[Coral-List] U.S. Puts 20 Types of Coral on Threatened List

[Tracy Gill - NOAA Federal]

 U.S. Puts 20 Types of Coral on Threatened List Fish Habitats Face Threats
of Climate Change, Overfishing, Runoff From Land, Government Says
http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-puts-20-types-of-coral-on-threatened-list-1409181500

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U.S.
Puts 20 Types of Coral on Threatened List Fish Habitats Face Threats of
Climate Change, Overfishing, Runoff From Land, Government Says

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 By
ASSOCIATED PRESS
 Aug. 27, 2014 7:18 p.m. ET

The coral Acropora globiceps, as shown in a handout photo from NOAA, occurs
within certain U.S. waters in the Pacific Ocean and is among 20 species
listed as threatened. Associated Press

WASHINGTON—The U.S. government is protecting 20 types of colorful coral by
putting them on the list of threatened species, partly because of climate
change.

Much of the threat to the coral species is because of future expected
problems due to global warming, said David Bernhart, an endangered-species
official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. These
coral species are already being hurt by climate change "but not to the
point that they are endangered yet," he said.

Climate change is making the oceans warmer, more acidic and helping with
coral diseases such as bleaching—and those "are the major threats"
explaining why the species were put on the threatened list, Mr. Bernhart
said in a Wednesday conference call.

Other threats include overfishing, runoff from the land, and some coastal
construction, but those are lesser, Mr. Bernhart said.

Five species can be found off the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of
Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. They include pillar coral,
rough cactus coral and three species of star coral. The other 15 are in the
Pacific Ocean area near Guam and American Samoa, but not Hawaii.

Oribicella faveolata, as shown in a NOAA handout photo, is found in the
Caribbean, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Associated Press

The agency looked at listing 66 species, but Wednesday listed only 20
<http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/08/corals_listing.html> for
various reasons. All are called threatened, not endangered. Two coral
species were already listed.

Coral reefs, which are in trouble world-wide, are important fish habitats.

The agency didn't create any new rules yet that would prevent coral from
being harvested or damaged.

"There is a growing body of expert scientists talking about a risk of mass
extinction in the sea and on land," said Elliott Norse, founder and chief
scientist of the Marine Conservation Institute of Seattle. Coral "are
organisms on the front line of anything that humans do."