Abstract
Estuary‐associated fishes are threatened by a diversity of anthropogenic factors that occur at multiple spatial and temporal scales both within estuaries and their catchments. These factors include overexploitation, habitat degradation, disruption of essential ecological processes, hydrological manipulations, environmental pollution and, more recently, climate change and the impacts of introduced aquatic organisms. Various interventions and instruments that influence the conservation of estuarine habitats and fishes from an international level down to a local level are reviewed. Case studies on selected threatened species are presented to expose how a range of pressures have impacted on their populations, and the conservation measures taken or that are required to mitigate extinction risk.