Nature & Environment
Alaskan Seabird Denied Protection Under Endangered Species Act
Benita Matilda
First Posted: Oct 07, 2013 06:45 AM EDT
An Alaskan seabird threatened by oil pollution and shrinking glaciers was denied protection under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 2001, the Center for Biological Diversity raised a petition to protect Kittlitz's murrelet, an Alaskan seabird, under the Endangered Species Protection as the seabird faces a great threat from melting glaciers due to drastic climate change, oil pollution and gillnets, The seabird is listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, according to a press release.
The bird is threatened by oil spills occurring in the Alaskan waters due to excess traffic of oil tankers and other vessels and offshore oil and gas drilling projects. More than hundreds of these seabirds drown every year in coastal gillnets in Alaska.
"The Kittlitz's murrelet is one of America's most imperilled birds, but federal officials have decided not to save the species from extinction," Shaye Wolf, the Center's climate science director, said in a statement. "It's tragic that our government has denied protection to this clearly endangered seabird, despite overwhelming scientific evidence of drastic population declines and escalating threats from climate change."
Also referred as the glacier murrelet, this Alaskan seabird carries its foraging activity in the coastal waters near glacier outflows as they are flooded with their primary food that mainly consists of zooplankton and fish. But due to the dramatic climate change, the number of these seabirds dropped. In recent decades their numbers dropped by 80-90 percent in major areas; from the Glacier Bay to Prince William Sound.
In the listing analysis, the Service concluded that, "Kittlitz's murrelets in Alaska experienced a large-scale decline of 30 percent per year between 1989 and 2000 and likely have continued to decline at a slower rate since 2000. While acknowledging that most murrelets forage in glacially influenced waters during the breeding season, the Service determined that the loss of Alaska's glaciers to climate change does not pose a threat."
Similar to the polar bear, the Alaskan seabird also faces a great threat from climate change, said Wolf. "It is extremely painful to see the wildlife management agencies not taking any strong measure to protect these threatened species." .
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First Posted: Oct 07, 2013 06:45 AM EDT
An Alaskan seabird threatened by oil pollution and shrinking glaciers was denied protection under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 2001, the Center for Biological Diversity raised a petition to protect Kittlitz's murrelet, an Alaskan seabird, under the Endangered Species Protection as the seabird faces a great threat from melting glaciers due to drastic climate change, oil pollution and gillnets, The seabird is listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, according to a press release.
The bird is threatened by oil spills occurring in the Alaskan waters due to excess traffic of oil tankers and other vessels and offshore oil and gas drilling projects. More than hundreds of these seabirds drown every year in coastal gillnets in Alaska.
"The Kittlitz's murrelet is one of America's most imperilled birds, but federal officials have decided not to save the species from extinction," Shaye Wolf, the Center's climate science director, said in a statement. "It's tragic that our government has denied protection to this clearly endangered seabird, despite overwhelming scientific evidence of drastic population declines and escalating threats from climate change."
Also referred as the glacier murrelet, this Alaskan seabird carries its foraging activity in the coastal waters near glacier outflows as they are flooded with their primary food that mainly consists of zooplankton and fish. But due to the dramatic climate change, the number of these seabirds dropped. In recent decades their numbers dropped by 80-90 percent in major areas; from the Glacier Bay to Prince William Sound.
In the listing analysis, the Service concluded that, "Kittlitz's murrelets in Alaska experienced a large-scale decline of 30 percent per year between 1989 and 2000 and likely have continued to decline at a slower rate since 2000. While acknowledging that most murrelets forage in glacially influenced waters during the breeding season, the Service determined that the loss of Alaska's glaciers to climate change does not pose a threat."
Similar to the polar bear, the Alaskan seabird also faces a great threat from climate change, said Wolf. "It is extremely painful to see the wildlife management agencies not taking any strong measure to protect these threatened species." .
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone