FLORIDA’S ENDANGERED CORAL REEFS TO BE PROTECTED UNDER ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

National Marine Fisheries Service Confirms Proposal to Protect Corals Will Be Announced Tomorrow

Today the Center for Biological Diversity was informed that the National Marine Fisheries Service ("Fisheries Service") will propose to protect two coral species native to Florida and the Caribbean under the federal Endangered Species Act. The two species, Elkhorn and Staghorn coral, have suffered 80%-98% declines throughout significant portions of their range. Many of the threats to the species are exacerbated by global warming.

The Fisheries Service’s announcement is in response to a formal petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity one year ago.

"This is a great day for science, conservation, and the great state of Florida," said Brent Plater of the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the request to protect the corals. "Now we can begin the fun part: working hard to bring these corals back from the brink of extinction with the Endangered Species Act, the world’s most effective safety net for fish and wildlife."

Once listed, these coral species will have a variety of protections put in place. Direct "take" of the corals will be prohibited, critical habitat areas will be protected, and recovery plans will be implemented. Perhaps most importantly, because global climate change is largely driven by greenhouse gas emissions, the listing of these corals will require greenhouse-gas emitting industries to consider the well-being and recovery of these corals before they are given permits to pollute.

"Requiring greenhouse-gas emitting industries to consider how their activities are impacting our most productive marine ecosystems is not only right in principle but also eminently sensible," said Mr. Plater. "The destruction and loss of these coral species and therefore the loss of a major portion of the Florida-reef tract ecosystem will result in the loss of billions of dollars to our economy, the loss of an unknown number of medicines, and decimate local biodiversity. It’s just common sense to consider these impacts before it is too late."