The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will hold meetings next week to discuss the agency’s proposal to include 66 coral species on the Endangered or Threatened Species List. Seven of those proposed for the endangered list are in the Caribbean. Two are proposed for the threatened list.
The meetings will be held Wednesday at Buck Island Reef National Monument office in Christiansted, St. Croix, and Thursday at the Windward Passage Hotel in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. They both run from 7 to 9 p.m.
Two of the seven species under consideration are elkhorn and staghorn corals – already on the threatened list, but NOAA wants them reclassified as endangered. The species proposed for the endangered list also include pillar coral, boulder star coral, mountainous star coral, star coral, and rough cactus coral. Those proposed for the threatened list include Lamarck’s sheet coral and elliptical star coral.
This proposed listing is in response to a 2009 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity to list 83 coral species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA indicated that 16 didn’t warrant listing because they had buffers such as high abundance and wide-ranging distribution. None of those that didn’t make the list were in the Caribbean.
For more information, call Jennifer Moore at 727-824-5312 or visit NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries website.
