In Japan where the government has signed the treaty of Convention on Biodiversity, more than 30% of a total number of blackish and freshwater fishes become endangered, as indicated in the red list of the Ministry of the Environment in Japan. A number of fishes in marine environments also become endangered. Although the destruction of habitats in streams, lakes and oceans is regarded as the major source of the loss of fish diversity, the introduction of predatory foreign species and stocking of genetically different populations leading to genetic contamination in natural habitats become unavoidably problematic.
 The Ichthyological Society of Japan came to our recognition that the society should contribute to the Japanese society as a duty of an academic community by playing an active role in conservation of bio-diversity. The society should reach a full understanding of the present condition, investigate scientifically underlying source of the present condition and make a full report to the public. To carry out these tasks, the society has passed a resolution to establish the nature conservation committee of the Ichthyological Society of Japan.

(Amended on 22 July 2005)

 The committee consists of a Chairperson, vice-Chairperson and several committee members. The replacement of the Chairperson and vice-Chairperson and addition of the committee members shall be discussed in the committee and approved by the council committee. The petition for the replacement of the Chairperson in each sub-committee or addition of the sub-committee members shall be submitted by each chair of the sub-committee and resolved by the committee.

(1)

The following sub-committees shall be established in the committee. Each sub-committee consists of the Chairperson and sub-committee members:

• Investigation committee of foreign fish species
• Investigation committee of rare freshwater fish
• Investigation committee of rare marine fish

(2)

Roles of each sub-committee shall be designated as follows:

• Investigation committee of foreign fish species: To collect a wide variety of detailed data on problems involved in a disruption of domestic species that have been caused by an artificial introduction of foreign species with a different geographical distribution and/or genetic background.
• Investigation committee of rare freshwater fish: To deal with a variety of problems with regard to the conservation of habitats and species or group lineages.
• Investigation committee of rare marine fish: To deal with a variety of problems with regard to the conservation of marine environments and species.

Chairperson: Seiichi Mori
Vice-Chairperson: Norio Onikura, Katsutoshi Watanabe

Investigation Committee of Foreign Fish Species:

Katsuki Nakai (Chairperson), Yasufumi Fujimoto, Shinichiro Matsuzaki, Takahiko Mukai, Motoi Takeuchi, Yoshinori Taniguchi, Taiga Yodo

Investigation Committee of Rare Freshwater Fish

Itsuro Koizumi (Chairperson), Tsukasa Abe, Keiichiro Iguchi, Shigefumi Kanao, Tadao Kitagawa, Katsunori Tachihara, Jun Nakajima, Takaharu Natsumeda, Haruhiko Fujimoto, Kazumi Hosoya, Toshihiko Yonezawa

Investigation Committee of Rare Marine Fish

Atsuko Yamaguchi (Chairperson), Kazunori Arayama, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Hiroshi Senou, Yusuke Miyazaki, Hiroyuki Munehara, Tetsuo Yoshino

(Amended on 29 October 2021)