(Note: image above and my emphasis added below. What is unlcear is what climate models the reviewed and whether they accepted or rejected it’s results. – Anthony)
Contact: Sheela McLean FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
907-586-7032 Dec. 23, 2008
NOAA Determines Ribbon Seals Should Not be Listed as Endangered
NOAA today announced that ribbon seals are not in current danger of extinction or likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future, and should not be listed under the Endangered Species Act.
On Dec. 20, 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned NOAA’s Fisheries Service to list the ribbon seal under the Endangered Species Act. The petition said the seal faced extinction by the end of the century due to rapid melting of sea ice resulting from global warming. Sea-ice in the Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan, Chukchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea is the seal’s primary habitat. Today’s announcement is the result of NOAA’s review of this petition and the condition of the ribbon seal.
“Our scientists have reviewed climate models that project that annual ice, which is critical for ribbon seal reproduction, molting and resting, will continue to form each winter in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk where the majority of ribbon seals are located,” said Jim Balsiger, NOAA’s acting assistant administrator for fisheries.
From March to June, ribbon seals use sea ice. As the ice melts during May and June, the seals haul out along the receding ice edge or in remnant patches of ice. Once the annual ice melts, most ribbon seals either migrate through the Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea or remain in the open water of the Bering Sea during the rest of the year.
Although the number of ribbon seals is difficult to estimate accurately, scientists believe that at least 200,000 ribbon seals inhabit the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk.
Commercial hunting for ribbon seals is prohibited in the United States. Alaska Natives take a small number – fewer than 200 – each year for subsistence. Russia allows a harvest of ribbon seals, but there is currently no organized harvest industry and the number of seals taken is likely to be very low.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. Visit http://www.noaa.gov.
On the Web:
NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/species/species_ribbon.php
NOAA’s Fisheries Service Alaska Region: http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov
– 30 –
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
But the seals are so cute! Surely we can’t forget about the poor little seals! I mean, our funding could depend on this!
OT i know, but daily sat. data is again available. It was missing for three days, and withdrawl was setting in. Theoretical discussion is OK, but i am more of a data junkie. SST, ENSO, PDO, etc. That kind of thing. Anthony’s call of La Nina is looking more and more likely all the time.
Let’s see.
1. Seals use the ice when it’s there.
2. When the ice is gone, seals go do something else.
Sounds like a crisis to me. I’m all for huddling around a dung fire in my mud hut so that the seals can sun themselves.
Seals rescued by quick reaction to climate change more CO2 sequestering should insure their future. Currently warming has been masked by seasonal changes.
Center for biological diversity –
“dude, NOAA, your seriously blowing this for us. You were supposed to say that the seal was in danger and people are to blame. Thats what the deal was!…now we have to make a commercial of the earth exploding because CO2 went up 1 ppm.”
What is the status on that little mini-La Nina that was trying to get going?
Okay, who’s the joker for painting the seal?… 😉
Anna had a previous post detailing geothermal inputs. Well done! Geothermal may well contribute more to Earth’s “heat budget” than is acknowledged. Also, virtually impossible to model. Oceanic “hot spots”, in arctic or sub-arctic waters can not be solar forcing, and are clearly not a result of AGW. I still say that the climate is very complex, and does not lend itself to “modeling”, in any useful way.
Good, there will be ice and seals for the polar bears in that region.
Forgot to add link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_Seal
Seems like three possible scenarios.
A) – NOAA accepts the claim by the Center for Biological Diversity that the seals face extinction if the ice continues to melt but does not think the ice will melt (or is melting as rapidly as previously believed) and therefore recommends removing the seals from the endangered species list.
or
B) NOAA does not accept that melting ice endangers the seals.
or
C) NOAA does not care for ribbon seals
Is Homo Sapiens Sapiens subject to consideration for protection under the Endangered Species Act??
Painted? Take a closer look. Who skinned a penguin down South and zipped it onto a seal up North?
WHAT Polar Bears? They’re going to be extinct due to all the ice melting. . . . . . Oh, wait . . . . . .
puzzled, scratches head
Next thing you know, they’ll proclaim something silly like Polar bears aren’t threatened just because their population keeps growing. Don’t they realize computer models prove the Arctic is in danger?
Maybe they were too quick with this decision.
NSIDC says the arctic ice started melting again about 2 weeks ago: -25C temperatures but apparently there is no freezing at these temps.
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_timeseries.png
Hi all,
OT: how come canada is at risk of having the first total “white Christmas” since 1971 and the AMSR-E is showing that huge regression. Can someone explain. thanks.
Surprising that ice can form at -30F. They must have hired some genius recently who figured that out. Another Nobel prize perhaps?
So. There IS enough ice for seals, but NOT enought for polar bears?
Anthony, have you been able to find any current graphical data from NASA Goddard’s Earthshine measurements? I am curious to see what the recent trends have been, and wonder if anyone has tried to correlate sunspot activity with earthshine data.
Currently warming has been masked by seasonal changes.
————-
I wasn’t aware that seasonal changes could last 10 years.
Breaking: World doesn’t end. News at 11.
BTW, what do Ribbon Seals taste like?
GIGO
Garbage in, Gospel out
That seal is so BEAUTIFUL… that black-and-white Arctic energy, those incredibly circular curves and sharp delineations… Anyone here know about the seal legends?
OT dear friends.
Sometimes I just can’t get to WUWT before it’s gone those two or three critical days out of date – when there are so many interesting topics emerging that people want to discuss. I’m using our forum as a place to deepen discussion – much the same topics we find here. Please feel free to pick up items started here and continue them there if you need a longer time frame to develop ideas. Some already exist. Same courtesy rules and same concern for good science! It’s still only a little forum but it seems to be growing almost by itself now.