisheries
• 4,661 spp. used from subsistence to industrial
fisheries: 270 stocks with info in FB.
• Characterize populations/stocks (population
dynamics parameters)
• Population/stocks are trans-boundary
• Analysis of global trends
(“Fishing down marine food
webs”) at species rank only
• Need for documentation in accessible
databases required

31. Aquaculture
• 364 farmed spp.: 74 strain stocks in FB.
• Characterize strains
• Characterize populations/stocks (growth
parameters, disease resistance, environmental
plasticity) as genetic ressource
• GIFT tilapia: result of hybridization of wild
populations. Will it still possible in the future for
other commodities?
• The agriculture community has still to fully
recognize that genetic resources matters also for
aquatic environment (not only
cattle, plants, forest, bacteria)

32. Population/Genetic “rank”
“Rank”
cultured strain
hybrid
subspecies
wild stock/population
“Stock” # Spp #
74
8
10
51
270
… for 125 species …
6
30
91

33. Different goals between fresh and marine water
• In freshwater basins, interest will be in
characterizing species and populations for
potential farming.
• while in the sea the main focus will be on
characterizing population and stocks for
adapted catch fisheries management plans.

34. Genetics and climate change
• Which species are the winners?
Which ones the loosers?
• Hotspots
• Requires a database at regional/global levels
to refine the prediction crudly based on
occurrences and environmental parameters
(so-called niche-modeling)

35. 2010

36. 2050

37. 23 hotspots in Coral Triangle seas in 2010
2010

38. 29 hotspots in Coral Triangle seas in 2050
2050

41. Adaptation to climate change
• Depends on genetics diversity
• For example, for respiration and digestion
systems that impact growth
• Use phylogeography linked to genetic diversity
analysis
• Requires databases linking traits and genes
• Extend the predictions only based on
occurrences and environmental parameters
(so-called niche-modeling)

42. Bleaching in Anilao area

43. Bleaching in Anilao area

44. Documenting Aquatic Genetic Resources
(AqGR)

45. A global database for Aquatic Genetic Resources
• CGFRA: Commission on Genetic Resources for
Food and Agriculture (FAO)
*SGRP, INGA, SINGER, …+
• Aquatic organisms barely recognized as
animals (or all gathered under “fish”)
• No global database like for cattle, crops, …
• Rejection by the commission of all projects
submitted for the past 20 years (last attempt
in 2013)

46. An old issue
• Pullin, R.S.V., D.M. Bartley and J.Kooiman, eds. 1999.
Towards policies for conservation and sustainable use of
aquatic genetic resources. ICLARM Conf. Proc. 59, 277pp.
• Bartley, D.M.; Harvey, B.J.; Pullin, R.S.V. eds. 2007.
Workshop on Status and Trends in Aquatic Genetic
Resources: a Basis for International Policy. 8–10 May
2006, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. FAO Fisheries
Proceedings. No. 5. Rome, FAO. 179p.
• Reviews in Aquaculture: Special Issue: Special Issue on
Use and Exchange of Genetic Resources of Cultured
Aquatic Organisms. Volume 1, Issue 3-4, Sep.–Dec. 2009
• Halwart M., Hett K., García Gómez R., eds. 2012.
Aquaculture Service (. Improving the Information Base
for Aquatic Genetic Resources for The State of the
World’s Aquatic Genetic Resources FAO International
Expert Workshop. Madrid, Spain, 1–4 March 2011.
Rome, 57 pp.
• www.fao.org/fishery/publications/search/en

47. Preparing the Status of the World of the AqGR
• Strengthening national data compilation capacity
• Implement a correct framework for data sharing
– National and international standard procedures
– Training on standard operating procedures
– Improvement of FAO databases
– Improvement of AqGR resource identification at
species level
– Improvement and linking to the ongoing efforts to
the FAO fisheries and aquaculture questionnaires

48. Preparing the Status of the World of the AqGR
• Provision of additional resources to key databases for AqGR
• Additional capacity building opportunities in data
handling, archiving, collation and dissemination.
• Compilation of scattered information on AqGR through expert
consultancies
• Standardization of the collection of primary and secondary
data
• Development of key targets and indicators necessary to
determine the effectiveness of actions and to monitor
progress in tracking the state of the world’s AqGR
• Targeted introductions of changes to data collections to
industry sectors or countries of particular importance (e.g.
because of the volume of production or trade, the threatened
nature of the resource, or particular lack of information).
• Specific actions to collate information in areas for which
information in existing databases is inadequate.

49. Suggestions
• Data are scattered in many publications:
It requires a massive effort for data entry
• FishBase and SeaLifeBase are structured
to accommodate population/genetics
entries (See poster on FB data encoding
training)
• Advocacy for AqGR to your national
delegate in FAO
• Start by regional scale in addition to
national like in Portugal

50. Atlas of fish genetic diversity
Portugal
www.fishatlas.net/atlas.htm
Achondrostoma occidentale
Achondrostoma oligolepis
Anaecypris hispanica
Iberochondrostoma almacai
Iberochondrostoma lemmingii
Iberochondrostoma lusitanicum
Luciobarbus bocagei
Luciobarbus comizo
Luciobarbus microcephalus
Luciobarbus sclateri
Pseudochondrostoma duriensis
Pseudochondrostoma polylepis
Pseudochondrostoma willkommii
Squalius aradensis
Squalius carolitertii
Squalius pyrenaicus
Squalius torgalensis

51. Conclusions
Exploitation and conservation must be balanced
for sustainable fish food supply.
Dedicated information systems such as FishBase
are fundamental for reaching this goal for the
biodiversity part.
Remains to link to socio-economics systems.
A key issue is education at all level of society.

52. Acknowledgements
Funded under the
Framework Programme 7
iMarine
http://www.i-marine.eu
(Contract No. 283644)
for AquaMaps, and
for hotspots study
of the European
Commission
BioFresh for maintaing the
freshwater taxonomy in FB
(through FADA)
www.freshwaterbiodiversity.eu
(Contract No. 226874)

53. Maraming Salamat Po

55. Other initiatives
• BoLD, GenBank, IUCN, ZooBank, CoL, ITIS, Wo
RMS, FADA , IRMNG , GBIF, OBIS, BioFresh
• Importance to keep system separate with
different goals
• Difficulty to organise the synchronization
• Necessity for research on webservices