Some time between now and January 4th, the National Marine Fisheries Service will list the Steller sea lion as an endangered species.
It may strike you as odd that the Fisheries Service would choose the year-end holiday season as a moment to add a member to the endangered species list. So many people – journalists, for instance – are busy with other things.
One of the purposes of the endangered species list is to call attention to the plight of animals unfortunate enough to make the list. The Steller sea lion certainly qualifies. Between 1960 and 1996, the Steller population plummeted by 85 percent in the core of its range, in the Aleutian Islands. The Fisheries Service is charged with protecting marine animals like the Steller sea lion. What motive would it have for giving its endangered status such a low profile? I can think of three possible reasons:
-Reason number one – The Fisheries Service does not want to talk about why the Steller is endangered. The Fisheries Service has not assigned a cause to the decline of the Steller population. The National Research Council, however, released a report earlier this year, which examined potential stresses on the Steller sea lion. Hunting, disease and habitat loss were all considered to have a “low probability” of contributing to the decline of Stellers. The only potential cause considered to have a “high probability” of affecting the Steller population is overfishing. In the early 1960s – the same time the Steller population started to decline, factory trawling vessels first arrived in the North Pacific.
-Reason Number Two – The Fisheries Service does not want to talk about how to save the Steller sea lion. While the Fisheries Service is adding the Steller to the endangered species list, it is not recommending any course of action to save the Steller sea lion. In fact, just last week, the Fisheries Service recommended that the allowable catch in the North Pacific be continued at a historically high level.
-Reason Number Three – The Fisheries Service is afraid of the factory trawler industry. Our nation’s fisheries are managed by eight regional councils. These regional councils are the only federal agencies that are exempt from conflict-of-interest laws. The actions of the North Pacific council are greatly influenced by the factory trawler industry. The vice chair of the council is himself a factory trawler owner.
So what do we have? A regional fishing council dominated by the industry it is supposed to be regulating and a Fisheries Service that is too timid to fulfill its mandate and stand up to the factory trawlers that are destroying the North Pacific. No wonder they don’t want to call attention to their actions.
But this problem won’t just go away. The Steller sea lion is what biologists call an indicator species. The decline of the Steller sea lion tells us something about the health of the North Pacific ecosystem as a whole. While the Stellers are being listed as endangered, harbor seals and fur seals are also in decline, as are a number of sea birds. All these species feed on fish, the same fish that are being pulled from the sea in record numbers by the factory trawlers.
Where Have All the Sea Lions Gone?
Some time between now and January 4th, the National Marine Fisheries Service will list the Steller sea lion as an endangered species.
It may strike you as odd that the Fisheries Service would choose the year-end holiday season as a moment to add a member to the endangered species list. So many people – journalists, for instance – are busy with other things.
One of the purposes of the endangered species list is to call attention to the plight of animals unfortunate enough to make the list. The Steller sea lion certainly qualifies. Between 1960 and 1996, the Steller population plummeted by 85 percent in the core of its range, in the Aleutian Islands. The Fisheries Service is charged with protecting marine animals like the Steller sea lion. What motive would it have for giving its endangered status such a low profile? I can think of three possible reasons:
-Reason number one – The Fisheries Service does not want to talk about why the Steller is endangered. The Fisheries Service has not assigned a cause to the decline of the Steller population. The National Research Council, however, released a report earlier this year, which examined potential stresses on the Steller sea lion. Hunting, disease and habitat loss were all considered to have a “low probability” of contributing to the decline of Stellers. The only potential cause considered to have a “high probability” of affecting the Steller population is overfishing. In the early 1960s – the same time the Steller population started to decline, factory trawling vessels first arrived in the North Pacific.
-Reason Number Two – The Fisheries Service does not want to talk about how to save the Steller sea lion. While the Fisheries Service is adding the Steller to the endangered species list, it is not recommending any course of action to save the Steller sea lion. In fact, just last week, the Fisheries Service recommended that the allowable catch in the North Pacific be continued at a historically high level.
-Reason Number Three – The Fisheries Service is afraid of the factory trawler industry. Our nation’s fisheries are managed by eight regional councils. These regional councils are the only federal agencies that are exempt from conflict-of-interest laws. The actions of the North Pacific council are greatly influenced by the factory trawler industry. The vice chair of the council is himself a factory trawler owner.
So what do we have? A regional fishing council dominated by the industry it is supposed to be regulating and a Fisheries Service that is too timid to fulfill its mandate and stand up to the factory trawlers that are destroying the North Pacific. No wonder they don’t want to call attention to their actions.
But this problem won’t just go away. The Steller sea lion is what biologists call an indicator species. The decline of the Steller sea lion tells us something about the health of the North Pacific ecosystem as a whole. While the Stellers are being listed as endangered, harbor seals and fur seals are also in decline, as are a number of sea birds. All these species feed on fish, the same fish that are being pulled from the sea in record numbers by the factory trawlers.