Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- An Australian freshwater fish has bucked an extinction trend confronting many of the world’s plants and animals by using ladders that help them swim upstream to spawning grounds.

The grayling is less threatened than last year thanks to new fish steps, more riverside vegetation and “heavy” fines to anglers that catch them, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Red List” of endangered species. Some Brazilian and New Zealand bird species have also recovered.

The success in helping the Australian grayling survive contrasts with the rising number of flora and fauna that face annihilation from human population pressures, pollution and shrinking habitats. This year, the IUCN said at least 17,291 species face extinction compared with 16,928 in 2008.

“The scientific evidence of a serious extinction is mounting,” said Jane Smart, the IUCN’s director of biodiversity conservation for the Gland, Switzerland-based organization. “We’re rapidly running out of time.”

Plants are most threatened with 70 percent of the 12,151 on the Red List facing extinction, including a species in South America, the “Queen of the Andes,” that produces seeds once every 80 years before dying. Climate change and cattle grazing may already be impairing its ability to flower, the IUCN said.

“In our lifetime we have gone from having to worry about a relatively small number of highly threatened species to the collapse of entire ecosystems, such as the coral reefs,” said Jonathan Baillie, director of conservation programs at the Zoological Society of London.

The Australian grayling lives in southeastern parts of the country and has been a popular catch among fishermen, according to the IUCN. Introduction of the brown trout into the grayling’s habitat has also led to competition for food.

Bird populations that are recovering include the Lear’s macaw, a blue parrot in Brazil, as well as the Mauritius fody, which was moved to a predator-free island, the group said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at jvanloon@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2009 05:23 EST