Global Warming and Abalone Extinction
Despite the departing Bush Administration’s midnight rule that forbids using global warming to trigger Endangered Species Act protections for imperiled wildlife, the black abalone, near extinction in its native California waters, has just been granted protection by the feds. And a main justification used by the National Marine Fisheries Service: increases in ocean temperature and acidification – which are caused by global warming. Pat Brennan over at Green OC has the details.
The listing – like most endangered species protections won in the past eight years, including the landmark polar bear case — was forced upon the administration through a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, which I profile in my upcoming book, Eco Barons.
The black abalone, once the most abundant mollusk on the West Coast, is now on the IUCN’s Red List as critically endangered.
This entry was posted on January 16, 2009 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Endangered Species, Global Warming, environmental activism. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: Center for Biological Diversity, Eco Barons, Edward Humes, Endangered Species Act
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