NOAA: No ESA listing for ribbon seals

NOAA Fisheries said July 9 that a listing of the ribbon seal under the Endangered Species Act “is not warranted at this time.”

The statement, from the Alaska Region office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the decision came after a thorough scientific review of best available data.

The agency said ribbon seals are one of four species of seals that live in sea ice habitat, primarily in the Sea of Okhotsk off Russia and in the Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska.

The seals “are strongly associated with sea ice from March through June” during reproduction and molting and spend most of the rest of the year in open seas, the agency said.

The number of ribbon seals is difficult to estimate accurately, the agency said, but “scientists have concluded that the population likely consists of at least 200,000 to 300,000 seals” and while there is an anticipated threat, “primarily from reductions in sea ice and disrupted prey communities,” with a gradual population decline anticipated, that “decline is not expected to render the species in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future.”

Other seals have been listed under ESA, but Jon Kurland, NOAA Fisheries’ assistant administrator for protector recourses said each species of ice-associated seals has different habitat requirements.

“Ribbon seals are fairly adaptable. Their diet is diverse, they feed over a wide range of depths, and there is evidence that they may compensate for changes in sea ice by moving to other habitats in which they are still able to feed and reproduce,” Kurland said.

NOAA Fisheries previously determined listing the ribbon seal was not warranted in December 2008, but the agency initiated a new review when new information became available.

The decision is under review; related documents are available at www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/.

—Kristen Nelson