CBD seeks ESA protection of Kittlitz's murrelet
The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a scientific petition with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to protect an Alaskan seabird under Alaska’s Endangered Species Act. The Center claims that the seabird, a species known as Kittlitz’s murrelet, faces extinction due to threats from global warming.
The Kittlitz’s murrelet is only the latest species that the Center has sought to add to the endangered species list due to perceived effects from global warming. Recently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to determine whether the American pika warrants protection from global warming effects under the Endangered Species Act by May, 2009, settling a lawsuit filed by the Center for the agency’s failure to make the determination in the required statutory period. Emboldened by its success, the Center vowed to commit even greater resources to similar climate litigation.
“Like the polar bear, the Kittlitz’s murrelet is being pushed toward extinction by rapid global warming in Alaska,” claims Shaye Wolf, a biologist with the Center. “If we are to save the Kittlitz’s murrelet, we must halt global warming to protect this species’ remaining habitat before it is too late.”
This is not the first time that the Center has sought protection of this seabird. In 2001, the Center sought federal endangered species protection of Kittlitz’s murrelets. However, in 2004 the US Fish and Wildlife Service determined that, while the species warranted protection, it was “precluded” from being listed due to other agency priorities. The seabird, however, is identified as a critically endangered species by the World Conservation Union.
The Kittlitz’s murrelet, named in commemoration of the German zoologist Heinrich von Kittlitz, is a small seabird that nests on open ground near the tops of the coastal mountains of Alaska and Siberia. The Kittlitz's murrelet feeds on larval fish, krill and small zooplankton close to the shore, particularly in the waters around tidewater glaciers. Activists from the Center claim that the Kittlitz’s murrelet’s dependence on these glacial waters makes it susceptible to any retreating or thinning of glaciers that may be caused by global warming.
http://www.globalclimatelaw.com/admin/trackback/121164
