Dear All,
Today the National Marine Fisheries Service published a regulation listing the Hawaiian insular false killer whale as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
The population is small (~150 animals), demographically isolated, range-limited to the main Hawaiian Islands, and threatened by numerous stressors including bycatch, overfishing, toxics, and noise. In its listing notice, NMFS concurred
with the finding of its expert review team that the population stands at a high risk of functional extinction within 75 years.
Among other things, the listing will require the agency to identify and protect the whales’ critical habitat, to regulate activities that affect them, and to produce a recovery plan.
The listing is available at:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-11-28/pdf/2012-28766.pdf. We congratulate NMFS on its decision and look forward to helping in whatever ways we can as it works towards the population’s recovery.
Best to all,
Michael
Michael Jasny
Senior Policy Analyst
Director, Marine Mammal Protection Project
Natural Resources Defense Council
4479 W. 5th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6R1S4
tel. 604-736-9386
mob. 310-560-5536
fax 310-434-2399