2 Arctic seal species listed as Endangered due to Climate Change

The Centre for Biological Diversity reports that as a result of their 2008 petition, the US Federal Government has added Ringed seals and Bearded seals, found in the waters off Alaska, to the list of endangered species.

Both seal species are dependent on the existence of sea ice which is rapidly declining during summer, with some scientists saying the Arctic could be largely ice free as early as 2016. These are the first species since polar bears to be protected primarily because of climate change threats.

“Arctic animals face a clear danger of extinction from climate change,” said Shaye Wolf, the Center’s climate science director. “The Endangered Species Act offers strong protections for these seals, but we can’t save the Arctic ecosystem without confronting the broader climate crisis. The Obama administration has to take decisive action, right now, against greenhouse gas pollution to preserve a world filled with ice seals, walruses and polar bears.”

Related: Centre for Biological Diversity: Saving the Bearded, Ringed and Spotted Seals

Watch the Pew Trust's video on Protecting Alaska's Arctic Marine Mammals

The Centre for Biological Diversity media release continues:

Ringed seals give birth and nurse their pups in snow caves built on sea ice. Global warming is reducing the amount of snowpack on the ice, causing snow caves to collapse and leaving pups vulnerable to death from freezing temperatures and predators. Bearded seals, named for their distinctively thick whiskers, give birth and nurse their pups on pack ice over shallow waters where their bottom-dwelling food is abundant. The rapid loss of pack ice jeopardizes their ability to raise their young and find food.

This summer Arctic sea-ice extent hit a troubling new record low, falling to half its average size. At that pace summer sea ice across the Arctic is likely to disappear entirely in the next 10 to 20 years, while the seals’ winter sea-ice habitat in the Bering Sea off Alaska is projected to decline at least 40 percent by 2050. Meanwhile oil giant Shell has launched an aggressive offshore drilling program in the seals’ home, which heightens the threat of oil spills. Shell became the first company to begin drilling for oil in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea in more than 20 years.

Today’s decision provides Endangered Species Act protections to all populations of the ringed seal and the Pacific subspecies of the bearded seal, which inhabits Alaska and parts of Russia and Canada. The Act will provide a safety net for these seals that includes habitat protections, recovery planning, and, most importantly, a prohibition on federal actions that could jeopardize the seals. Listing of the seals will not affect subsistence harvest by Alaska natives, which is exempted from the law’s provisions.

The federal government has acknowledged that other Arctic species are imperiled by global warming, including polar bears, listed as threatened in 2008, and Pacific walruses, made candidates for listing under the Act in 2011.

Warming Arctic, climate change and a changing planet

The Arctic ecosystems are changing much faster than the tropics and mid latitudes. On November 12, 2012 The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Earth Institute, Columbia University and Quebec Government Office presented an exciting discussion about the effects of climate change on the Arctic. The video goes for 2 hours four minutes. So, sit back and I hope you enjoy the presentations and discussion. Andy Revkin was the moderator with the following speakers:

• Julie Payette, Canadian Astronaut, Scientific Delegate, Quebec Government Office
  
• Natalie Boelman, Lamont Assistant Research Professor, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
  
• Kevin Griffin, Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University
  
• Igor Krupnik, Anthropologist, Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
  
• Stephanie Pfirman, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Science, Barnard College
  
• Pierre Richard, Research Scientist, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
  
• Bruno Tremblay, Associate Professor, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University
  

Source:

• Centre for Biological Diversity media release December 21, 2012 - As Climate Crisis Intensifies, Two Arctic Ice Seals Gain Endangered Species Act Protection