Ambitious inventory of marine life

From an article by Zilia Castrillón on the Inter Press Service:

BOSTON, Oct 19 (IPS/IFEJ) - The inclusion of coral on the Red List of Threatened Species 2007 -- of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) -- is the first result of an ambitious marine life observation project, one that has goals of global conservation.

The decision to add corals to the Red List was based on studies begun a little more than a year ago by the Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA), a joint effort of IUCN and Conservation International.

Ten species of coral in Ecuador's Galápagos Islands -- two in critical danger of extinction and one vulnerable -- have been included on the Red List, the most detailed guide to the global state of conservation -- or decline -- of plants and animals.

This is the first in a series of assessments and additions to the list focused on marine species around the world, said Kent Carpenter, coordinator of GMSA, based in the biological sciences department of Old Dominion University, in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia.

GMSA compiles information about all known species of vertebrates and of a selection of invertebrates and plants, and adds them to the IUCN's Species Information Service database.

The experts responsible for the project hope to have detailed data on the status of 20,000 marine species from around the world by 2010, and thus determine the relative risk of extinction of each one according to the Red List's criteria and categories.

So far, there are just 1,530 marine species among the 41,415 flora and fauna species included on the Red List this year in the various categories, ranging from "extinct" to "not evaluated". According to the GMSA scientists, sea life has not been adequately studied.

"The marine world has been relatively little studied and explored in comparison with land species," said Stuart Banks, oceanographer with the Charles Darwin Foundation, in an interview.