Endangered sawfish at risk from plan to double water extraction from WA’s Fitzroy River, advocates say

Endangered largetooth sawfish are born at the mouth of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, which is home to four out of five sawfish species worldwide. Photograph: David Wachenfeld /Triggerfish Images

Conservationists fear a government plan to double groundwater extraction from the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment in Western Australia could jeopardise threatened sawfish populations.

The untamed river, which flows 700km through the Kimberley to King Sound, is considered the last stronghold for sawfish globally and is home to four of the world’s five species.