MarineBio Blog

UPDATE: The polar bear is now listed under the Endangered Species Act, but, as always the Bush administration managed to weasel their way — ooops, MarineBio stives to be politically neutral, like the Switzerland of marine conservation. Oh well, I don’t think I’ll offend too many people with criticism of the Bush administration - our economy has tanked, our foreign policy is a joke, and we’re being led by a guy who claimed yesterday that “We believe that the surest way to defeat the enemies of hatred is to advance the cause of hope through the cause of freedom” — really? We want to fight the enemies of hatred? So we’re PRO hatred?

Polar bears are now only slightly better off than they were before they were listed. They weren’t listed as endangered, they were listed as threatened. There’s a big difference. The definition of a threatened species is one that may become extinct if measures aren’t taken to protect it. An endangered species is one that has a very small population and at greater risk of becoming extinct. Many species that become extinct never even make it to the endangered species list.

I think the Center for Biological Diversity’s press release sums up yesterday’s decision best:

For Immediate Release, May 14, 2008
Contacts: Kassie Siegel, Center for Biological Diversity, (951) 961-7972 (cell); ksiegel@biologicaldiversity.org
Serena Ingre, Natural Resources Defense Council, (703) 296-0702 (cell); (202) 289-2378 (office); singre@nrdc.org
Jane Kochersperger, Greenpeace, (202) 680-3798 (cell); jane.kochersperger@greenpeace.org

Environmental Groups Win Protection for Polar Bear
Faced With Scientific Evidence on Global Warming, Court Order, and
Public Pressure, Government Grants Polar Bear Endangered Species Act Listing
Due to Global Warming

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Following a three-year legal battle to protect the polar bear from extinction due to global warming, three environmental groups won protection for the species with the announcement today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is listing the polar bear as a federally “threatened” species.

The decision was issued in response to a 2005 scientific petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and was required by a court order in a lawsuit brought by the groups to end the administration’s delay in issuing a final Endangered Species Act listing decision.

While the polar bear listing is one of the administration’s clearest acknowledgments to date of the urgent threat posed by global warming, the administration is simultaneously attempting to reduce the protections the bear will receive under the Act. It claims in the listing decision that federal agencies need not consider the impact of global warming pollution on the polar bear; it has also proposed a separate regulation reducing the protections the polar bear would otherwise receive.

“This decision is a watershed event because it has forced the Bush administration to acknowledge global warming’s brutal impacts,” said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the 2005 petition. “It’s not too late to save the polar bear, and we’ll keep fighting to ensure that the polar bear gets the help it needs through the full protections of the Endangered Species Act. The administration’s attempts to reduce protection to the polar bear from greenhouse gas emissions are illegal and won’t hold up in court.”

Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are totally dependent on the sea ice for all their essential needs. Global warming is an overwhelming threat to the polar bear, which is already suffering starvation, drowning, and population declines as the sea ice melts away.

“The polar bear is already on thin ice. Protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act is a major step forward, but the Bush administration has proposed using loopholes in the law to allow the greatest threat to the polar bear — global warming pollution — to continue unabated,” said Andrew Wetzler, director of the Endangered Species Project at NRDC. “If the key threats to the polar bear are not addressed soon, zoos will be the only place our grandchildren will be able to see a polar bear.”

“The administration’s inclusion of this language exempts the impact of global warming on the polar bear and would gut any protections the ruling would have provided,” said Melanie Duchin, global warming campaigner for Greenpeace USA in Alaska. “Global warming threatens polar bears with extinction, so to exempt global warming pollution from the formula for protecting the species violates the spirit and intent of the ESA.”

Each step in the listing process has required legal action to enforce the Endangered Species Act’s deadlines for protecting species. The three groups first sued the Bush administration in December 2005 because the government had ignored their petition to protect the polar bear. As a result of that lawsuit, in February 2006 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that protection of polar bears “may be warranted,” and commenced a full status review of the species. A settlement agreement in the case committed the Service to make the second of three required findings by December 27, 2006, at which time the administration announced the proposal to list the species as “threatened.” By law, the administration was required to make today’s final listing decision within one year of the proposal, or by January 9, 2008. When the administration failed to comply with that deadline, the groups filed suit on March 10, 2008 to end the delay. On April 28, the District Court issued an order requiring the administration to issue a decision by May 15.

Scientists predicted and have now documented the grim impacts to polar bears as the Arctic warms rapidly. Shrinking sea ice drastically restricts polar bears’ ability to hunt their main prey, ice seals. In the spring of 2006, scientists located the bodies of several bears that had starved to death. Reduced food availability due to global warming has also caused polar bears to resort to cannibalism off the north coast of Alaska and Canada. In September, the U.S. Geological Survey predicted that, based on polar bear distribution and current global warming projections, two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population would likely be extinct by 2050, including all polar bears within the United States.

The Arctic melt is also outpacing predictions. September 2007 shattered all previous records for sea-ice loss when the Arctic ice cap shrank to a record 1 million square miles — equivalent to an area six times the size of California — below the average summer sea-ice extent of the past several decades, reaching levels not predicted to occur until mid-century. Scientists already predict that this year’s sea-ice minimum could shatter the record set in 2007, and several leading scientists have now stated that the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in the summer by 2012.

Listing the polar bear guarantees that federal agencies will be obligated to ensure that any action they authorize, fund, or carry out will not jeopardize polar bears’ continued existence or adversely modify their critical habitat, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be required to prepare a recovery plan for the polar bear, specifying measures necessary for its protection.

There’s hope for polar bears, and other species at-risk due to global warming, if they are listed as a threatened or endangered species by the US Dept. of the Interior. The Bush administration, currently in violation of the Endangered Species Act for missing the deadline for a listing decision, has until May 15th based on a ruling by Judge Claudia Wilken. The decision to list the polar bear as an endangered species was due in January 2008, but the Bush administration claimed that they needed more time. After two more months passed without a decision, Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Dept. of the Interior to force them to make a ruling. According to Kassie Siegel who authored the scientific petition to protect polar bears

“The polar bear needs protection now, which is why we asked a federal judge to end this delay… By May 15th, the polar bear should receive the protection it deserves under the Endangered Species Act, which is the first step towards saving the polar bear and the entire Arctic ecosystem from global warming.”

Judge Wilken ruled that the decision to list the polar bear on the endangered species list go into effect immediately, waiving the normal 30-day waiting period. This decision was based on a pending proposal to allow oil industry operations in the Chukchi Sea – a critical polar bear habitat. Federal protection under the Endangered Species Act will subject oil industry proposals to increased scrutiny. In addition, Senator John Kerry introduced a bill that would stop leasing and drilling activity in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas until the impacts of drilling on polar bears are fully understood. Though polar bears are at-risk due to disturbances in their habitat, global warming is a bigger threat. The IUCN cites global warming as the number one threat to polar bears; therefore, listing polar bears as an endangered species will be a landmark decision as polar bears will become the first species cited as endangered due to global warming.

The NRDC website explains why climate change is a threat to polar bears:

Global warming, caused by the build up of man-made carbon dioxide, is causing Arctic sea ice to melt at an alarming rate. Over the past three decades, over a million square miles of sea ice — an area the size of Norway, Denmark and Sweden combined — has disappeared. This trend could prove catastrophic for the polar bear. Without protection, the polar bear could become the first mammal to lose 100 percent of its habitat to global warming.

The polar bear is considered a marine mammal — like walruses, seals and whales — because its main habitat is sea ice. They need that ice as a platform for hunting, for travel to denning areas to give birth, and for mating. As their sea ice melts and their food sources decline, polar bears are forced to swim further and further to ever-distant ice floes. During these extremely arduous swims, polar bears are increasingly drowning. And scientists predict that as the movement of sea ice increases, some bears will lose contact with a main body of ice and drift into unsuitable habitat, making it impossible to return.

As temperatures increase, scientists also expect that more rain will fall during the Arctic’s late winter and spring. Unseasonable rains have already caused the snowy dens that shelter polar bear mothers and their newborn cubs to collapse, killing all the bears inside. What’s more, as a result of the decrease in sea ice, polar bear females may not gain enough weight to reproduce cubs with enough insulating fat, jeopardizing their ability to survive.

In the spring of 2006, three adult female polar bears and one yearling were found dead. Two of these females had no fat stores and apparently starved to death. Even worse, scientists project that by 2012 — just five years from now — most female polar bears in Western Hudson Bay may not be able to reach the minimum 417 pounds of body mass needed to successfully reproduce. Some polar bears have even been recorded cannibalizing other bears, including a female polar bear in her maternal den. This extreme behavior has never been observed in decades of polar bear study.

Make your voice heard. There are a number of petitions online where you can let the Bush administration know that polar bears need protection. Sign them all!

NRDC - polar bear petition to support the Kerry bill

We Can Solve It - petition to list the polar bear as an endangered species

Polar bear central petition to stop global warming and preserve critical habitat (Canada)

Sierra club action alert for polar bear protection

Statement from Chris Mann, Pew Environment Group, on OCEANS 21 

Release Type: Pew Press Release
Pew Contact: Justin Kenney, 215.575.4816

Washington, DC - 04/23/2008 - Statement from Chris Mann, Senior Officer and Director of the Campaign for Healthy Oceans, Pew Environment Group, on OCEANS 21:

Today, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans is marking up the Ocean Conservation, Education, and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act (OCEANS 21). To date, this bill represents the most comprehensive package of ocean conservation reforms recommended by two blue-ribbon panels. “Almost five years after the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy warned that our oceans were in serious trouble, Congress is finally poised to act.”

“OCEANS 21 establishes a national policy to protect, maintain and restore the health of our marine ecosystems. It creates a process by which federal, state and local government agencies can better coordinate their activities to achieve goals and milestones for improving ocean health. This bill also gives the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for the first time, a clear, statutory mission to carry out ocean observation, research and conservation.”

“For too long, decisions affecting our oceans have been made with little regard for the health and productivity of the broader marine ecosystem. OCEANS 21 will change that.”

And, in other Pew News:

Penguins on the Brink?

Belleville News-Democrat
Author: Gerald Leape

04/23/2008 - Antarctic penguins have fascinated people since they were first discovered by Magellan’s expedition in 1520; the expedition historian called them “strange geese,” while the crew used the fearless birds as a source of food. Today, thanks to a combination of man-made climate change and increased fishing for krill - the bread and butter for many penguin species - these flightless birds are up against threats far greater than that posed by Magellan’s hungry sailors.

The next few months may prove critical for the penguins, as a series of scientific conferences, culminating in an international policy meeting this fall, could make their lives easier - or perpetuate challenges for which millions of years of evolution never prepared them.

Although the Antarctic was once thought largely immune to the ravages of global warming, a steady stream of recent research has painted quite a different picture. According to the British Antarctic Survey, surface temperatures in Antarctica have risen by nearly 3 degrees Centigrade (5 degrees Fahrenheit) over the last 50 years - about 10 times the global average. Alarmingly, research by leading biologists has found that many of the iconic animals who call the Antarctic home, including several species of penguins, are experiencing sharp population declines.

Along the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the population of Adelie penguins, one of the best known of all penguin species for their classic tuxedo-like look, has plummeted 65 percent over the past 25 years. And king penguins, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could be extinct within the next two decades. Researchers have also indicated that emperor, chinstrap and gentoo penguins - which, along with Adelies, are the only four penguin species that breed on the Antarctic continent itself - might not be far behind.

While global warming is destroying their habitat, man now is also competing with penguins for their principal food: a tiny, yet invaluable shrimp-like animal known as Antarctic krill. Measuring only a couple of centimeters in size, krill comprise the largest biomass in the Southern Ocean and serve as a key element in the Antarctic food chain - providing food for scores of penguin, whale and seal species. Yet even krill have to eat, and with a reduction in sea ice due to the warmer water associated with climate change, krill cannot find enough plankton on which to forage. This, in turn, sets in motion a chain reaction felt throughout the Antarctic food web.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, an organization comprising 25 member nations whose vessels fish in Antarctic waters, manages krill in the Southern Ocean. Last year the commission, which includes the United States, took important steps to regulate krill fishing by strengthening the system used to gather information from fishing vessels about the amount of krill caught each year. But with growing interest in krill as a source of feed for farmed salmon and of omega-3 oils for health supplements, we risk a significant expansion of fishing that could potentially undo these reforms.

The commission has been a pioneer in the management of marine resources. It is critical, moving forward, that it manages fishing not just with the goal of protecting the fish, but also with the objective of ensuring the survival of other parts of an ecosystem that depend on them - as penguins do on krill.

Over the next several months scientists and diplomats from many nations will hold a series of meetings, as policymakers prepare for the commission’s annual gathering this fall. The Bush administration should ensure that the commission follows through on its pledge to implement its new polices for managing krill fishing.

It is also critical that the United States act quickly to cut its own carbon pollution and lead the world in implementing a new international treaty to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.

For decades, the United States has been a leader in protecting the Antarctic and its vast natural resources from short-sighted commercial exploitation. By holding the commission’s actions to its words, the White House can ensure that the international commission continues to employ broad, science-based approaches to the management of marine resources well past the date when President Bush leaves office.

We may have moved beyond using the Antarctic’s “strange geese” as food ourselves, but we’ll need to regulate carefully our consumption of the penguin’s own food if we want to stop the march into danger for these beloved birds.

Gerald Leape directs The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Antarctic Krill Conservation Project.