West Coast Sea Bird Endangered?
The ashy storm-petrel is a small, smoke-gray seabird that nests and forages almost exclusively on the offshore islands and waters of California near San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
These are major metropolitan population centers with high development that has contributed to the degradation of all local ecosystems. This bird is not officially on the endangered list, but could be by the end of the year.
Now the federal government is going to launch a full status review due to a scientific petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity. There are several different factors that could be contributing to a decline in these benign birds. Climate change, over development, and even the S.F. Bay Area oil spill they had last year certainly didn't help either. There are many other reasons for the decline of the birds which can be read at the website from the Center for Biological Diversity.
From the Press Release:
The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for federal protection of the ashy storm-petrel on October 15, 2007 , triggering a requirement that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service make an initial finding within 90 days. On March 27, 2008, the Center formally notified the Fish and Wildlife Service that the finding was overdue and threatened to take legal action if the decision was not immediately forthcoming. Following today’s finding that protection of the ashy storm-petrel under the Endangered Species Act may be warranted, t he Fish and Wildlife Service must now conduct a status review and issue a proposed rule to list the species by October 15, 2008.
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