> 
> From: CChess 
> Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 11:22 AM
> Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Conservation Groups Call for
> Emergency Endangered Listing for Red Knot
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 2, 2005
> Contact: William Lutz 202-772-0269
> Brad DeVries 202-772-0237
> CONSERVATION GROUPS CALL FOR EMERGENCY
> ENDANGERED LISTING FOR RED KNOT,
> A RAPIDLY DECLINING SHOREBIRD
> Washington, DC - In response to the 80% decline in
> Red Knot population over the past ten years, leading
> conservation groups filed an emergency petition
> asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list
> the Red Knot as an endangered species under the
> Endangered Species Act. The listing request comes
> from an alliance of wildlife groups including
> Defenders of Wildlife, New Jersey Audubon Society,
> American Bird Conservancy, the National Audubon
> Society, Delaware Audubon Society, Citizens Campaign
> for the Environment, Audubon New York, Audubon
> Maryland-DC and Virginia Audubon Council.
> "Our petition plainly demonstrates that the Red Knot
> is on the path toward extinction. The Bush
> Administration now has the opportunity to reverse
> the bird's downward spiral and the Endangered
> Species Act is the tool they need to do that," said
> Defenders of Wildlife Executive Vice President,
> Jamie Rappaport Clark.
> The petition targets the rufa subspecies of the Red
> Knot, a migratory shorebird that makes an 18,000
> mile roundtrip journey each year from its winter
> home at the tip of South America to the Arctic and
> back again. The birds stop just a few times on the
> way to refuel. Their final critical stop is at
> Delaware Bay, which is the most critical because it
> is the last major refueling spot before completing
> the journey to their Arctic breeding grounds. At the
> Bay, the starving birds must feast on fat-rich
> horseshoe crab eggs in order to restore the reserves
> necessary to complete their migration and to provide
> energy for the first several days or weeks in the
> Arctic as food there can initially be scarce. But,
> in recent years, Delaware Bay's horseshoe crab
> population has rapidly diminished and the number of
> birds able to successfully reach their breeding
> grounds and successfully reproduce has dramatically
> declined.
> "The Red Knot's decline is a direct result of the
> overfishing of horseshoe crabs whose eggs are a
> critical food source for the Red Knot's migration,"
> said Perry Plumart, American Bird Conservancy's
> Director of Conservation Advocacy. "We urge Interior
> Secretary Norton to act now to keep the Red Knot
> returning to Delaware Bay in the decades to come."
> The birds visiting the Delaware Bay, once numbering
> more than 100,000, now number around 17,000. If
> nothing is done to ensure the bird's survival,
> recent scientific models predict extinction as early
> as 2010.
> The petition details reasons why the Endangered
> Species Act's emergency listing provisions are
> needed to save the bird, including:
> · Its primary food source in the United States --
> horseshoe crab eggs -- is threatened due to over
> utilization of crabs for commercial purposes.
> · The birds' inability to properly refuel at
> Delaware Bay reduces rates of survival and
> recruitment and increases their susceptibility to
> disease and predation.
> · Existing regulatory mechanisms are inadequate as
> the Red Knot receives only minimal protection under
> the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and no protection for
> its habitat or food source.
> The Endangered Species Act emergency listing
> petition comes after the groups had worked for many
> years with the states and the Atlantic States Marine
> Fisheries Commission, the agency that regulates the
> horseshoe crab fishery, to reduce the take of
> horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay and neighboring
> areas. In June, the groups asked the Commission and
> the states of New Jersey and Delaware for an
> emergency closure of the horseshoe crab fishery to
> stop the further decline of available horseshoe crab
> eggs. New Jersey closed the harvest for an
> additional two weeks due to the presence of a late
> arriving flock.
> Although some states have taken additional actions
> such as closing key feeding areas to the public
> during spring migration and reducing competition for
> eggs between knots and gulls, these efforts are not
> able to reverse the bird's severe decline. New data
> showing that the Red Knot population continues to
> decline at a rapid rate suggests that a complete
> closure of the horseshoe crab fishery is the most
> important action that can be taken to stop further
> decline of this species. A listing under the ESA
> would require the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
> Commission to consult with the Service on the
> impacts of the horseshoe crab fishery on the red
> knot and lead to the development of a coordinated
> recovery plan, a potential closure of the crab
> fishery and funding for implementation of various
> conservation measures.
> The petition concludes: "In the absence of an
> Endangered Species Act listing for the Red Knot,
> protection efforts to date have failed to address
> site-specific threats to the Red Knot (i.e. habitat
> loss and availability of food at Delaware Bay) and
> also have not led to the development and
> implementation of conservation and management
> strategies on the multi-state regional scale that
> are necessary for the preservation of the species."
> "The Red Knot features one of the longest migrations
> of any bird species and is a valuable part of the
> coastal web of life from the Arctic to the southern
> tip of South America," said Greg Butcher, Director
> of Bird Conservation for the National Audubon
> Society. "Our willingness to act quickly and
> decisively to save this icon of global connectedness
> is a powerful test of our stewardship of Earth's
> vital resources."
> "The science is clear and compelling that emergency
> listing is desperately needed to protect the Red
> Knot," according to Thomas J. Gilmore, President of
> New Jersey Audubon Society. "Only by listing the Red
> Knot can we safeguard New Jersey's Serengeti - the
> Delaware Bay - for future generations."
> "The scientific models indicate the extinction of
> the Red Knot by 2010. This is only 5 years away, a
> blink of the eye. Emergency listing is the only hope
> we have of saving this important species," said
> Delaware Audubon Conservation Chair Nick DiPasquale.
> A copy of the petition can be found on line at
>
<http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/redknots/petition.pdf<http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/redknots/petition.pdf>>.
> ###
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