Longline fishing is taking a terrible toll on threatened and endangered sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. Five of the world's seven sea turtle species are found in the Gulf of Mexico: leatherback, hawksbill, green, loggerhead and Kemp's ridley.
Attracted by thousands of baited hooks hanging from miles of fishing line, turtle species that have thrived for millions of years are sustaining life-threatening injuries and dying by the hundreds.
Bottom longline fishing has caught nearly 1,000 sea turtles in a recent two-and-a-half year period-wildly exceeding the original projections by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and in clear violation of the Endangered Species Act.
Loggerhead, Kemp's ridley, green, hawksbill, and leatherback sea turtles are suffering injuries that affect their ability to feed, swim, avoid predators, and reproduce.
Yet the NMFS has done nothing to stop this deadly practice.
A half dozen conservation groups sued the federal government on Wednesday, claiming the agency that oversees the Gulf of Mexico fishery is violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect threatened sea turtles.
The groups claim a common type of fishing from vessels in the Gulf of Mexico that use long, baited lines to catch grouper and other fish is killing hundreds of the rare turtles every year.
"We think they're required to stop the fishing," said Steve Roady, an attorney for Earthjustice, which is suing on behalf of the conservation groups.
ScienceDaily.com just released a story about a new park in Argentina created to help protect animals in danger. The photo you see pictured is by Graham Harris of the Wildlife Conservation Society. One of the parks inhabitants will be about 500,000 Magellanic penguins.
The park, which became official in early December protects half a million penguins along with several species of rare seabirds and the region's only population of South American fur seals. It is the first protected area in Argentina specifically designed to safeguard not only onshore breeding colonies but also areas of ocean where wildlife feed at sea.
The park's creation represents a joint effort by the National Parks Service of Argentina, Government of Chubut, Wildlife Conservation Society and its local partner Fundacion Patagonia Natural with support from the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility.
Even with his role as President coming to an end, Bush is pulling just a few more last minute tricks to further undermine the the Endangered Species Act.
Just this Thursday, the Bush Administration enacted a last-minute ruling, which cuts U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service scientists out of the review process for determining if new mining, logging and construction projects pose a threat to endangered animals.
What this really means is that political appointees, not scientists, will determine what poses a risk to endangered animals. For example, under these proposed changes, the Department of Transportation, not wildlife biologists, would decide whether an animal is threatened by a highway project.
As part of the changes announced by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in the final days of the Bush administration, the department finalized an interim rule that allows oil and gas drilling in polar bear habitat off Alaska's coast. The rule change is designed to prevent the Endangered Species Act from being used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, essentially making climate change policy.
President-elect Barack Obama said he would reverse the rule changes, as have some members of Congress. But that requires a lengthy rule-making process. And unfortunately that could mean all out crazy drilling and project making rather quickly until it can officially be reversed. Oy.
The depleted population of beluga whales that swim off the coast of Alaska's largest city was listed as endangered on Friday by the federal government.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, called the listing "premature" after she had pressed for more time to make beluga population counts.
Environmentalists hailed the listing decision, but criticized the time it took to materialize.
"Hopefully the State of Alaska will now work toward protecting the beluga rather than, as with the polar bear, denying the science and suing to overturn the listing," Brendan Cummings, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement.
The population, which fell to a low of 278 in 2005 from 653 in 1994, has yet to rebound from a period of over-harvesting by the region's Native hunters, officials said.
You may have heard that the Bush administration wants to severely weaken the Endangered Species Act as one of the last horrible things they do during their time in office.
For more than 30 years, the ESA has been a safety net for plants and animals on the brink of extinction, including grizzly bears, bald eagles, and gray whales. Yet President Bush wants to gut these protections, despite ESA's overwhelming success ... or, more likely, because of it.
The Bush plan would strip the requirement for independent scientific review of projects that could threaten endangered species, allowing federal agencies to make the final call on how their projects impact these species, which could leave the fox guarding the hen house.
A real-time example of why this system of scientific checks and balances is so important: a report by biologists at the National Marine Fisheries Service found that three EPA-approved pesticides are causing serious harm to endangered stocks of west coast salmon. This review was triggered under the very section of the Endangered Species Act that the Bush administration is now hoping to undo.
The sixth species of bear has been added to the list of those considered endangered. The Sun Bear who habitat spans from India to Indonesia has been added to the list and the causes are deforestation and poaching.
These bears are hunted for two reasons typically. One is for their bile which is used in some types of Chinese medicine to treat eye and liver ailments. The second is because there are people who consider bear paws a delicacy to eat.
"We estimate that sun bears have declined by at least 30% over the past 30 years and continue to decline at this rate," said Rob Steinmetz, a bear expert with the Geneva-based group, The World Conservation Union (IUCN).
In other related news, one alarming statistic is how many giant panda bears still exist today; less than 3,000. Other vulnerable bear species are the Asiatic black bear, the sloth bear on the Indian subcontinent, the Andean bear in South America and the polar bear. The brown bear and the American black bear are in a lesser category of threat and their stats are actually improving due to laws which protect them in North America and parts of Europe.
Seventy-five percent of bear species are said to be facing extinction according to the IUCN.
At a scary rate of 24 square miles per year, America's Wetlands along Louisiana's Border with the Gulf of Mexico, are vanishing. There is a dire need for coastal restoration in this area.
As the wetlands disappear, habitat is lost putting at risk numerous threatened and endangered species. During the winter this is the home for more than five million waterfowl and migratory birds. National Geographic Magazine wrote in October of 2004, "As a wildlife habitat, it [South Louisiana] makes Florida's Everglades look like a petting zoo by comparison."
This isn't just about the ecological concerns. This is also about economical issues. This is a working wetland, hosting production and distribution of 80% of America's offshore oil and gas supply. As the protective wetlands and barrier islands disappear, oil and gas infrastructure along the coast becomes exposed to open Gulf conditions. And more than 30% of the nation’s fisheries catch in the continental U.S. comes from offshore Louisiana.
As impossible as it may sound there are precautions that can be taken to slow further erosion AND to restore what has been lost. The main strategies of the plan are watershed management, such as river diversions and improved drainage, and watershed structural repair, such as the restoration of barrier islands.
America's wolves were nearly eradicated in the 20th century. Now, after a remarkable recovery in parts of the country, wolves are once more threatened.
In the Northern Rockies, the federal government has put forth a proposal that could lead to the slaughter of hundreds of wolves in Idaho and Wyoming. Even Yellowstone wolves could be shot on site if they wander outside the park's boundaries!
In Alaska, state officials continue to allow airborne gunners to kill hundreds of wolves. Easy targets against the snow, hundreds of wolves have been shot from above or chased to exhaustion and then killed by aerial gunners who land and execute them at point-blank range.
In the Southwest, misinformation and anti-wolf sentiment runs high, with wolf recovery in Arizona and New Mexico limited to a defined area if the wolves set up territories elsewhere, they are captured and returned.
The lovely thing is gray wolves in the Northern Rockies are protected under the Endangered Species Act. But who is to say that an aerial gunner will know whether or not they are aiming at a gray wolf?
Having a day declared in the name of a good cause is a wonderful thing, because it allows institutions, committees, students and basically people everywhere to come together and show that they care about the same topic.
There are different things you can do to participate in this event. You can prepare an lesson for a local school about endangered species or if you can't do that, you can put something together to share with your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Here is a list of events happening around the country. See if there is one in your hometown.
