World’s largest sea turtle (Leatherbacks) backs) could come off endangered’ list. - via Herp Digest

A rescued leatherback sea turtle makes its way back into the surf after being released by the South Carolina Aquarium in 2015 on the Isle of Palms. The leatherback could come off the endangered species list. Grace Beahm Alford/Staff/File

An arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has received a petition from a fishing group asking that the Northwest Atlantic Ocean's leatherback sea turtles be listed as "threatened," but not endangered, under the Endangered Species Act. The giant reptiles, which can weigh 2,000 pounds, would remain protected under federal law, but their status would be moved down a notch.

NOAA officials have said the agency has reviewed the petition from New Jersey-based Blue Water Fishermen's Association and found "substantial scientific and commercial information" that the move might be warranted. The agency now has about eight months to make a decision about the status of the turtles.

Leatherbacks live all over the world's oceans and have been listed as endangered by the U.S. since 1970.

Deciding whether the listing should be changed will require determining the stability of the population, said Jennifer Schultz, a fisheries biologist with NOAA Fisheries.

“We’ll look at scientific papers, we look at the best available scientific and commercial data,” she said. “And then we’ll say, ‘What does the status look like? How are they doing?’”

Leatherbacks rarely are seen and lay only one or two nests per year in South Carolina. Except for nesting, they live their lives at sea.

In 2017, 14 were found dead along the coast in a period of four months, evidently after following cannonball jellyfish pushed in by the tide. The turtles feed on the jellies.

Most of the turtles were killed by boat strikes and line entanglements. “I would be very concerned if they were downlisted to threatened,” said Mary Pringle, of the Island Turtle Team that watches over sea turtle nests on Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island.

Five of the leatherbacks found dead washed up on those two Charleston area beaches.

"Because they’re so endangered we don’t see them very much in South Carolina,” she said. “They need all the protection they can get.”

The fishing group that requested the change wants the Northwestern Atlantic's leatherback population to be considered a distinct segment of the population. That segment would include all of the leatherbacks that nest on beaches in the eastern U.S. states. But NOAA Fisheries is going to look at the status of the turtles worldwide, said Angela Somma, chief of endangered species division with NOAA Fisheries.

Blue Water Fishermen's Association requested the change of listing in part to spur new research into the status of the leatherback population, said Ernie Panacek, a past president of the organization. Data about species such as sea turtles and marine mammals play a role in crafting fishing regulations, and fishermen fear the government is using outdated data about leatherbacks, he said.

"I get a little frustrated in the fact that they are making regulations without scientific data in front of them," he said. "The more turtles there are, the more interactions you are bound to have with them.”

The leatherback sea turtle has been the subject of intense interest from conservation groups over the years. It's listing as endangered by the U.S. predates the modern Endangered Species Act that was enacted in 1973. The Costa Rica-based Leatherback Trust, an international nonprofit group, describes them as "ancient creatures celebrated in creation myths belonging to diverse cultures around the world."

International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the leatherback sea turtle as "vulnerable," which is one notch above "endangered" on the IUCN's scale. It's one of the largest reptiles on Earth, feeding mostly on jellyfish, which has left them at risk to plastic in the ocean, which can kill them if they ingest it. They are also notable for being the deepest diving and most migratory of all sea turtles, and for their lack of a bony shell.

NOAA is collecting information and comments on the subject until Feb. 5.

Bad news, bears: Yellowstone grizzlies poised to lose protection from hunting

Leaked letter points to plan to remove park’s grizzly bear population from endangered species list, where it was placed in 1975

Oliver Milman

Tuesday 8 December 2015 17.46 GMTLast modified on Tuesday 8 December 201521.16 GMT

State and federal wildlife officials are set to strip grizzly bears of their protection from hunting around Yellowstone national park, with a plan that would remove one of the species’ last populations from the endangered species list.

A leaked letter from Dan Ashe, director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, to state officials notes there is a “mutually understood process that will allow the Service to proceed with a proposed delisting” for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region.

Yellowstone grizzlies were placed on the federal endangered species list in 1975, at a time when the population had declined to 136. It has now rebounded to between 674 and 839 in counts taken last year, with occupied habitat increasing by more than 50%.

This recovery has led to calls from Idaho,Montana and Wyoming – the states that contain and surround Yellowstone – to remove the bears from Endangered Species Act protections.

Under a plan being considered by the FWS, the bears would be delisted under a number of conditions, including that numbers not be allowed to fall below 600 “unless necessary to address human safety issues”. Allowed mortality rates for the bears would be increased as their numbers grow, with up to 10% of adult females and 22% of adult males allowed to be killed via hunting and other methods if the population exceeds 747.

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California's Island Night Lizard Makes Comeback – via Herp Digest

After more than 35 years, USFWS proposes removal of Xantusia riversiana from Endangered Species List.

ReptileChannel.com, February 4, 2013 

The island night lizard (Xantusia riversiana), native only to the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California, has enjoyed such a recovery to its population that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to remove the reptile from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The lizard was first added to the list of endangered species in 1977, when it was listed as a threatened species due in large part to the introduction of nonnative pigs and goats that destroyed the lizard's habitat. In 1984 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began a recovery plan for the species that was focused on restoring the animal's habitat and educating the public about the species. The service says that there are approximately 21.3 million lizards on San Clemente Island, 15,300 on San Nicolas Island, and 17,600 on Santa Barbara Island.

"The recovery of the island night lizard is yet another example of how well the Endangered Species Act works once we decide to use it," Collette Adkins Giese, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney and biologist said in a statement released by the Center. "Protections under this landmark law have been essential in reversing the trend toward extinction for so many of our country’s rarest and most unique wildlife and plants."

The island night lizard grows to about 4 inches in body length and is omnivorous. Its coloration ranges from pale gray to brown or black with striped or mottled patterns. It is a livebearer, giving birth to live young rather than laying eggs. It is also a slow growing lizard. It is estimated that the lizards can live more than 30 years. And contrary to their name, studies of the lizard on Santa Barbara Island have shown that the lizard is most active during the middle of the day.