U.S. rules provide greater protection from human threats to two coral species

From a media release issued by the Center for Biological Diversity:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 29, 2008 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The federal government today finalized a rule prohibiting activities that kill or harm elkhorn and staghorn corals, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The new rule, published in the Federal Register by the National Marine Fisheries Service, extends the full protections provided under the Act to these imperiled corals that are disappearing off the coast of Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, elkhorn and staghorn corals in 2006 became the first species to be protected under the Endangered Species Act due to the threat of global warming and ocean acidification. Once the most abundant and important reef-building corals in Florida and the Caribbean, staghorn and elkhorn corals have declined by upwards of 90 percent in many areas, mainly as a result of disease and “bleaching,” an often-fatal stress response to abnormally high water temperatures in which corals expel the symbiotic algae that give them color. The rising ocean temperature caused by global warming and the related threat of ocean acidification resulting from the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide are the greatest threats to these two coral species and coral reefs worldwide. Scientists have predicted that most of the world’s coral reefs will disappear by mid-century unless carbon dioxide emissions are greatly reduced.

“Our coral reefs are disappearing faster than you can say ‘global warming,’ ” said Miyoko Sakashita, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “It is undeniable that corals need the strongest protections available. We need to take action on every threat that we can manage. Today’s protective regulations are an important step forward in a race to prevent the extinction of our coral reefs.”

The new rule prohibits anyone from “taking” the threatened corals, which includes harassing, harming, or killing them.