Legambiente's SOS: from kentish plover to Corsican seagull, here are the endangered species
The environmental association highlights Italy's delay in curbing the various threats starting with bycacth, i.e. the accidental capture of species during fishing activities
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Key points
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In Italy, Legambiente points out, biodiversity is increasingly at risk, threatened above all by the climate crisis, pollution, accidental catches and human actions. Of particular concern is the state of health of avifauna and amphibians, to which the environmental association is dedicating a special report this year in its Biodiversity at Risk 2024 report. And it does so on the occasion of the World Biodiversity Day, on 22 May.
A change of course is needed to better protect biodiversity and stop the bycatch of sensitive species. "In the next legislature," asks Stefano Ciafani, national president of Legambiente, "Europe must confirm the objectives of the green deal and the Biodiversity Strategy. We cannot go backwards either in Europe or in Italy. We need a decisive political turnaround and operational tools and new regulations capable of accompanying territories towards the ecological transition and in creating more protected areas'.
From Kentish plover to Corsican gull, here are the endangered species
The Fratino is at risk of extinction. The presence of this bird on Italian beaches has dropped by over 50% in the last 10 years (an estimated 1550 - 1900 pairs until 2010 and only about 600 pairs in the latest National Atlas of Breeding Birds in Italy edition 2022) due to the mechanical cleaning of beaches and the increase of predatory species such as rats, cats, dogs, crows and herring gulls. Also at risk are the greater and lesser shearwater and the current gull, which suffer from the depletion of fish stocks, bycatch and disturbance of nesting colonies. The little gull, endemic to the Mediterranean and present in Italy with about 67.3% of the entire global population, is among the vulnerable species, while the Corsican gull is listed as 'near threatened'.
Endangered Amphibians
.Also under observation are amphibians, the most threatened class of vertebrates worldwide. In Italy, among those most at risk are: the Aurora's salamander, at risk of extinction, localised in a restricted wooded area of the Vicenza Pre-Alps and threatened by forestry practices. The Geotriton of Monte Albo, exclusive to the Monte Albo chain in north-east Sardinia, is a vulnerable species, threatened above all by the degradation of its habitat by man. The Sarrabus Geotriton, the most endangered in Italy, is critically endangered, is found only in Sardinia, in the south-eastern region of Sarrabus, and is exposed to the threats of the climate crisis, and the Raganella sarda, an amphibian endemic to Sardinia, Corsica and the Tuscan Archipelago, may be affected by the lack of water at its breeding sites and the negative effects of the excessive use of agricultural plant protection products.
The bycatch danger
.Legambiente's photograph also highlights Italy's delays both in establishing new protected areas and integral protection zones by 2030 and in curbing the various threats starting with bycacth, i.e. the accidental capture of species during fishing activities. In Italian waters, bycatch occurs mainly in the Strait of Sicily and the Gulf of Trieste, and among the most endangered species, in addition to the Mediterranean greater shearwater, the lesser shearwater and the Corsican seagull, there is also the tufted cormorant.
