Interior Department Denies Endangered Species Act Protection to Imperiled California Seabird Ashy Storm Petrel Threatened by Climate Change, Pollution, Predation

The Department of the Interior today denied protection for the ashy storm petrel, an imperiled California seabird, under the Endangered Species Act. The Department acknowledged that this seabird faces threats from multiple sources, but contends that broad-ranging impacts from predators, light pollution, oil pollution, and climate change, including lower ocean productivity due to ocean warming and ocean acidification, do not endanger this species. “Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is continuing a Bush-era approach of denying protections to species based on an incomplete and selective interpretation of the science,” said Shaye Wolf, a seabird biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The decision reads like a laundry list of excuses to avoid acting to protect the ashy storm petrel rather than a solid evaluation of the science.”

The Department of the Interior’s decision ignored the findings of a recent study that found that the ashy storm petrel’s at-sea abundance in the northern part of its range declined by 76 percent over a 22-year period from 1985 to 2006…. by Center for Biological Diversity Full Article