Red knots on fast track to protection
Endangered status may come within year
11:08 PM, Jul. 10, 2011
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110711/NEWS/107110324/Red-knots-fast-track-protection
A local and global symbol of threatened habitats and species could begin gaining endangered federal protection within a year as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service steps up reviews of endangered species candidates.
Environmental Groups said the acceleration comes as the red knot shorebird appears to be under worsening threat, partly because of pressure on the horseshoe crab, a creature that spawns in the bay and whose eggs provide a migratory food source during springtime shorebird stopovers along the Delaware Bay.
One recent study of the tiny, long-beaked red knot’s main wintering population in South America found that its numbers had fallen by about one-third, or 5,000 birds, compared with the year before.
“To the extent that we’re going to get to all the species on the candidate list, I think you could accurately say we’re going to be able to make a listing for that species,” said Chris Tollefson, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “I think it’s fair to say, from what I understand, that it will happen within the next year.”
Agency officials plan to extend protections to western subspecies of the bird in the coming year, followed by their eastern cousins.
The American Bird Conservancy, New Jersey Audubon Society, Delaware Riverkeeper and other groups applauded the comments.
“We are pleased the Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized the urgency to begin listing the red knot,” said Caroline Kennedy, senior field conservation director for Defenders of Wildlife.
“The knot has been languishing on the list of candidate species since 2006. This year’s huge decline in wintering red knots provides clear evidence that the status quo is not working. Unless action is taken now, red knots may be on an irreversible slide to extinction.”
Fish and Wildlife agreed to speed up action on endangered species candidates under a settlement with the environmental group WildEarth Guardians.
“I think it’s going to bring new protection measures for the red knot and horseshoe crab and their habitats,” said Tim Dillingham, American Littoral Society director.
Other groups have predicted that the wave of endangered species findings could have far-reaching effects, including increased pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency to step up its own pollution control and conservation requirements.
Red knots and several other migratory birds depend on ample supplies of horseshoe crab eggs to sustain them through long migrations, including stretching from South America and the Arctic.
Although some states, including Delaware and New Jersey, have stepped up controls on crab harvesting, researchers have said that crab numbers have yet to recover.
Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery @delawareonline.com.