With the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration postponing a decision whether to list 29 corals found in the CNMI as threatened or endangered, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) is asking NOAA to \u201cgive careful consideration\u201d when including U.S. territories in the listing of coral species.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize that climate change and the related effects of ocean acidification and higher water temperature pose the greatest threat to coral reefs, and we do not dispute that the species proposed for Endangered Species Act listing are potentially vulnerable,\u201d Sablan said in a letter to NOAA\u2019s administrator Kathryn Sullivan and U.S. Department of Commerce Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management Eric Schwaab.<\/p>\n
Sablan noted that the CNMI and the other U.S. territories have laws protecting corals but due to global climate change \u201cour only choice is to find ways to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOAA is considering the listing of 54 species of corals as threatened, 12 as endangered, and reclassifies two as endangered under the ESA. Out of the list, 29 are found in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
Sablan\u2019s request to NOAA is to take a more practical approach. He wants NOAA to work with local, state, and territorial governments to develop voluntary Candidate Conservation Agreements with states and territories as an alternative approach to protecting and restoring corals and their habitat.<\/p>\n
Another request by Sablan is to consider a \u201cSpecies of Concern designation\u201d rather than being listed under ESA for corals that are limited in distribution, abundance, or life history information that is available.<\/p>\n
Sablan also requested NOAA to take into account the past and ongoing efforts of the states, territories, and localities to protect corals, including through partnership in the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and stewardship of National Marine Sanctuaries and Monuments and consider potential negative impacts of ESA listing on ongoing coral research and restoration activities.<\/p>\n
Sablan also asked NOAA to honor previous request that detailed maps of the distribution of the corals to be provided to Congress and the public before any listing decisions are made.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis information is critical to understanding where the species proposed for listing live, and what conservation alternatives to ESA listing may be appropriate,\u201d Sablan stated.<\/p>\n
Despite a letter on Feb. 22, 2013, stating that \u201csuch maps do not exist,\u201d Sablan said the development of better maps is critical to making an informed listing decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we are all strong supporters of the ESA and coral reef protection, we also know that the ESA is powerless to resist climate change and we ask that you give serious consideration to alternative conservation measures,\u201d Sablan stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration postponing a decision whether to list 29 corals…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,598,21,627],"class_list":["post-40368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-endangered-species-act","tag-life","tag-noaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}