Call for Three Seal Species to Join Endangered List
Center for Biological Diversity list ringed, spotted and bearded seals at risk, two weeks after polar bear classified as endangered
Environmental campaigners have called for three species of Arctic seal to be listed as endangered amid mounting concern about the impact on wildlife of the melting of sea ice caused by global warming.
The call by the Center for Biological Diversity for listing of the ringed, spotted and bearded seals comes two weeks after the polar bear was classified as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The move was hailed by environmental groups as a step on the part of the Bush administration towards recognizing the serious impact of global warming.
The three species of seal exist off Alaska in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas, and are linked to polar bears as their main prey. The seals are all dependent on sea ice for survival, but in different ways. The ringed seal is the best adapted to living on ice, with flippers and strong claws to dig ice holes. They nurse pups in the snow that collects in the holes.
Bearded seals, which can grow to more than 750lbs, have their young on drifting pack ice, while spotted seals breed on the icy front of the Bering Sea.
The petition from the center warns that surface temperatures in the Arctic are warming much faster than expected. The extent of sea ice in winter in 2007 was reduced to an area that most climate forecasts had suggested would be reached by 2070, the group said.
Satellite pictures have shown that the coverage of ice has declined by almost a third in the past 25 years. By mid-century scientists have predicted that the Arctic could be ice-free in summer.
"Arctic sea ice is melting so rapidly that every ice-dependent marine mammal needs protection," said Shaye Wolf, a biologist who lead the petition.
The National Marine Fisheries Service, the official body that handles the endangered list, is already looking at the ribbon seal, and it is coming under pressure from environmentalists to list the walrus.
Like polar bears, the fate of the seals is also bound up with increased oil and gas divining in the Arctic. Environmentalists have accused the Bush administration of dragging its feet over protection to give the oil industry more time to explore.
The call by the Center for Biological Diversity for listing of the ringed, spotted and bearded seals comes two weeks after the polar bear was classified as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The move was hailed by environmental groups as a step on the part of the Bush administration towards recognizing the serious impact of global warming.
The three species of seal exist off Alaska in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas, and are linked to polar bears as their main prey. The seals are all dependent on sea ice for survival, but in different ways. The ringed seal is the best adapted to living on ice, with flippers and strong claws to dig ice holes. They nurse pups in the snow that collects in the holes.
Bearded seals, which can grow to more than 750lbs, have their young on drifting pack ice, while spotted seals breed on the icy front of the Bering Sea.
The petition from the center warns that surface temperatures in the Arctic are warming much faster than expected. The extent of sea ice in winter in 2007 was reduced to an area that most climate forecasts had suggested would be reached by 2070, the group said.
Satellite pictures have shown that the coverage of ice has declined by almost a third in the past 25 years. By mid-century scientists have predicted that the Arctic could be ice-free in summer.
"Arctic sea ice is melting so rapidly that every ice-dependent marine mammal needs protection," said Shaye Wolf, a biologist who lead the petition.
The National Marine Fisheries Service, the official body that handles the endangered list, is already looking at the ribbon seal, and it is coming under pressure from environmentalists to list the walrus.
Like polar bears, the fate of the seals is also bound up with increased oil and gas divining in the Arctic. Environmentalists have accused the Bush administration of dragging its feet over protection to give the oil industry more time to explore.
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