THE SURVEY MANS IMPACT ON NATURE

fTiger Panthera tigris

(Asia) Tiger numbers are at an all- time low: the animals are threatened by poaching, retaliatory killings, loss of habitat and loss of prey. Recent estimates suggest there are only between 3,200 and 3,500 adult tigers remaining in the wild. Index for tigers (1980 = 1)
2

Wandering albatross Diomedea exulans p

(Bird Island, South Georgia, South Atlantic Ocean) This population has been in steady decline since 1972. The primary cause is believed to be incidental mortality from entanglement in longline shing equipment. One proposed measure to protect this species is to design equipment to reduce this bycatch.
2000 2010

Population size (breeding pairs)

1,800

0 1980 1990

0 1972 2010

fBaiji or Yangtze river dolphin Lipotes vexillifer

(China) Freshwater dolphins live in some of the worlds largest rivers, including the Yangtze, Ganges, Indus, Mekong and Amazon; but their populations are declining rapidly from a multiple set of causes, and the most famous, the baiji from the Yangtze, appears to be extinct. Population size
500

250

70%
DECLINE IN TIGER POPULATION OVER 30 YEARS

0 1980 1990 2000 2010

Northern blue n tuna Thunnus thynnus i

(Western Atlantic Ocean) Unsustainable levels of shing, driven by the high value of the sh and by high consumer demand from Japan, have caused a catastrophic decline in this population since the 1970s. As a result, the species is in danger of extinction. Spawning stock biomass tonnes
60,000

European otter Lutra lutra p

(Britain and Europe) Otters su ered widespread population declines in Britain and parts of Europe from the mid-1950s, probably because of pesticides poisoning rivers, but as water quality has improved and some pesticide use has been curbed, they have made a steady recovery. Otter numbers
450

SOURCE: WWF

0 1984 2004

1971

2004