wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  ENN 3 Aug 06
Study Finds Dozens of Bering Sea Animals in Trouble
By Center for Biological Diversity

PORTLAND, OR: The Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Environment released a report classifying 12 percent of the Bering Sea's wildlife species as species of concern because they are at risk of decline or extinction, and identifying potential threats to 22 percent of the region's wildlife populations.

"The Bering Sea is one of the last great places for wildlife and provides more than 50 percent of the nation's seafood," stated Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "If more care isn't taken to protect the Bering Sea, both wildlife and people will lose."

Of the 66 species of concern, 52 (79 percent) were further classified as vulnerable, nine (13.6 percent) as imperiled, and five (7.6 percent) as critically imperiled.

Species of concern in the Bering Sea include the critically imperiled Kittlitz's Murrelet and North Pacific Right Whale, the imperiled Northern Sea Otter and Polar Bear, and the highly vulnerable Rougheye Rockfish, Northern Fur Seal and Yellow-billed Loon.

"The fact that most species of concern in the Bering Sea are listed only as vulnerable, and thus may not be at immediate risk of extinction, is cause for hope," stated Whit Sheard, Alaska Program Director for Pacific Environment. "For many of these species, positive reforms in management could forestall further decline."

The study identified potential threats to 22 percent of all Bering Sea vertebrates, determining that commercial fishing, either through direct exploitation, bycatch or competition, potentially impacts the greatest number of Bering Sea species (71, 56 percent), followed by pollution (60, 48 percent), ecological factors (35, 28 percent; e.g. storms or small population risk), poaching (26, 20 percent), global climate change (25, 20 percent), habitat destruction (25, 20 percent), human disturbance (21, 17 percent) and exotic species (21, 17 percent).

"Bering Sea wildlife species are threatened by an array of complex problems, including commercial fishing, global climate change and pollution," states Greenwald. "These threats are striking, in that action is required both in the Bering Sea itself and internationally if further species decline and extinction is to be avoided."

The study identified a total of 549 vertebrate species that live in the Bering Sea for all or part of the year, including 418 fish, 102 birds and 29 marine mammals.

Fish diversity in the Sea is particularly high compared to other cold-water regions, containing nearly three times more species than the Antarctic and more than twice the species of Greenland.

The Bering Sea also supports some of the largest populations of seabirds, shorebirds and marine mammals in the world.

This is the most exhaustive study of the status of vertebrate animals in the Bering Sea conducted to date. The Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Environment examined regional and national taxa guides, databases, published literature and other sources to determine the total number of vertebrate species in the Bering Sea. Once a complete list of Bering Sea animals was established, the Center reviewed state, national and global lists of imperiled species and nearly 500 references in the published and grey literature to identify all species of concern present in the Bering Sea.

The report also includes a number of recommendations to conserve and restore the Bering Sea, including protecting several species under the Endangered Species Act, reforming fishing regulations, preventing harm from oil and gas drilling, reversing global warming and others.

The full report can be downloaded. The Center for Biological Diversity is a non-profit conservation organization with more than 25,000 members dedicated to the protection of native species and their habitat.
links
Related articles on Wild shores
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com