[BCNnet] RARE EAST COAST SHOREBIRD FACES EXTINCTION AS FISH ANDWILDLIFE SERVICE REFUSES TO LIST SPECIES AS ENDANGERED

[donniebird at yahoo.com]

For those that didn't see this bit of grim news:

 

Donnie Dann

Highland Park/Lake County

donniebird at yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2006

Contact:  

Deborah Bagocius, Defenders of Wildlife 202.772.0239

Perry Plumart, American Bird Conservancy, 202 234 7181 ext. 202

 

                                                

RARE EAST COAST SHOREBIRD FACES EXTINCTION AS FISH AND WILDLIFE 

SERVICE REFUSES TO LIST SPECIES AS ENDANGERED

 

Red Knot Numbers Continue to Decline

 

Washington, D.C. - The decision today by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(FWS) to relegate the rufa red knot - a rare migratory shorebird-to the
"waiting room" of candidate list under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a
move that will likely doom the species to extinction, according to a
coalition of environmental groups seeking protection for the migratory
shorebird.  

 

"When it comes to the red knot's survival, the Fish and Wildlife Service is
doing far too little, far too late.  The red knot is America's most rapidly
declining species and the one most in need of fast action.  The government's
slow-poke approach greatly increases the likelihood and imminence of the red
knot's extinction," stated Greg Butcher, Audubon's Director of Bird
Conservation.

 

Candidate species do not receive any ESA protection.  The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service places plants and animals on this list when they believe
the species may warrant protection under the ESA, but the Service determines
there are higher priority listing activities.  

 

Recent scientific data clearly illustrate the drastic decline of the rufa
red knot, including a recent study that warns that this subspecies faces
extinction as soon as 2010 if immediate steps are not taken to halt its
decline. The Service itself also commissioned a draft status statement for
the red knot that provided comprehensive data about the bird's decline. 

 

The red knot undertakes one of the longest migrations of any bird, wintering
in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina and nesting in Arctic Canada. The species'
decline has been caused by over-fishing of horseshoe crabs, whose eggs form
the mainstay of the knot's diet during its migration through Delaware Bay.
Prior to the dramatic increase in the take of horseshoe crabs in the 1990s,
a plentiful supply of eggs allowed the red knots to feed briefly in the bay
and gain the weight needed to successfully complete a nonstop flight to
their Canadian Arctic breeding grounds. However, now red knots are not
getting enough horseshoe crab eggs to fuel their migration to the Canadian
arctic breeding grounds, thus they are not able to breed successfully
because of their low weight.  According to the Federal Registry their
numbers have declined from 15,345 in 2005 to just 13,455 in 2006. 

 

Currently 279 species are on the candidate list. Each is assigned a listing
priority. At this point the listing priority of the red knot is six on a
scale of one to twelve. Species have been known to languish on this list for
many years. 

 

Today's announcement follows the filing of two emergency petitions to list
the red knot.  Those petitions were denied by the U.S. FWS.

 

 

Statements by coalition partners:

 

"The Fish and Wildlife Service is studying the red knot into extinction.
Despite a recently completed study showing that all signs point to
extinction in a few years, the Service refuses to do what is necessary to
protect and recover the bird. It's hard to imagine there are higher
priorities for the Service in this region," stated Caroline Kennedy of
Defenders of Wildlife. 

 

"Unless listing happens soon, it will be too late for recovery efforts to
bring the species back. The ESA is criticized for failing to recover species
while other species are left hanging until they are near impossible to
recover. If FWS recognizes that the species should be listed then it should
be listed now. The costs of saving the species will only increase if its
decline is allowed to continue," said Mike Parr Vice President for American
Bird Conservancy.

 

"This failure to list now can only be seen as a conscious decision to
sacrifice irreplaceable environmental phenomena, given what we know about
the peril of the red knot," said Tim Dillingham, Executive Director of the
American Littoral Society.

 

"Study after study has shown the federal Endangered Species Act works.
Listed species are more likely to recover.  The science and our children's
future calls for the listing of the red knot today," declared Eric Stiles,
Vice President for Conservation and Stewardship, New Jersey Audubon Society.

 

"By choosing not to act, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is making a very
conscious and recognizable choice to allow the Delaware Bay's population to
wither and die from existence -- it is a choice that we in the region will
not stand for," observes Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper.

 

"This is a cynical ploy to look like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
trying to protect the red knot but instead is sending them toward
extinction," declared Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter. 

 

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