Endangered Species Act Archives - Page 19 of 26

Zero Dollars for Marine Mammals?

February 27, 2018 — The future of marine mammals is at risk in U.S. waters. President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2019 would eliminate the Marine Mammal Commission. With an annual operating budget of $3.4 million, which comes to just over one penny per American per year, the Marine Mammal Commission has for 45 years been assiduously developing science and policy to protect seals, sea lions, dolphins, whales, dugongs and walruses. Through the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), Congress charged the commission with providing independent oversight of marine mammal conservation policies and programs being carried out by federal regulatory agencies. Obviously, with a proposed budget of zero dollars, it would be impossible to execute the federally mandated objectives of fostering sustainable fisheries (through the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act [MSA]) and protecting endangered species (through the Endangered Species Act [ESA]).

Marine mammals are more than just lovable creatures. They are important components of productive marine and coastal ecosystems that overall generate $97 billion of the gross domestic product. Whales function as ecosystem engineers by cycling vital nutrients between deeper and surface waters in the oceans. Without this nutrient cycling, oceans would produce less plankton and phytoplankton, which would eventually mean less fish. Also, through complex food-web interactions, marine mammals help to regulate fish populations. For example, marine-mammal–eating killer whales (often called “transient” killer whales) will eat seals, a common predator of pelagic fish—enabling fish populations to stay high. This kind of interaction is called a trophic cascade and is very common in marine ecosystems.

Serving as an independent oversight body, the commission has the critical task of assessing the scientific validity and effectiveness of research conducted to meet the federal mandates of the MMPA, ESA and MSA. If we as a country can’t even protect the charismatic species, I worry for all the less adorable parts of nature. So we need to draw a line in the sand. In this era of “fake news,” maintaining this entity to guard against encroachments to science-based policymaking on is more valuable than ever.

Read the full story at the Scientific American

The Trump Administration Just Got Sued Over an “Unusual Mortality Event” in the Ocean

February 23, 2018 — On January 22, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration got word of a juvenile, North Atlantic right whale carcass floating off the coast of Virginia. Later identified as whale #3893, the 39-foot, 10-year-old female was towed to shore, where researchers examined her partially-decomposed remains. A few days later, preliminary necropsy findings indicated that the whale died of “chronic entanglement,” meaning it was caught in rope or line, according to a report from NOAA.

It was the first right whale to die in 2018, but it comes on the heels of the deaths of 17 right whales in the North Atlantic in 2017—a record setting number that is more than all right whale mortalities in the five previous years combined. NOAA researchers are calling the trend an “unusual mortality event”—a particularly concerning phenomenon, as North Atlantic right whales are an endangered species. There are only about 450 left in the wild, according to NOAA, and at the current rate, scientists predict the species could be functionally extinct in fewer than 25 years.

NOAA hasn’t determined the cause of the “unusual mortality event,” but some are looking right at Washington, and at NOAA itself. A new lawsuit, filed January 18 in US District Court in Washington, D.C., argues specifically that the Trump administration is at least partly responsible for failing to adequately address this epidemic.

Between 2010 and 2016, 85 percent of diagnosed whale deaths were the result of entanglement, typically in commercial fishing gear. The plaintiffs—the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Humane Society—allege that President Trump’s Department of Commerce, of which NOAA is a branch, is in violation of the 1973 Endangered Species Act and the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act over their management of the North Atlantic lobster fishery, which “frequently entangles right whales,” according to the suit. Under the Endangered Species Act, the plaintiffs point out, any action, direct or indirect, by a federal agency must not be “likely to jeopardize” any endangered or threatened species.

Read the full story at Mother Jones

California: Bill would allow crab season to close temporarily for whale entanglements

February 21, 2018 — North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire is looking to make changes to the state’s Fish and Game Code with the Fisheries Omnibus Bill, SB 1309, which he introduced Friday.

Several of the provisions in the bill would impact local fisherman and local practices. And, according to McGuire, several of the changes were introduced at the request of fishermen.

Specifically, one provision would update what McGuire called “antiquated regulations” for the Humboldt Bay anchovy fleet.

The bill would establish one 60-ton limit on anchovies taken from Humboldt Bay between May 1 and December 1 each year, rather than two 15-ton limits for specific time periods each year.

“Humboldt Bay has always been subject to its own anchovy fishery regulations,” he said. “The Fishing Omnibus Bill brings the Humboldt Bay regulation in line with the rest of the state.”

Several provisions of SB 1309 deal with the Dungeness crab fishing industry — one would allow the director of California Department of Fish and Wildlife to temporarily close a crabbing season in the event of a whale entanglement, another would create new regulations for lost crabbing gear.

“This bill would authorize the director, upon the unanimous recommendation of the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, as defined, to, on an emergency basis, close Dungeness crab season in any waters due to whale entanglements, or reopen Dungeness crab season in those waters if the risk of whale entanglements has abated,” the proposed bill states.

The working group is made up of commercial and recreational fishermen, environmental organization representatives, members of the disentanglement network, and state and local agencies, according to the Ocean Protection Council website.

“Two seasons ago there was an entanglement in Monterey Bay,” McGuire said Monday. “The director of Fish and Wildlife didn’t have the authority to close crab season even though there was an entanglement. The crab fleet came to the committee and asked us to change this provision in law, which is why we are advancing this fix in the omnibus bill.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit alleging Fish and Wildlife violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing crab fishing, said McGuire’s bill does not go far enough.

Read the full story at the Eureka Times-Standard

Court approves threatened-species status for ringed seals in Alaska

February 13, 2018 — In a decision based on long-term climate projections, the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed ringed seals in Alaska as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The ruling could result in limits on oil and gas projects and other activity in the Arctic. It reverses a 2016 decision by U.S. District Court Anchorage Judge Ralph Beistline.

The National Marine Fisheries Service in 2012 listed the Arctic ringed seal as threatened, based on long-term climate-model projections showing its sea-ice habitat shrinking.

The agency’s finding that the seal “was likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future – was reasonable and supported by the record,” the appeal court’s decision says.

The state of Alaska, the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, and other groups had challenged the listing.

In a related case, the U.S. Supreme Court in January decided not to review the appeals court’s conclusion upholding the threatened listing of Alaska’s bearded seal.

The bearded and ringed seals are “closely related,” the appeals court said Monday. The bearded-seal case adjudicated the same issues, and the court is bound by that precedent, the appeals court said.

The Alaska Oil and Gas Association, the state of Alaska and other plaintiffs had challenged that listing as well.

Kara Moriarty, president of AOGA, called the decisions disappointing. She said there are millions of bearded and ringed seals worldwide.

“The ESA listing was made despite a lack of sufficient scientific evidence to suggest that the species would be threatened any time in the near future,” Moriarty said. “Under such a standard, virtually any and all species could be listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA. All this will do is add additional cost and burden to our industry for seals with extremely healthy populations.”

Kristen Monsell, senior attorney for Center for Biological Diversity, a defendant in the case along with the federal government, said NMFS will implement a recovery plan for the ringed seal and designate critical habitat. The agency in 2014 proposed critical habitat for the seal off Alaska’s northern and western coasts.

To protect the threatened seals, the federal government could set limits affecting industrial activity, Monsell said. Agencies may require, say a re-route of pipeline construction plans, or stopping noisy work during birthing seasons.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Scott Pruitt pushes back on finding that would restrict pesticides’ use to protect fish

February 5, 2018 — For months, chemical companies have waged a campaign to reverse findings by federal fisheries scientists that could curb the use of pesticides based on the threat they pose to endangered species. They scored a major victory this week, when Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced he would press another federal agency to revisit a recent opinion triggering such restrictions.

The struggle over an arcane provision of the Endangered Species Act, in which the EPA must affirm that the pesticides it oversees do not put species’ survival in jeopardy, has become the latest front in the battle over a broad-spectrum insecticide known as chlorpyrifos. Pruitt denied a petition to ban its agricultural use after questioning EPA scientists’ conclusions that exposure impedes brain development in infants and fetuses.

Speaking to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture on Wednesday, Pruitt said he plans to inform the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Fisheries Service “that there needs to be a consultation because we have usage data, frankly, that wasn’t considered.”

NOAA Fisheries issued a Biological Opinion on Dec. 29, which was publicly released Jan. 9 by the environmental law firm Earthjustice, finding that the current use of chlorpyrifos and malathion “is likely to jeopardize the continued existence” of 38 species of salmon and other fish in the Pacific Northwest and destroy or harm the designated critical habitat of 37 of those species. It found another pesticide, diazinon, could jeopardize the continued existence of 25 listed fish species and could harm critical habitat for 18 of them.

In allowing chlorpyrifos to stay on the market — the product is already prohibited for household products — Pruitt cited concerns raised by the Department of Agriculture, pesticide industry groups and an EPA scientific review panel about studies the agency used to conclude that the pesticide poses a serious enough neurological risk to ban its use on dozens of crops. One study, by researchers at Columbia University, found a connection between higher exposure levels to chlorpyrifos and learning and memory problems among farmworkers and children.

Read the full story at the Washington Post

Hope, but no calves, spotted as right whales return to Georgia waters

February 5, 2018 — They call her Halo — the right whale was born to another documented calving female, Loligo, in 2005, and was last seen in 2016. That was until staff with the Sea to Shore Alliance spotted her Wednesday near Little St. Simons Island. She, and her companion, are the first right whales seen off the coast of Georgia this calving season, which typically is from November to April.

“There was an adult female spotted that has had calved before — or has had a calf before — and so we’re hoping that she’s pregnant and we’ll have a calf in the upcoming days or weeks,” said Clay George, who heads up the state Department of Natural Resources’ right whale efforts. “There was another whale seen with her that was large and appeared to be an adult or a juvenile, but it was not a calf that was born this year. So, we are hoping that perhaps it was also an adult female and may be pregnant also.”

There has also been action in the Gulf of Mexico this year.

“My understanding, from talking to colleagues that work for the state of Florida, that at least two of the sightings (in the gulf) have been confirmed to be a right whale, and the photos suggest that it may have been the same individual whale was seen in both locations, and if so, it appears to be a 1-year-old whale that was born last year,” George said. “So, those three whales are the only whales that have been seen south of Cape Hatteras, N.C.”

There is more than a little amount of worry among whale researchers and experts that the world could be watching the extinction of right whales, considering births are not keeping up with deaths — especially with human-influenced mortality from whales becoming entangled in heavy fishing gear used for lobsters and snow crabs further north.

Read the full story at the Brunswick News

Declining species of shark added to endangered species list

January 31, 2018 — The federal government says the oceanic whitetip shark will be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act to help the species recover.

Scientists say the sharks have declined by 80 percent to 90 percent in the Pacific Ocean since the 1990s. They’ve fallen 50 percent to 85 percent in the Atlantic Ocean since the 1950s.

Conservationists blame commercial fishing and demand for their fins.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

California sea lion population rebounds

January 24, 2018 — California sea lions are doing just fine. Thanks for asking.

More than fine, actually.

Sea lions have fully rebounded with an estimated population of more than 250,000 in 2014, according to a recent study by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 1975, the population was estimated at less than 90,000.

The study reconstructed the population’s triumphs and trials over the past 40 years.

“The population has basically come into balance with its environment,” co-author Sharon Melin, a research biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, said in a statement. “The marine environment is always changing, and their population is at a point where it responds very quickly to changes in the environment.”

NOAA’s declaration that California sea lions have fully rebounded does not mean a “delisting” as it would if the sea lion was listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“Although there is no provision in the Marine Mammal Protection Act (which protects sea lions) to delist a species, there is a provision that allows states to ask NOAA Fisheries to take over management of species that have reached carrying capacity (in the law it is called Optimum Sustainable Population or OSP) and potentially do more to control their numbers,” wrote NOAA spokesperson Michael Milstein when announcing the report’s findings.

The goal now, Melin said, is to keep the population balanced between 183,000 and 275,000 individuals.

The rebound is a victory for the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. But as in other instances of animal populations beating the odds — wolves, for example — it’s a success story that comes with challenges.

As the California sea lion population has grown, the animals have expanded their range, bringing them into conflict with humans and endangered fish.

Where you sit’

In Astoria, male California sea lions have taken over an entire stretch of docks at the Port of Astoria’s East Mooring Basin. Port employees have attempted numerous deterrent tactics over the years, everything from fluttering wind dancers to a fake killer whale. Nothing has really worked.

Upward of 1,000 pinnipeds were recorded in a single daily count at the mooring basin in 2015. While fewer sea lions returned this spring, plenty showed up in the fall and many have stuck around through the winter instead of leaving like they have in the past, said Janice Burk, marina manager.

The port plans to install more low railing fabricated by students from Knappa along the docks in the spring. It has proved to be the one deterrent that seems to work. Sometimes.

Read the full story from the Columbia Basin Bulletin at the Chinook Observer

Supreme Court says bearded seal still threatened, despite legal battle

January 23, 2018 — While the federal government was shut down on Monday, the federal courts were still making decisions.

The U.S Supreme Court decided to keep the bearded seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act — rejecting an oil and gas industry challenge to the animal’s protection status.

The marine mammal was listed in 2012, due to melting sea ice. But the Alaska Oil and Gas Association or AOGA and the American Petroleum Institute thought the listing was premature.

Joshua Kindred, an environmental counselor at AOGA, said he was “disappointed” in the supreme court’s decision.

He said the National Marine Fisheries Service didn’t provide enough evidence to warrant a listing.

“They didn’t ever really show from a scientific point of view why the seasonal sea ice was so critical to their long-term health of the species,” he said.

Kindred said there also wasn’t sufficient guidance for a plan moving forward. He said excessive critical habitat designations can slow oil and gas development.

The Center for Biological Diversity has fought to keep the bearded seal’s protection status.

Read the full story at KTOO Public Media

Coast Guard on the Hook in Killer Whale Lawsuit

January 19, 2018 — SEATTLE — The Coast Guard must face claims by two Northwest tribes that a plan for oil tanker traffic threatens the habitat of southern resident killer whales, a federal judge ruled this week.

The Tulalip and Suquamish Tribes sued the Coast Guard last year over its adoption of a traffic-separation plan off the coast of Washington state.

The tribes say the Coast Guard did not consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service before adopting the plan. The “seven-fold increase” in oil tanker traffic en route to Canada threatens the southern resident killer whales, according to the lawsuit.

That particular group of killer whales, also called orcas, is the only population of killer whales protected under the Endangered Species Act.

There are fewer than 80 orcas in the population, and they spend a large part of each year in the waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Georgia Strait.

The tribes sought a court order requiring the Coast Guard to consult with the Fisheries Service on a new shipping traffic plan, with permanent measures to “ensure against jeopardy, prevent adverse modification of critical habitat, and minimize incidental take.”

“Killer whales are revered by our people. They are part of our ancestral marine ecology and continue to be very important to our culture. They now face their biggest threat to date: the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline,” Marie Zackuse, Tulalip Tribes chairwoman, said last year.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service