[Coral-List] Can anyone explain this?

[Michael Risk]

> Well, Gene, don't look at me to explain this. I could hardly be more of
> an outsider, up here in the north woods away from the corridors of
> power.
> 
> But I am sure there were some fascinating negotiations...carbon dioxide
> had absolutely nothing to do with the dieoff of Acropora, and is a
> seemingly intractable international problem, whereas cleaning up the
> water...wow, that could make enemies.
> 
> Mike
On 2013-09-17, at 3:22 PM, Eugene Shinn wrote:

> Can anyone explain this. It says FWS (Fish and Wild Life?) but it is all 
> about NMFS and Acropora. Any insiders know what the deal was $$ Gene
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
>    FWS Settles With Enviro Group Over Fla. Coral Protection
> 
> By *Carolina Bolado*
> 
> Law360, Miami (September 13, 2013, 7:40 PM ET) -- The National Marine 
> Fisheries Service 
> <http://www.law360.com/agency/national-marine-fisheries-service> settled 
> a suit in Florida federal court Friday with an environmental group that 
> claimed the agency had failed to create a recovery plan for elkhorn and 
> staghorn corals as required under the Endangered Species Act.
> 
> Under the terms of the settlement, the National Marine Fisheries Service 
> committed to drafting a recovery plan by 2014 for the coral species, 
> which were once the most abundant and important reef building corals in 
> the waters of Florida and the Caribbean but have diminished by 80 to 98 
> percent during the past 30 years.
> 
> In addition, the agency agreed to reclassify the corals as endangered, 
> one step up from their current threatened status, according to the 
> Center for Biological Diversity 
> <http://www.law360.com/company/center-for-biological-diversity-inc>, 
> which brought the suit in the Middle District of Florida.
> 
> "A recovery plan and quick action to reduce carbon dioxide pollution are 
> the two missing pieces necessary to save these beautiful corals from 
> extinction," Jaclyn Lopez, an attorney for the Center for Biological 
> Diversity, said in a statement.
> 
> The national environmental organization, which has an office in St. 
> Petersburg, Fla.,*filed the suit 
> <http://www.law360.com/articles/409981>* in January seeking a judgment 
> that the Fisheries Service had failed to comply with the Endangered 
> Species Act by not developing a plan for the two corals, which were 
> added to the list in 2006.
> 
> The agency's policy is to come up with a plan for a species within 2 1/2 
> years of a final listing, according to the suit.
> 
> The Center for Biological Diversity submitted the 2004 petition that led 
> to the elkhorn and staghorn corals gaining protection as threatened 
> species. The corals, which received a priority ranking of 3 on a scale 
> of 1 (high threat and potential recovery) to 18 (low risk and chance for 
> recovery), have been dying off from bleaching because of higher water 
> temperatures. Increased ocean acidity levels, caused by carbon dioxide, 
> have also hindered their growth, and they face additional threats from 
> pollution, sedimentation, disease, boating and other human contact, 
> according to the center.
> 
> Recovery plans have had high success rates, according to the center, 
> which cited a 2012 study finding that 90 percent of sampled species have 
> recovered at rates in line with the goals in their respective recovery 
> plans.
> 
> The Center for Biological is represented by in-house counsel Jaclyn 
> Lopez and Miyoko Sakashita.
> 
> The case is Center for Biological Diversity v. National Marine Fisheries 
> Service et al., case number 8:13-cv-00221 
> <http://www.law360.com/cases/5100112fa895c028720043e6>, in the U.S. 
> District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
> 
> --Additional reporting by Nathan Hale. Editing by Melissa Tinklepaugh.
> 
> All Content © 2003-2013, Portfolio Media, Inc.
> 
> 
> 
> No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
> ------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
> E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
> University of South Florida
> College of Marine Science Room 221A
> 140 Seventh Avenue South
> St. Petersburg, FL 33701
> <eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu>
> Tel 727 553-1158
> ---------------------------------- -----------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

Michael Risk
riskmj at mcmaster.ca