Biodiversity in Crisis

French rivers once teemed with life. Salmon ran from Atlantic to Alpine headwaters. Sturgeon the size of boats swam up the Gironde. Otters played in every stream. That abundance now exists only in memory and museum displays.

The numbers tell a stark story. Atlantic salmon populations have declined 90% since 1900. European eel numbers have crashed by 95%. Of 69 native freshwater fish species, over half face extinction risk. The causes interweave—dams block migration, pollution weakens immunity, invasive species outcompete natives, warming water holds less oxygen.

"Each species lost breaks connections," explains freshwater ecologist Dr. Fatima Al-Rasheed. "Salmon brought ocean nutrients inland. Freshwater mussels filtered tons of water daily. Beavers created wetlands that stored flood water. Remove these engineers, and rivers become simplified, vulnerable."