What is the news : THE BLUE-FINNED Mahseer, which was on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of endangered species, has now moved to the ‘least concern’ status

Details :

• The success is attributed to conservation efforts made by Tata Power. The group is involved in conservation of the blue-finned and golden mahseer for 50 years in Lonavala.
• Tata Power has developed an ingenious method to breed 4-5 lakh Mahseer hatchlings at a time at its Walvan Hatchery in Lonavala. The century old company has created a huge lake by damming the Indrayani River.
• The other species of Masheer include Humpback Masheer of Cauvery Delta and Golden Masheer.
• It was also said that Blue finned masheer overpowered Humpback type which were in verge of extinction

IUCN REDLIST

• It is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
• How are species categorised:
• It uses Following set of quantitative criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species.

1. The rate of population decline.
2. The geographic range.
3. Whether the species already possesses a small population size.
4. Whether the species is very small or lives in a restricted area.
5. Whether the results of a quantitative analysis indicate a high probability of extinction in the wild.

• The IUCN Red List Categories:The IUCN Red List Categories define the extinction risk of species assessed. Nine categories extend from NE (Not Evaluated) to EX (Extinct). Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU) species are considered to be threatened with extinction.