Rare "Living Fossil" Closer to Legal Protections

Fisheries Service Proposes to List the Coelacanth Under the Endangered Species Act

Washington, DC—The National Marine Fisheries Service (Fisheries Service) has proposed to list the Tanzanian population of African coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as a result of a petition submitted by WildEarth Guardians. The African coelacanth is one of only two surviving species of an ancient lineage of fishes thought to have gone extinct 65 million years ago; the discovery of the “living fossils” in 1938 was surprising and sparked an interest in conservation of the rare species.

“The coelacanth is a relic of prehistory and deserves the best possible protections,” said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “The Fisheries Service should promptly finalize this listing and fully protect this rare and special species.”

Coelacanths are secretive fish that inhabit underwater caves and canyons in deepwater coastal habitats, which likely provide shelter from predators and ocean currents. There are three confirmed coelacanth populations; off the coasts of the Comoro Islands, South Africa, and Tanzania. They are long-lived fish, living upwards of 40 to 50 years and potentially even 100 years. They have the longest gestation period of any vertebrate; the young gestate for 3 years before being born.

The coelacanth population off the coast of Tanzania faces potential threats from port construction, bycatch in shark gillnets, and warming oceans. This isolated population is vulnerable to extinction from chance events and natural disasters, and there is little chance that the long-lived, slow-reproducing fish could recover from a population crash.

Guardians submitted a petition to list 81 marine species and subpopulations, including the coelacanth, under the ESA in July of 2013 due to significant threats to our oceans. An estimated 50 to 80 percent of all life on earth is found in the oceans. 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 2,216 species protected under the Act, only 125 (~5 percent) are marine species. Recognizing the decline of ocean health, on July 22, 2010, President Obama issued an Executive Order requiring agencies, including the 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 Fisheries Service to live up to this mandate.

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 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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