Sawfish are among the most threatened fish families globally, with habitat loss, fishing bycatch and targeted take driving dramatic population declines.
Sawfish entangled in fishing gear experience prolonged distress before death — the saw catches and the animal is often left thrashing for hours. As critically endangered animals, each individual death is both a welfare and conservation tragedy. Habitat degradation in rivers and coastal areas removes the protected spaces where juveniles develop, threatening the species future.