The Official National List of Endangered Fauna Species for Fish and Aquatic Invertebrates has been updated. The review, which began in 2024, included 100 new species and excluded the same number. It kept 490 species classified.
rays, sharks, starfish and hundreds of other species that live on the continent and in the Brazilian sea were analyzed in relation to their risk of extinction and, depending on the current situation, they were classified as VU (Vulnerable), EN (Endangered) and CR (Critically Endangered).
According to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the update is the result of a robust technical analysis to identify the actual situation in Brazil based on a joint effort by governments, academia, civil society and the economic sector.
“The objective, from this initiative, is to mobilize actions so that species currently under pressure from various factors have their populations recovered”, he reinforces.
The new version, updated on April 28, 2026, replaces the 2014 version. It was revised based on criteria from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), adopted to assess population size, geographic distribution, habitat conservation conditions and pressures such as capture and pollution.
In addition to , the Ministry of the Environment also published rules and restrictions to protect those classified and recover their populations. These are measures such as the prohibition of capture, transport, commercialization and storage, as well as guidelines for developing recovery plans.
snapper
According to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, some recovery plans for reclassified species, such as snapper (Lutjanus purple), which went from VU to EN, in the list.
With the new framework, the species will have protection and management measures intensified with the aim of reducing pressure caused by overfishing and intensive capture of young individuals.
According to Capobianco, this is an effort that will have shared management with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Its objective is to restore populations and continue economic activity.
“When we talk about sustainability in fishing, we talk about ensuring balance: protecting the species, respecting science and ensuring that fishing activities continue to generate food, income and development for Brazil. Snapper has great economic importance, but there will only be a future for this chain if there is responsibility in the present”, reinforces the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Edipo Araujo.
This text was originally published by Agência Brasil, on April 28, 2026. The content is free for republication, citing the source, and was adapted to the standard of Poder360.
