ABOUT THE ESA

⇨ The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973. It is jointly administrated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

⇨ The act defines “endangered” species to be “any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.”

⇨ It defines “threatened” species to be “any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.”

⇨ Listing criteria for threatened/endangered species includes the following:
1. Present/threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of
its habitat or range
2. Over-utilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational
purposes
3. Disease or predation
4. The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms
5. Other natural/manmade factors.

⇨ The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Interior work in collaboration to list and delist endangered/threatened species. Current S.O.C is Wilbur Ross and current S.O.I is David Bernhardt.

⇨ Within section 7(e)(1) of the ESA, it states that there is an “Endangered Species” committee composed of 7 governmental titles, most notably including the President, the Secretary of Interior, and Administrators of the EPA and NOAA

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE ESA

⇨ The way that critical habitat is designated has changed. With the changes, the critical habitat designation process must first look at the viability of the CURRENT habitat that the threatened/endangered species inhabits, before moving on to other options. The justification for this change is avoidance of over regulation.

⇨ The U.S. FWS will now evaluate the listing of threatened species on a “species-specific” or “case-by-case” basis for future listings.

⇨ The U.S. FWS has rescinded its “blanket” policy from section 4(d) of the original ESA that gave threatened species the same protections as endangered species. in the press release from the S.O.I, it is stated that this change simply aligns the USFWS with the NMFS, whom has never had the blanket policy for threatened marine species.