Strategic Partners

ABQ BioPark has deep roots in aquatic species conservation and works both locally in the Southwestern United States and globally to protect threatened freshwater biodiversity. Its Aquatic Conservation Facility supports the recovery of some of New Mexico’s most imperilled species, including raising and releasing 40,000–100,000 Rio Grande Silvery Minnows each year and maintaining assurance populations of other threatened fishes and invertebrates. Through the IUCN SSC Center for Species Survival New Mexico, ABQ BioPark also plays an important international role in freshwater fish extinction-risk assessment and conservation planning, and was instrumental in advancing IUCN Resolution 8.111 to scale up collaborative ex situ conservation for threatened freshwater fishes worldwide.

AMAZONAS is one of the world’s leading magazines dedicated to freshwater aquariums and tropical fishes, reaching a global community of aquarists with features on fishkeeping, breeding, new species discoveries and expeditions to freshwater habitats around the world. Through its editorial coverage, the magazine helps connect the aquarium hobby with the extraordinary diversity of fishes and ecosystems found in the wild. Its partnership with SHOAL helps bring freshwater conservation stories to an engaged audience of fishkeepers, highlighting the threats facing wild species and the conservation action being taken to protect them.

AQUATIS Aquarium-Vivarium Lausanne is entirely dedicated to freshwater ecosystems, combining public education with hands-on conservation of threatened aquatic species. Its work includes a programme for the highly threatened Calabrian Alpine Newt, combining ex situ breeding with habitat restoration in southern Italy. Following two successful breeding seasons, 540 juvenile newts were released in November 2024, alongside work to remove introduced fishes and create alternative breeding ponds. AQUATIS also coordinates the EAZA Ex Situ Programme for Percidae and is involved in conservation of the Endangered Rhône Streber, Zingel asper, in Switzerland. Through partnerships with universities, government bodies and conservation organisations, its work links conservation breeding with practical restoration and reintroduction in the wild.

The IUCN SSC Asian Species Action Partnership (ASAP) brings together conservation organisations working to prevent the extinction of Critically Endangered land and freshwater vertebrates in Southeast Asia. Its work focuses particularly on species receiving insufficient conservation attention, helping partners increase funding, strengthen capacity, build awareness and catalyse effective action. Freshwater fishes form an important part of the ASAP species portfolio, reflecting both Southeast Asia’s exceptional freshwater diversity and the severe pressures facing many of its highly endemic species.

The Aspinall Foundation is a UK registered charity founded in 1984. Their main mission is to halt the extinction of endangered species in the wild by developing sustainable conservation activities, providing economic benefits to local communities, and helping to manage, protect, and restore wilderness areas. In 2017 they extended their work at project sites in the Maevatanana /Ambato-Boeny region of northwestern Madagascar to include conservation of the lakes and wetlands, working with local communities to improve agricultural and fishing practices to reduce siltation and pollution of the waterways and to reduce over-exploitation of endangered endemic species, such as Critically Endangered cichlids. Their work in Madagascar includes other freshwater dependent taxa, including water birds and turtles, and they aim to extend their work on freshwater ecosystems to other countries where they are currently operating, including Gabon, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Alliance for Freshwater Life is a global, interdisciplinary network bringing together scientists, conservation practitioners, educators, policy experts, creative professionals and engaged citizens to improve the conservation and sustainable use of freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity. The Alliance works across research, data and synthesis, conservation, education and outreach, and policy, helping build stronger links between freshwater science and practical conservation action. Its overarching aim is to create a world in which freshwater biodiversity is better understood, valued and safeguarded.

Aquarium Tropical in Paris combines conservation breeding with field conservation for some of the world’s most threatened freshwater fishes. It participates in several EAZA Ex Situ Programmes and coordinates the Bedotiidae programme, maintaining and breeding nine threatened species, including fishes classified as Critically Endangered and Extinct in the Wild. The aquarium also coordinates Fish Net Madagascar in the Amboaboa River watershed, one of the last strongholds for several highly threatened endemic fishes. Working with conservation organisations, researchers and local communities, the programme combines assurance populations with ecological research, potential assisted migration, water-quality monitoring and community-managed ponds that support both endemic fishes and local food security.

Bournemouth University has developed significant expertise in freshwater fish ecology and conservation through its FishE@BU research group and wider Centre for Ecology, Environment and Sustainability. Its researchers work on fish ecology, migration, conservation and the impacts of environmental change, with a particularly strong long-term focus on mahseer fishes in South and Southeast Asia. Bournemouth University researchers have played an important role in resolving the taxonomy and conservation status of the Critically Endangered Humpback Mahseer and continue to work with partners in India to generate the ecological knowledge and conservation strategies needed for its recovery.

Bristol Zoological Society has worked for more than 20 years with partners in Greece to conserve some of the country’s most threatened endemic freshwater fishes. Its work began with the Critically Endangered Corfu Killifish and Peloponnese Killifish, combining conservation translocations, research, community engagement and the establishment of safety-net populations in European zoos, aquariums and laboratories. Successful translocations have established breeding populations at more secure sites, while knowledge gained through aquarium husbandry and field research is informing further habitat restoration and the creation of refugia and ex situ populations. The partnership has since expanded to other highly threatened Greek freshwater species, including the Greek Stickleback, Evrotas Chub, Spartan Minnow, Trichonis Goby and Greek Lamprey.

The California Academy of Sciences, based in San Francisco, is at the forefront of efforts to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration. Its research arm, the Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability (IBSS), includes more than 100 research scientists and nearly 46 million scientific specimens from around the world – nearly 60,000 of which are alive and on display in the Academy’s Steinhart Aquarium. IBSS also leverages the expertise of more than 100 international Research and Field Associates, 450 distinguished Fellows, and an in-house team of aquarium biologists.

Through expeditions around the globe, investigations in the lab, and analysis of vast biological datasets, IBSS scientists work to understand the evolution and interconnectedness of organisms and ecosystems, the threats they face around the world, and the most effective strategies for ensuring they thrive into the future. Through deeply collaborative partnerships and innovative public engagement initiatives, they also guide critical conservation decisions worldwide, inspire and mentor the next generation of scientists, and foster responsible stewardship of our planet.

Chester Zoo has a long-standing commitment to freshwater conservation, combining species recovery, habitat protection, research and community engagement. Since 2000, it has supported the Mexico Fish Ark and wider conservation of Mexico’s remarkable goodeid fishes, including the landmark reintroduction of the Extinct in the Wild Tequila Splitfin to the Teuchitlán River. Chester Zoo subsequently helped develop a national conservation strategy for Mexican goodeids and also works to conserve the Critically Endangered achoque in Lake Pátzcuaro. Beyond Mexico, its freshwater work includes pioneering conservation research on the scarce yellow mayfly in the UK and supporting surveys and recovery planning for endemic cichlids in Lake Chilingali, Malawi.

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and The Wilds have supported freshwater conservation in Ohio and around the world for more than three decades. Since 2012, they have played a leading role in the Ohio Hellbender Partnership, working with government agencies, universities, zoos and conservation organisations to reverse the decline of this threatened salamander. Columbus Zoo has reared more than half of the 2,000 head-started hellbenders released across 27 sites in 10 Ohio watersheds, with evidence that released animals are now breeding successfully in the wild. The zoo has also invested more than USD 300,000 in freshwater conservation and helped establish the Watters Aquatic Conservation Center, while its Ohio Center for Wildlife Conservation gives visitors a direct view of hellbender rearing and freshwater mussel research.

Conservation Fisheries is a 501(c)3 non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of aquatic biodiversity in our rivers and streams. They have propagated more than 85 non-game fish species, including some of the most imperilled in the southeastern United States.

Whether they’re supporting wild fish populations that are in decline or aiding in cutting-edge research, they are the forerunners of propagating rare and difficult-to-collect species.

Conservation Fisheries started as a school project dedicated to restoring two species thought to be extinct: the Smoky Madtom and Yellowfin Madtom. Forty years later, they’re still preventing the extinction of forgotten species by propagating or rearing them in their 5,000 sq ft facility. They’ve worked with over 85 species of fish, along with the Eastern Hellbender, America’s largest giant salamander.

Their mission is to promote stewardship of aquatic species and ensure the longevity of their survival for generations to come.

Conservation Optimism is a global movement and charity working to support, empower and connect conservationists by sharing stories of hope, building capacity and creating a stronger conservation community. Rather than ignoring the scale of the biodiversity crisis, its approach focuses attention on what conservation can achieve and on the people and projects demonstrating that positive change is possible. Conservation Optimism has worked with SHOAL to bring threatened freshwater fishes to new audiences, including through the Lost Fishes Art Challenge, which used creativity and storytelling to raise awareness of SHOAL’s most wanted lost fishes.

For more than three decades, the Disney Conservation Fund has supported organisations working to protect wildlife and wild places around the world. Its conservation grants support science-based, community-inclusive approaches that combine research and practical action with engagement of the people who live alongside threatened wildlife. The fund has supported projects across a wide range of species and ecosystems, including freshwater conservation initiatives, and forms part of Disney’s wider efforts to inspire people to take action for nature.

ZSL’s EDGE of Existence programme focuses conservation attention on species that are both Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered – species whose extinction would erase a disproportionate amount of unique evolutionary history. The programme identifies conservation priorities through its global EDGE Lists and supports emerging conservation leaders through the EDGE Fellowship programme, helping local scientists develop and lead conservation programmes for overlooked threatened species. Freshwater fishes are now included within the EDGE framework, enabling some of the world’s most evolutionarily distinctive and threatened fishes to be identified and prioritised for conservation.

Fauna & Flora is an international conservation organisation working with local partners to protect threatened species and ecosystems and reverse biodiversity loss. Founded in 1903, its approach places locally led conservation at the centre of its work, collaborating with communities, conservation organisations and governments around the world. Freshwater is an important part of its portfolio, with projects protecting rivers, lakes, wetlands and the species that depend on them while addressing pressures ranging from habitat degradation and unsustainable resource use to pollution and invasive species.

The Fishmongers’ Company is one of the UK’s oldest charitable organisations and, through its Fisheries Charitable Trust, supports a wide range of projects, grants and convening to further fish conservation and a sustainable seafood industry. One major focus is freshwater habitats, and the Trust funds initiatives that work with land managers and conservation organisations to restore and enhance riparian and freshwater habitats across the UK. Another key focus is wild Atlantic salmon which is Endangered in Great Britain, and the Trust supports work to understand the drivers of decline through the Missing Salmon Alliance, as well as hosting international conversations, including the international Wild Salmon Connections conference of 2025. 

With strong links to London’s Natural History Museum, the Trust on occasion supports international ichthyological exploration of freshwaters, which has resulted in the description of new species from Indonesia and South Asia. As a partner of SHOAL, the Fishmongers’ Company shares a commitment to safeguarding freshwater biodiversity and advancing practical conservation solutions that support threatened fish species and the ecosystems on which they depend.

Fondation Segré supports conservation programmes that protect threatened species and their habitats and restore degraded ecosystems around the world. The Foundation funds practical, science-based conservation, with a particular emphasis on species and projects that can benefit from targeted investment and long-term partnerships. Its support has extended to freshwater conservation through initiatives including the Fondation Segré Conservation Action Fund with IUCN Save Our Species, which has funded locally led projects for highly threatened species, including freshwater fishes.

Freshwater Life is a young organisation focused on saving species and restoring relationships. They support local partners* to remove invasive fish from their rivers and lakes – so that nature heals and people prosper.

(*For example the amazing Fundación Somuncura, who they partnered with to save four Critically Endangered species from a unique desert stream).

The IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Freshwater Conservation Committee brings together expertise from across the SSC network to strengthen and coordinate conservation action for freshwater biodiversity. It works to ensure freshwater species and ecosystems receive greater attention within global conservation policy, science and practice, connecting specialist groups and partners and helping translate knowledge into conservation action. Its role spans freshwater fishes and other aquatic taxa and provides an important platform for collaboration across one of the most threatened yet historically underrepresented areas of biodiversity conservation.

The IUCN SSC Freshwater Fish Specialist Group is a global network of freshwater fish experts working to conserve freshwater fishes and their habitats. Established in 2004, the group brings together more than 160 members across 17 regions and acts as a global forum for freshwater fish conservation. Its work includes generating and sharing scientific knowledge, supporting Red List assessments and conservation planning, raising awareness of the importance of freshwater fishes and influencing decision-making to promote the recovery and sustainable management of species and their habitats.

Great Lakes Aquarium is working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Fond du Lac Tribal Council to restore Lake Sturgeon to the St. Louis River. Building on previous involvement in collecting eggs from spawning sturgeon, in 2026 the aquarium began raising Lake Sturgeon on site for release for the first time. The pilot programme aims to raise 2,700 young sturgeon to release size, increasing to 3,500 in subsequent years. By using water directly from the St. Louis River during rearing, the project aims to improve the fishes’ ability to imprint on the river, increasing the likelihood that they will return to the system to spawn when they reach maturity.

Through its Global Center for Species Survival, Indianapolis Zoo supports freshwater conservation at both global and local scales. The zoo works closely with the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Freshwater Conservation Committee and specialist groups to advance Red List assessments, conservation planning and action for priority freshwater species, while directly supporting projects for threatened fishes including the Potosi, La Palma and Charco Palma pupfishes, Clanwilliam Sandfish and Niger Stingray. In North America, its work includes freshwater mussel conservation and the Help the Hellbender programme, which has head-started and released hellbenders in southern Indiana, alongside research and conservation action for the often-overlooked diversity of aquatic fungi.

Mandai Nature is a Singapore-based conservation organisation established by Temasek and Mandai Wildlife Group to advance nature conservation across Asia. It focuses on preventing species extinctions, protecting and restoring ecosystems, developing nature-based solutions to climate change and creating benefits for local communities. Mandai Nature works principally by supporting conservation organisations on the ground through funding, technical expertise, capacity building and connections between regional conservation priorities and global initiatives, with Southeast Asia’s exceptionally threatened biodiversity at the heart of its work.

The Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association represents the UK ornamental aquatics industry, promoting high standards, responsible fishkeeping, education and good practice across the aquarium and pond sectors. Alongside its industry role, OATA advocates for responsible and sustainable sourcing of ornamental fishes and supports conservation approaches that recognise the potential socioeconomic and environmental benefits of well-managed wild fisheries. Its freshwater conservation work promotes the sustainable management of wild tropical fish populations and their habitats while supporting communities whose livelihoods depend upon the ornamental fish trade.

OFI is the peak international trade association representing the ornamental fish industry since its inception in 1980. They represent members from more than 30 countries around the world and include members from all sectors of the industry (producers, exporters, importers and retailers) as well as a number of NGOs and other trade associations. OFI represents and promotes the interests of the industry through lobbying to various institutions around the world; as well as educating industry and hobbyists in responsible and sustainable best practices. In 2025, OFI members adopted its new charter guaranteeing the conduct of an ethical, fair and legal trade.

The Parosphromenus Project is an international conservation network dedicated to the highly threatened licorice gouramis of Southeast Asia. Bringing together aquarists, scientists, zoos and conservationists, the project works to maintain genetically valuable aquarium populations of Parosphromenus species while increasing knowledge and awareness of their conservation status. Many licorice gouramis are restricted to disappearing peat-swamp and forest-stream habitats, making carefully managed ex situ populations an important safeguard against extinction. The project also supports efforts to conserve the fishes within their natural habitats and has contributed expertise to formal husbandry guidance for the genus.

Practical Fishkeeping is the UK’s leading fishkeeping magazine, covering all aspects of the hobby for aquarists of every experience level.

They have a deep appreciation for freshwater fish and the ecosystems they inhabit. With many popular species increasingly threatened in the wild, they believe it is essential for aquarists to understand the challenges facing freshwater environments. They are committed to raising awareness of these often overlooked ecosystems and highlighting the important role the fishkeeping community can play in their conservation.

The Rufford Foundation provides grant funding for nature conservation projects around the world, with a strong emphasis on supporting early-career conservationists and practical field projects in emerging and developing economies. Through the Rufford Small Grants programme, researchers and conservation practitioners can progress through successive stages of funding as their projects develop, helping promising local initiatives grow into sustained conservation programmes. Thousands of projects have been supported across threatened species and habitats, including numerous freshwater research and conservation initiatives.

Saint Louis Zoo’s Freshwater Conservation Portfolio brings together research, managed care and field conservation to protect threatened aquatic species and ecosystems. Its work includes conservation breeding and head-starting for release, field surveys, ecological monitoring, conservation genetics and research into species biology, reproduction and disease. Through its WildCare Institute Ron and Karen Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation, the zoo has released more than 12,000 hellbenders into the wild, while also supporting recovery research for threatened fishes including the Grotto Sculpin and Pecos Mosquitofish. Its freshwater work extends into Mexico’s globally important Cuatrociénegas desert oasis, where it contributes to research on endemic aquatic species, invasive species and local conservation capacity.

San Antonio Zoo combines conservation breeding, research, education and field conservation through programmes in the United States and internationally. Freshwater species form an important part of this work: its aquarium team has developed conservation programmes for threatened fishes including the Conchos Pupfish, while the zoo is also part of the international collaboration working towards the recovery of three Mexican pupfish species classified as Extinct in the Wild. Its wider conservation portfolio includes aquatic species such as cave crayfish and amphibians, alongside Project Selva, which works with Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon and highlights the close links between people and the region’s extraordinary freshwater fish diversity.

Shedd Aquarium’s freshwater conservation programme combines in situ and ex situ science, community engagement and applied conservation to improve outcomes for freshwater biodiversity. Its work ranges from research into migratory fishes and the effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change in the Great Lakes to community-led restoration of the Chicago River, including innovative floating wetlands. Shedd also conducts freshwater mussel research and community-based wetland restoration, while its designation as an IUCN Species Survival Commission Center for Species Survival for freshwater supports species assessments, policy guidance and conservation capacity-building internationally. Its animal care and research teams complement this work through conservation aquaculture, mussel host-species propagation and the rearing of native species for habitat restoration.

The Springs Stewardship Institute (SSI) is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to improving understanding, management, and stewardship of spring ecosystems, which are among the most biologically important yet overlooked freshwater resources. SSI works with agencies, tribes, and partners to inventory, monitor, restore, and conserve springs and spring-dependent species while providing data and science needed for effective land and water management. Through field science, restoration projects, and development of the Springs Online data portal, SSI helps ensure springs are recognised and protected as critical components of freshwater conservation.

The Sustainable Eel Group is a specialist conservation organisation working to accelerate the recovery of the European Eel. It brings together scientists, conservationists and representatives of fisheries and industry to address the many pressures affecting the species across its vast migratory range. Its work includes improving river connectivity, tackling illegal trafficking, promoting responsible management and developing standards intended to improve practices throughout the eel supply chain. The organisation’s international approach reflects the unusual life cycle of European Eels, whose conservation depends on coordinated action across rivers, estuaries, seas and national borders.

Sulawesi Keepers is an international network bringing together aquarists, scientists, zoo professionals, conservation organisations and local communities to prevent the extinction of Sulawesi’s remarkable endemic freshwater fauna. Its work focuses particularly on the ancient lakes of the Indonesian island, home to unique fishes, shrimps, crabs and snails found nowhere else on Earth. Alongside supporting conservation in the wild, Sulawesi Keepers is building coordinated conservation-breeding networks to maintain assurance populations of threatened species in aquariums, linking the expertise of the aquarium community directly with species conservation.

The University of Leeds has broad expertise in freshwater ecology, water quality and aquatic ecosystem science, bringing together researchers through initiatives including water@leeds. Research spans freshwater fishes, invertebrates, microorganisms, food webs, ecosystem processes and the ways aquatic communities respond to climate change and other human pressures. The university also works closely with conservation practitioners to translate research into action: in 2026, water@leeds brought together researchers, NGOs, museums and conservationists for a dedicated programme focusing on overlooked freshwater biodiversity and particularly freshwater fishes.

Wetlands International is a locally led, global organisation, whose mission is to inspire and mobilise society to safeguard and restore wetlands for people and nature. Established in 1996, Wetlands International currently has 18 offices worldwide and has delivered impact for wetlands in over 100 countries.

Wetlands International’s decades of implementation, thought leadership, and policy advocacy are based on science and enriched by traditional and local knowledge. With partners, they have developed innovative solutions and best practices for rivers, lakes, peatlands and coastal wetlands, which have been road-tested in many different settings, geographies, and cultures.

They act as a bridge between local and global actors, bringing diverse knowledge and worldviews together to drive collective action.

They prioritise collaborating with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, working to secure benefits for vulnerable groups on the frontlines of the nature and climate crises.

Coenraad Krijger, CEO of Wetlands International said: “We are proud to partner with SHOAL to accelerate global efforts to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems and the astonishing biodiversity within them. We’ve already joined forces on publications such as Africa’s Forgotten Fishes and are looking forward to ramping up our collaboration to deliver greater impact together.”

World Fish Migration Day is a global campaign that celebrates migratory fishes and raises awareness of the need for healthy, connected rivers. Held every two years, it mobilises organisations and communities around the world through events, education and practical action, connecting people with the extraordinary journeys made by freshwater and diadromous fishes. At the heart of the campaign is a simple message: migratory fishes need connected habitats to complete their life cycles, making the protection and restoration of free-flowing rivers essential for their survival.

WWF works globally to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems for both biodiversity and people. Its freshwater programmes span rivers, lakes, wetlands and aquifers, addressing threats including habitat fragmentation, unsustainable water use, pollution and climate change while promoting better water stewardship by governments, businesses and communities. WWF supports freshwater conservation projects in more than 50 countries, from maintaining free-flowing rivers and restoring wetlands to protecting threatened species including sturgeons, river dolphins and freshwater fishes. Its work recognises that healthy freshwater ecosystems underpin biodiversity, human livelihoods and water security alike.

ZSL works to conserve threatened freshwater species through a combination of conservation breeding, field programmes, research and habitat restoration. It leads EAZA Ex Situ Programmes for several groups of threatened freshwater fishes and works particularly closely with partners in Mexico and Türkiye to link ex situ populations of endemic pupfishes and killifishes with conservation in the wild. In Mexico, ZSL has brought together more than 12 partners around a coordinated recovery plan for three pupfish species classified as Extinct in the Wild, combining genetically managed assurance populations with habitat restoration, translocation planning, research and community engagement. Its wider freshwater work includes European Eel conservation and Transforming the Thames, an ambitious partnership to restore key habitats across the Thames Estuary.