Conservationists Sue to Protect Alaskan Sea Otters

SAN FRANCISCO, California, December 5, 2003 (ENS) - Conservationists filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Bush administration for failing to list Alaska's northern sea otter as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Administration officials have refused to protect the animals under the law despite a dramatic and accelerating decline in population since the mid 1980s.

Federal biologists estimate the population of Alaska's sea otter has declined some 55 percent to 70 percent since 1986, with only a few thousand of the animals remaining in an area once considered the species' stronghold.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, accuses the Bush administration of illegally stalling an ongoing process to list the species on the ESA, withholding findings and missing legal deadlines over the past two years.

"The Bush administration is sitting on its hands instead of working to protect this species," said Brent Planer, an attorney who represents the Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network in this case. "By definition, endangered species are short on time, and the Bush administration's unending delay in protecting this population is inexcusable."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed with a petition by conservationists in 2000 to list the Alaskan sea otters as endangered on the ESA and agency biologists finished a final rule in September 2002.

Sea otters are playful mammals once hunted for their thick fur. (Photo by Warren and Leora Worthington courtesy Friends of the Sea Otter)

Critical habitat refers to specific geographic areas considered essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species - federal agencies must mitigate activities so they do not jeopardize these areas.

Despite the recommendations of biologists with the Fish and Wildlife Service, Bush administration officials have not signed the rule. They blame litigation and a lack of funding for the continued delay.

Planer says the administration is using false arguments and poor excuses to mask a desire not to protect endangered species.

The case of the Alaskan sea otters "directly contradicts each of the assertions" often made by administration officials, Planer said.

One assertion is contradicted, Planer says, by a letter dated February 4, 2002, from the Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that it received sufficient funding to propose sea otter protections in 2002, but was denied the appropriations by the Bush administration.

"They have stated in declarations under oath that the money was there to protect the sea otters in 2002," Planer said.

Planer says the administration is manufacturing a funding crisis for ESA listings by only requesting enough funds to deal with court cases.

Estimates range from $120 million to $160 million to tackle the ESA backlog, but the administration has asked for barely a tenth of that amount.

Administration officials say additional funding would make little difference because the ESA is a broken law that does little to safeguard imperiled species.

The focus should not be on regulatory regimes like critical habitat, but rather on private incentives and voluntary conservation measures, according to Bush appointee Craig Manson, who serves as assistant secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.

Conservationists note that date from the Fish and Wildlife Service shows that species that have critical habitat are twice as likely to be recovering compared to those without critical habitat protections.

This sea otter was killed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Sea otters are increasingly vulnerable to manmade pollution and ecological changes. (Photo courtesy Fish and Wildlife Service)

The Bush presidency has never protected a species on its own accord - all 25 species listed by the administration were the result of court orders and there are some 259 species currently under consideration for listing.

The ESA works fine when funded and implemented, Planer says, and the administration could avoid litigation if it would obey the law.

"They have stated in public notices that the money was there and that they must protect the sea otters in 2002," said Planer. "They even directly promised us that the money was there and that they would protect the sea otters in 2002. It is time the Bush administration was held to its word."

The suit asks the court to order the agency to make a final ruling and list the population within 90 days.

Conservationists fear time may be running out for Alaska's sea otters - and the species as a whole - and caution that this means ocean ecosystems are in trouble

Sea otters, smallest of marine mammals are considered a keystone species critical to the health of the ecosystems in which they live.

The fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries nearly pushed the sea otter into extinction until an international treaty was adopted in 1911 to protect the species.

The revival of the species flourished in the Aleutian Islands and by the mid 1970s it numbered between 50,000 to 100,000 and held some 80 percent of the world's sea otters.

But estimates find only a few thousand otters now remain in the entire Aleutian chain and the sharp decline over the past decade shows few signs of abating.

Toxic contamination, disease, starvation, predation and the collapse of the Bering Sea ecosystem are believed to be responsible for the recent decline - similar ecological changes threaten the southern sea otter, which is now largely limited to the coast of central California.

There are believed to be some 2,000 southern sea otters remaining - that subspecies is listed as threatened under the ESA.