WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Rare Marine Species Protected Under the Endangered Species Act

Four Critically Imperiled Species Gain Legal Safeguards
Contact: Taylor Jones (720) 443-2615

Washington, DC— The National Marine Fisheries Service (Service) today listed the dusky sea snake and three coral species as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in response to a petition by WildEarth Guardians. The four imperiled marine species now have strong legal protections from myriad threats including habitat loss, pollution, and climate change.

“Ocean species are struggling, neglected by our nation’s most powerful environmental law for too long,” said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “It’s great to see these species get the strong protections they need to escape extinction and begin recovering.”

WildEarth Guardians submitted a petition seeking ESA protections for 81 imperiled marine species and subpopulations in July of 2013 due to the significant threats to our oceans. An estimated 50 to 80 percent of all life on earth is found in the oceans, and more than half of marine species may be at risk of extinction by 2100 without significant conservation efforts. Despite this grave situation, the U.S. largely fails to protect marine species under the ESA. Of the more than 2,240 species protected under the ESA, only about five percent are marine species.

Recognizing the decline of ocean health, on July 22, 2010 President Obama issued an Executive Order requiring agencies, including the National Marine Fisheries Service, to “protect, maintain, and restore the health and biological diversity of ocean... ecosystems,” and to “use the best available science and knowledge to inform decisions affecting the ocean.” Guardians’ multi-species marine petition seeks to compel the Service to live up to this mandate. Today, the Service took an important step towards living up to that mandate by listing the four species.

“Our oceans are under extreme and increasing threats from unchecked fishing, capture of animals for the pet trade, pollution and ocean acidification,” said Jones. “It is time we reverse this trend toward extinction and protect our marine ecosystems and the species that call the oceans home.”

Protection under the ESA is an effective safety net for imperiled species: more than 99 percent of plants and animals protected by the law exist today. The law is especially important as a defense against the current extinction crisis; species are disappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate of extinction due to human activities. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct by 2006 if not for ESA protections. Listing species with global distribution can both protect the species domestically, and help focus U.S. resources toward enforcement of international regulation and recovery of the species.

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Dusky sea snake (Aipysurus fuscus).  The dusky sea snake lives in coral reefs off the coast of western Australia, within an area that is likely fewer than 500 square kilometers. The species is threatened by potential loss of coral reef habitat and hybridization with the olive sea snake.

Three coral species (Cantharellus noumeae, Siderastrea glynni, and Tubastraea floreana). The three proposed coral species belong to the phylum Cnidaria. All are tropical, shallow water corals.  Two of the three are symbiotic with photosynthetic algae that live in their cells. All live in small colonies or as solitary individuals.

Cantharellus noumeae is found in New Caledonia and possibly New Guinea. Siderastrea glynni is found in a small area of the Pacific Ocean near the opening of the Panama Canal. Only five colonies have ever been found, and none remain in the wild. Tubastraea floreana is found in the Galapagos Islands, and only one confirmed population remains. These three species are threatened by potential habitat modification due to climate change and human activities including mining, coastal development, oil production, and pollution.