Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Conservation Groups Call for
Emergency Endangered Listing for Red Knothttp://www.defenders.org/wildlife/redknots/petition.pdf
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
