protection of coral species

[michaelg]

Subject: FYI: Federal protection for coral is weighed

 

http://www.miami.com/mld....5336637

22333miami

 

Posted on Thu, Jul. 01, 2004  

 

Partial article posted below - for full text see link above

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ENDANGERED SPECIES

 

Federal protection for coral is weighed

 

Three types of Florida coral are going to be the first considered for

protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

BY JENNIFER BABSON

jbabson@herald.com

 

KEY WEST - For the first time, a federal agency will consider whether to

add three types of coral found in Florida waters to the U.S. list of

threatened and endangered species.

 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine

Fisheries Service agreed June 17 to convene a team of experts between

now and March to recommend whether elkhorn coral, staghorn coral and

fused staghorn -- a hybrid variety of the others -- should officially be

deemed under threat.

 

''This is going to be the first coral species under review for federal

protection,'' said Jennifer Moore, a NOAA natural resource specialist.

 

The decision came after a petition was filed in March by the Center For

Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based environmental group.

 

''We are very happy about this. We are glad they are one step closer to

saving this precious resource,'' said Adam Keats, an attorney for the

center.

 

The corals have been on NOAA's ''species of concern'' list -- which

basically means they are under watch -- since 1999. All three types are

typically golden brown and known for branches that extend like tree limbs.

 

....

 

They were once prolific, but their numbers have been sharply reduced in

recent years by coral bleaching, boat groundings and disease.

 

PERIOD OF DECLINE

 

''Elkhorn and staghorn were the predominant reef-building species in the

Caribbean,'' said Cheva Heck, spokeswoman for the Florida Keys National

Marine Sanctuary, a NOAA entity that will assist the panel of coral

experts. ``They began to decline in a major way in the 1970s, though the

most destruction was in the 1980s and 1990s.''

 

In the Keys, said Heck, ''more than 90 percent of both kinds of coral

has died'' over the past few decades.

 

Although coral is already safeguarded in the 3,843-square-mile sanctuary

-- which stretches from Biscayne National Park to the Tortugas --

proponents say that adding these species to the federal list would

provide additional resources and protections.

 

FEDERAL REVIEW

 

Significantly, the designation would require that all proposed federal

and some other actions that could have an impact on the coral -- from

fisheries rules to dredging projects -- have a federal sign-off before

proceeding.

 

Said Heck: ``It's a much broader protection than what we have now in the

sanctuary because what we have now is a direct protection -- you can't

touch it, you can't take it. This would require accounting for the

possible effects of different projects.''

 

The coral would join other federally threatened or endangered Florida

marine creatures such as the sperm whale, the green turtle and the manatee.

 

© 2004 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

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