New report shows peril to California fish

SFGATE.COM

But a report on the declining numbers makes a bigger point: fresh, clean water is in short supply for fish, and it’s needed by humans, too.

At first glance, the two-year study by California Trout is all about fish. Of 31 trout, salmon and steelhead species, 65 percent are headed toward extinction this century.

Like redwoods, deserts and seashores, these native fish are icons of the state and deserve protection. This heritage must be protected, the organization rightly argues in the 350-page report researched by a team that included Dr. Peter Moyle, a UC Davis professor of fish biology.

A combination of factors – farming, timber practices, development and harsh weather brought on by global warming – is the culprit. Water is siphoned off, dirtied or blocked behind dams. The flows that are left are sluggish and warm, unsuitable for wild fish.

So far, the state’s official answer is a feeble one: a Fish and Game department saddled with increasing duties and a declining budget. As one example, there are 100 fewer game wardens today compared with 2000. These outdoor cops do more than check fishing licenses. They spot illegal water diversions and activities that damage streambeds needed for fish spawning.

With a state budget deficit predicted at $28 billion over the next 18 months, it may be foolish to wish for miracles. But an agreement last week holds out hope for removing four dams and restoring fish-friendly flows on the Klamath River. Also, the San Joaquin River is in line for major restoration. The report suggests pushing these plans further via a slice of the sales tax or user fees if the political will is there.

There are convincing reasons to safeguard the state’s native fish from extinction. But maybe the best reason of all is that by saving these ancient species, California is also saving itself.

Hundreds of Species in Kalimantan Threatened with Extinction

TEMPOINTERACTIVE – VENNIE MELYANI

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Forest clearing is threatening 236 plant species and 51 animal species in Kalimantan with exctinction. Orangutans, owa monkeys and tarsius are the most endangered animals. “They are losing their sources of food and water,” head of the Center of Orangutan Protection, Hardi Baktiantoro, told reporters yesterday. He said cutting down forests to clear areas for palm oil plantations is the biggest threat because it changes the total structure of the area.

Hardi views the plummeting crude palm oil prices in the international market has not given any significant impact because forest clearings are still being carried out. Companies also profit by the sale of logs resulting from the clearing. “This is a long-term business. They keep opening the lands while waiting for prices to go up again,” he said.

The number of animals, especially orangutans, is declining as fast as 9 – 10 percent a year. According to Hardi, if nothing is done to prevent this, around 8.400 orangutans outside the protected forest will disappear within three years.

Vennie Melyani

Conservation body confirms Saimaa seal “critically endangered” -SL

NEWS ROOM FINLAND

The February issue of Suomen Luonto, a paper published by the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, quoted Kit Kovacs, the chair of the pinniped specialist group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as saying that a forthcoming IUCN report would confirm that the Saimaa ringed was “critically endangered”.

The IUCN had classified the subspecies as critically endangered in a list published late last year, but the reclassification is not official before the publication of the report in March or April.

Critically endangered is the IUCN’s highest risk rating for wild species.

Finnish authorities put the Saimaa ringed seal population at about 260 individuals.

/STT/

WILD RED DEER IN SCOTLAND COULD BE LOST

METRO.CO.UK

Wild red deer in Scotland could be lost for ever if they keep breeding with a foreign species.

In some areas, as many as 40 per cent of the population are mixed with the Japanese sika deer, brought to the country in the 19th century, scientists say.

‘The extent of cross-breeding we uncovered is worrying,’ said researcher Helen Senn from the University of Edinburgh.

Smelt on brink of extinction

RECORDNET.COM

THE DELTA – The Delta smelt are hovering at the brink of extinction, according to a new survey from the California Department of Fish and Game.

The native species, a prime indicator of overall health in the estuary, have reached their lowest point in 42 years of record-keeping.

The state agency’s fall population survey of fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta was conducted in December.

It also found two non-native fish, the American shad and threadfin shad, at record lows.

State officials warned that unless winter gets a lot wetter, conditions will worsen.

The Delta is a freshwater source for two-thirds of California’s population and millions of acres of farmland.

Drought, pesticides and herbicides, invasive species and state water pumping are some of the factors contributing to the region’s troubles.

Water diversions last year were cut by 30 percent to protect fish.

The slowdown in deliveries cost the California economy at least $300 million, according to Fish and Game estimates. Water contractors already have been warned they might only get 15 percent of average Delta water deliveries because of an ongoing drought.

The state needs a deluge of water over several days to refill reservoirs, Department of Water Resources Deputy Director Ralph Torres said.

Smelt are finger-length fish that serve as a crucial food source for sportfish.

State biologists have warned that the Delta is changing – with warmer, more stagnant water and the disappearance of seasonal shifts in temperature and salinity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Moseley’s Penguins nearing extinction

PRESS TV

Scientists say the population of northern rockhopper or Moseley’s Penguins has declined by ninety percent over the past 50 years.

According to a study published in Bird Conservation International, the largest rockhopper penguin colonies are estimated at between 32,000 to 65,000 pairs on Gough Island, and 40,000 to 50,000 pairs on Tristan da Cunha Island.

The two South Atlantic islands account for more than 80 percent of the total population, MSNBC reported.

“Historically, we know that penguins were exploited by people, and that wild dogs and pigs probably had an impact on their numbers,” Lead author of the paper Richard Cuthbert of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said.

“However, these factors cannot explain the staggering declines since the 1950s, when we have lost upwards of a million birds from Gough and Tristan.”

“The declines at Gough since the 1950s are equivalent to losing 100 birds every day for the last 50 years”, he said.

Researchers believe climate change, overfishing and changes in marine ecosystems might have caused the decline in the northern rockhopper population.

Rare shrub added to endangered list

ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA

A rare shrub found in Sydney’s south-west has been added to the Federal Government’s endangered species list.

The type of hibbertia has only been found growing by a fence at Bankstown Airport.

Dr Tim Entwhistle from the Botanics Garden Trust says it is likely the shrub’s numbers have plummeted to less than 50 because of fire and land clearing.

“I doubt anyone’s going to have this one growing in their gardens,” he said.

“Surveys have been done in the area. It’s quite distinct this hibbertia than any other one but they just get left in these isolated pockets because once there was quite a lot of bushland around Sydney.”

Leatherback turtles put on endangered list

ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA

The Northern Territory branch of the WWF says Territory anglers need to do more to protect a rare turtle species that’s found in local waters.

The Federal Government has added the leatherback turtle to the endangered species list.

The animal is the world’s largest sea turtle and has been found in Cobourg Peninsula and near Maningrida.

Brydie Hill from the WWF says recreational and commercial fishing is hurting the species.

“If you think about the fact that these animals have been around since the dinosaur era and now they are faced with oceans full of hooks and lines and nets and various other obstacles to get caught in, you can see that that threat still remains.”

India launches project to save endangered snow leopards

THAINDIAN NEWS

New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) India Tuesday launched Project Snow Leopard to conserve the endangered species (Uncia uncia) across its habitat in the five Himalayan states in the country.The project is a manifestation of the government of India’s resolve to conserve biodiversity with community participation, Thiru S. Regupathy, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, said at the launch here.

The minister said the ministry has launched the project to give the specie the same status of importance in the high altitude as that of tiger in the terrestrial landscape.

The project will be undertaken in five Himalayan states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh with support from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Mysore based Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF).

While releasing the project document, Regupathy said snow leopard is globally endangered specie and an important flagship species of the mountain region.

They are at the apex of ecological pyramid and suffer the most on account of relatively smaller population size and also due to man-animal conflict. This situation gets further aggravated due to the hostile landscape forming its habitat.

The minister said snow leopard has been included in the list of species under the Recovery Programme to be funded through the umbrella scheme of integrated development of wildlife habitats.

Giving details of the snow leopard habitat, Regupathy said there are more than 26 protected areas in the Himalayan landscape where specie is reported. However, areas outside the protected areas are equally important for long-range species like snow leopard.

He added that India is endowed with the unique wildlife assemblage of global importance in the Himalayan and trans-Himalayan zones. Thus, implementation of Project Snow Leopard will give an opportunity for the conservation of this unique biodiversity.

Stressing on active involvement of local communities, the minister said securing of landscape for conservation, capacity building of staff, research on wildlife and human activities in snow leopard habitat, grazing and management policies, and education awareness, among others, would be vital for long-term conservation of the species.

The Himalayan region is home to at least 350 mammal species, 1,200 bird species, besides a large number of amphibians and reptiles, and numerous plants including with medicinal properties.

NOAA Announces Proposal to List Wolffish as an Endangered Species

THE ELLSWORTH AMERICAN

ELLSWORTH — In a decision that could lead to the first listing of a New England ocean fish species as endangered, federal officials kicked off the new year with the announcement that they were beginning an official review of the Atlantic wolffish as a threatened or endangered species.

The decision by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that a petition filed by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), Les Watling and Erica Fuller presented substantial scientific and commercial data indicating that an endangered listing may be warranted. Watling is a marine science professor at the University of Maine. Fuller is an environmental lawyer in Boston.

“Unless the federal government takes action quickly, the Atlantic wolffish could face extinction in New England’s ocean waters,” Peter Shelley, CLF vice president and senior attorney, said in a statement announcing the NOAA’s decision. “Overfishing and the widespread destruction of underwater habitat from modern fishing gear have ravaged native populations of the wolffish, threatening an important species in our marine ecosystem. This is one fish that should be taken off everyone’s menus.”

With a long eel-like tail and a mouth full of large canine teeth, the wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) is one of New England’s most unique ocean fish, and also one of the most endangered. NOAA’s decision, announced in the Jan. 5 Federal Register, launches a nine-month review of biological, scientific and commercial data by an independent team of scientists to determine whether the wolffish should receive full protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The petition cited federal and independent scientific studies that show over the past 20 years dramatic declines in the wolffish population and destruction of the deep underwater habitat that the fish needs to successfully reproduce and survive.

An endangered species listing under would require federal agencies to designate protected critical habitat for the fish and to implement a recovery plan to restore the Atlantic wolfish populations.

According to federal statistics, the amount of wolffish landed by commercial fishermen has dropped 95 percent, from over 1,200 metric tons (about 2.6 million pounds) in 1983 to just 64.7 metric tons (about 145,500 pounds) in 2007. More critically, wolffish have virtually disappeared from the annual scientific research trawl surveys that NOAA conducts in the spring and fall in state and federal waters off the New England coast.

The wolffish is one of the odder species to inhabit the Gulf of Maine. Generally solitary creatures, the bottom-dweller prefers to make its home at depths of around 80-120 meters (260-390 feet), but can be found in waters as deep as 500 meters (1,640 feet).

Wolffish can grow to nearly 5 feet in length and weigh as much as 40 pounds. Their gaping mouths are filled with sharp canine teeth that are replaced annually. Their preferred diet includes shellfish, crustaceans and sea urchins.

A slow growing species, the wolffish generally attains reproductive maturity at around six years. During the spring and summer, the usually solitary males and females form bonded pairs, behavior that may be related to spawning.