WildEarth Guardians

Monday, October 29, 2012
Advocates Seek Federal Protection for One of the World's Largest Reef Fishes

Humphead Wrasse Threatened by Human Exploitation, Loss of Coral Reef Habitat
Contact: Taylor Jones 303-353-1490

Washington, DC – WildEarth Guardians today submitted a petition to the National Marine Fisheries Service seeking to list the humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Humphead wrasses can grow up to 6 feet (2 meters) in length, weigh up to 420 pounds (190 kilograms), and live for 25-32 years.

“Humphead wrasses are friendly fish with lots of personality,” said Taylor Jones, Endangered Species Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Commercial dive sites often have a ‘resident’ wrasse that greets divers. But we’ve repaid their trust by fishing them to the brink of extinction with cyanide, dynamite, and spear guns.”  

Humphead wrasses are naturally rare and their populations have suffered marked declines, mainly due to fishing and habitat destruction. The wrasse spends most if not all of its life in coral reef habitat; reefs worldwide, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, have experienced major degradation caused by humans. Reefs are threatened by pollution, sedimentation, and coastal development. Climate change and ocean acidification cause coral bleaching and impede reef growth. Destructive fishing practices also take a toll; coral reefs suffer collateral damage from sodium cyanide and dynamite used to stun fish for capture for the live fish trade.

Humphead wrasses have a high retail value – $60-$120 per kilogram – in the live fish trade and are therefore in high demand throughout the Indo-Pacific. Juveniles, in particular, are taken from the ocean for the live fish trade; they are often maintained in captivity and fed until they attain market size. Because of their sedentary nature, adults are also easy to hunt in their sleeping places. Spawning aggregations are predictable and easy to target. Given the species slow maturation, small populations, and low reproduction rate, mortality from fishing can rapidly exceed the natural mortality rate.

Listing under the ESA has proven an effective safety net for imperiled species: more than 99 percent of plants and animals listed under the Act persist today. The law is especially important as a bulwark against the current extinction crisis; plants and animals are disappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate of extinction due to human activities. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct if not for ESA listing. Listing species with a global distribution can both protect the species domestically, and help focus U.S. resources toward enforcement of international regulation and recovery of the species.