FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Emergency protection for Red Knots

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bristol Area Birders:

When Tom McNeil, J.T. McNeil, Eric Smith, Wallace Coffey and Rack Cross 
observed 14 Red Knots at Musick's Campground on South Holston Lake, 13 Oct 
2004, it marked a truly rare sighting for an increasingly rare species.

The following is a posting from Washington D.C. :

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Audubon and our partners in conservation,  submitted an Emergency Petition to 
the Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday, July 27th, to list the rufa 
subspecies of the Red Knot on the Endangered Species List (ESA).  The Eastern 
population of the Red Knot has declined so dramatically in the past 15 years 
that scientists are worried the species could go extinct by 2010.  Numbering 
over 150,000 just 20 years ago, last year's counts of Red Knots were around 
13,000 - putting this bird on the downward spiral to extinction.

Last July, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Audubon Society submitted a petition 
to list the Red Knot.  This Emergency listing is a follow-up to that request.  
Basically, the science says that this species is declining so rapidly that the 
regular listing process needs to be accelerated.  Emergency listing is quite 
rare but we believe the birds' very existence depends upon swift action.  
Yesterday, a press conference was held with the coalition partners and there 
was an article in today's Delaware News Journal - 

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050803/NEWS01/508030358/1006

The press release is below.  

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>.

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Let's go birding.....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN