Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Imperiled Nassau Grouper Receives Long Overdue Legal Protections

Feds List the Species as Threatened Due to Overfishing and Habitat Loss
Contact: Taylor Jones, (720) 443-2615, tjones@wildearthguardians.org

Washington, DC—As aresult of WildEarth Guardians’ 2010 petition to protect the Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), today theNational Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced it will list the species as“threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS identified historicand continued human exploitation, and inadequate protections from overfishing asprimary threats to the species.

“We’re thrilled to seethe Nassau grouper take the first step on the road to recovery,” said TaylorJones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “We call on theagency to more quickly respond to the threats to our oceans by providingprotections for this and other imperiled marine species.”

Nassau groupers live incoral reefs in the western North Atlantic from Bermuda, Florida, and theBahamas to the Yucatan Peninsula and throughout the Caribbean to southernBrazil, including occasional sightings in the Gulf of Mexico. They can grow upto four feet in length and live up to 29 years.

Nassau groupers followthe cycle of the moon. Though normally solitary reef-dwellers, they form largespawning aggregations, from a few dozen to historically over 100,000individuals, on or near full moons between December and March. Unfortunately,these aggregations are vulnerable to intensive fishing since they are always inthe same place at the same time. Often, the discovery of a spawning aggregationis followed by heavy exploitation, and the local population can disappear in aslittle as a few years.

“Reining in human exploitation ofNassau grouper spawning aggregations is key to protecting these magnificentfish,” said Jones. “The agency should also designate critical habitat in theU.S. portions of the species’ range to protect the coral reefs and spawningsites these fish need to survive.”

An estimated50-80 percent of all life on earth is found in the oceans. More than half ofmarine species may be at risk of extinction by 2100 without significantconservation efforts. Despite this grave situation, the U.S. largely fails toprotect marine species under the ESA. Of the 2,258species protected under the Act, only 139 (~6 percent) are marine species.Recognizing the decline of ocean health, on July 22, 2010 President Obamaissued an Executive Order requiring agencies, including the National MarineFisheries Service, to “protect, maintain, and restore the health and biologicaldiversity of ocean… ecosystems,” and to “use the best available science andknowledge to inform decisions affecting the ocean.” Guardians’ multi-speciesmarine petition seeks to compel the Fisheries Service to live up to thismandate.

Protection underthe ESA is an effective safety net for imperiled species: more than 99 percentof plants and animals protected by the law exist today. The law is especiallyimportant as a defense against the current extinction crisis; species aredisappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate of extinction due tohuman activities. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinctby 2006 if not for ESA protections. Listing specieswith global distributions can both protect the species domestically, and helpfocus U.S. resources toward enforcement of international regulation andrecovery of the species.

Nassau grouper. Photo: NOAA