‘No worries’, down-under

RESEARH PROJECT RESULTS IN DE-LISTING OF 29 RECOVERED SPECIES

A research project, studying endangered species in Australia has found that 29 taxa (1 fish, 4 frogs, 1 reptile, 8 birds and 15 mammals), representing 6.5 % of the 446 species that they listed as threatened, have recovered sufficiently that they can now be safely de-listed from the country's endangered species list.

Some of these successes include the golden, western barred, and eastern barred bandicoots, western quoll, sooty albatross, waterfall frog, flinder's range worm-lizard, yellow-footed rock wallaby, greater bilby, humpback whale, growling grass frog, and murray's cod.

Assessing the recovery over the period of the establishment of Australia's national environmental legislation from 2000 to 2022, scientists from a number of Australian academic institutions have reported that most of the recovered species are mammals whose previous decline was due to introduced predators (e.g. foxes and cane toads for those on land). The paper, recently published in the journal 'Science' (1st March 2023), puts the rise of many of the once endangered creatures down to successful management including predator-free havens and translocations. However, they also say, "The lack of recovery of invertebrates is possibly because these have received little conservation investment. The limited recovery of fish is due to limited capacity for abating the threats of introduced fish predators and of exploitation and degradation of aquatic systems. Species threatened by habitat loss and degradation, fire and climate change are under-represented in recoveries."

Whilst sadly the scientists recognise there's "a prevalent trend for decline of Australia's threatened species" they also recognise quite rightly that "these (29) recoveries merit recognition."