The director of the Iranian Fisheries Science and Research Institute at the specialized meeting on biodiversity and aquatic genetic resources said: Unfortunately, the contribution of some of the most economically important and valuable fish species has fallen below 1%. If effective measures are not taken in this area, in the near future with the collapse of the marine ecosystem balance, there will be irreversible consequences for the natural environment. Dr. Mohammad Pourkazemi noted that the importance of protecting endangered aquatic species is as important as that of an animal such as cheetah that the environmental experts are warning about. He added: The researchers of the country in the field of fisheries sciences have taken effective steps to protect genetic resources and aquatic biodiversity including the creation of the live gene bank, sperm bank, tissue bank and DNA in various provinces. Dr. Mohammad Pourkazemi identified the creation of working groups divided by geographical area, joint work between public and private entities and the restoration of some endangered species as one of the most important steps that must be taken in protecting aquatic genetic resources. In the following, the head of the National Center for the Management of Genetic Resources for Agriculture and Natural Resources said at the meeting: The main tasks of gene banks are to identify, collect, protect and restore, evaluate, record and document, exchange and exploit various species of living organisms. Dr. Mohammad Jafar Aghaee believes that although Iran's access to the most important genetic diversity centers in Central Asia as well as the presence of trained human resources and existence of infrastructures in the field of genetic reserves are among the most important strengths of the country, but the lack of precise identification of species, the lack of collection and protection of indigenous knowledge and the dissemination of information in the field of genetic diversity are among the most important weaknesses. Accordingly, the existence of the strategic plan and coherent management for the conservation of genetic resources and the development of executive rules and regulations for this purpose will be very necessary. At the specialized meeting, the head of the national reference for the convention on biological diversity said that the variety of different species is so high that there is a diversity of almost 1000 times the variety of species identified in the world. However, according to available statistics, about one million species of organisms will be exposed to extinction in the coming decades. Dr. Eskandar Zand added that direct use of species, climate change, contamination and invasion of non-indigenous invasive species are among the most important sources of damage to biodiversity. According to him, the convention on biological diversity has set 5 strategies and 20 goals to prevent these damages which, if followed, could prevent a disaster in the future of biodiversity. Dr. Hossein Abdolahi, Dr. Davoud Mir Shekar, Dr. Fereidoun Oufi, Dr. Hamid Reza Esmaeili, Dr. Reza Naderloo, Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Hadi Alavi, Dr. Mehdi Naderi Jolodar and Dr. Yazdan Kivani were present at the meeting and they spoke in various areas of biodiversity and conservation of genetic resources.