AOGA challenges bearded seal listing

The Alaska Oil and Gas Association, or AOGA, an oil industry trade association, has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s listing in December of the bearded seal as threatened under the terms of the Endangered Species Act. The listing decision was based on the assumption that the declining extent of Arctic sea ice under the impact of global warning will place the seal’s future in jeopardy, because of the animals’ dependence on the sea ice habitat. The agency’s action came as part of a growing trend to list animals such as the polar bear that, while they may have healthy populations at present, could be impacted by future sea-ice loss.

But some have questioned the validity of the sea-ice related listing criteria. And the oil industry is concerned about the possible impact of the wildlife listings on offshore oil exploration and development. A bearded seal population segment lives in U.S. Arctic waters.

In a May 23 release announcing its action against the Fisheries Service decision, AOGA said that there is “no scientific evidence linking climate change now or in the future to adverse effects on Arctic bearded seals.”

And Kara Moriarty, AOGA executive director, said that the association’s member companies have a long history of supporting and advocating wildlife conservation and research in the Arctic, and that there is no evidence that oil and gas activities are a present or foreseeable threat to bearded seals.

“NMFS’s decisions, in our opinion, are not consistent with its own policy or the best available science,” Moriarty said. “The decision to list bearded seals is based on speculation regarding how climate change might affect these species 100 years from now, despite their populations currently being healthy and abundant.”

—Alan Bailey