Posted 12/28/2012

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Federal fisheries officials have announced final listing decisions for four subspecies of ringed seals and two distinct population segments of bearded seals under the Endangered Species Act.

In compliance with a court ordered deadline, NOAA officials said Dec. 21 they will list as threatened the Beringia and Okhotsk distinct population segments of bearded seals and the Arctic, Okhotsk and Baltic subspecies of ringed seals.

The Ladoga subspecies of ringed seals will be listed as endangered.

Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia distinct population segments of bearded seals are already protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell said his administration is evaluating a potential challenge to the listings. The state contends that no evidence was presented demonstrating either species is experiencing a decline now or will so by mid-century.

Jon Kurland, protected resources director for NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska region, said NOAA scientists concluded that a significant decrease in sea ice is probable later this century and that these changes will likely cause these seal populations to decline. Kurland said the agency would work with the state, Alaska Native co-management partners and the public to designate critical habitat for these seals.

Earlier this year, President Obama directed that any future designations of critical habitat carefully consider all public comment on relevant science and economic impact, including those that suggest methods for minimizing regulatory burdens. Ringed and bearded seals depend on sea ice and snow to survive. After a comprehensive review of the best available science including climate models developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change. NOAA has concluded that sea ice and snow cover are likely to further decrease in the foreseeable future resulting in population declines that threaten the survival of these seals.

Ringed seals nurse and protect their pups in snow caves, which are threatened by late ice formation in the fall, rain-on-snow events in late winter, earlier break-up of spring ice, as well as decreasing snow depths, which are projected to be too shallow for snow cave formation by the end of the century. Both ringed seals and bearded seals rely on sea ice for extended periods during molting, and bearded seals live on sea ice during critical months for breeding, whelping, and nursing. Sea ice is projected to shrink both in extent and duration, with bearded seals finding inadequate ice even if they move north, NOAA officials said.

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