December 16th, 2014

Tomorrow, the National Marine Fisheries Service publishes a proposed
rule to list 3 corals (/Cantharellus noumeae, Siderastrea glynni,
/and/Tubastraea floreana/) as endangered under the Endangered Species
Act.  This finding is part of a wider finding on a petition to list 81
marine species.  Of that original 81 species there were 23 species of
coral.  In our 90-day finding on the petition on 25 October 2013 we
determined 20 of those 23 corals were not warranted for listing.
Tomorrow’s finding relates to the 3 remaining species.

The proposed listing of the three corals as endangered is consistent
with our recent listing of 20 corals as Threatened under the ESA. The
species being proposed tomorrow are found in fewer countries and
ecoregions and are subject to additional species-specific threats in
their small ranges.  Specifically, /Catharellus noumea/ occurs only in
New Caledonia and possibly Papua new Guinea, /Siderastrea glynni/ occurs
only in Panama where it currently only exists in captivity, and
/Tubastraea floreana/ is now known from only one site in the Galapagos
Islands.

As with all listing proposals, we seek information from interested
parties and the public on the status, threats, and conservation of these
species.  The public comment period will close on 17 February 2015.

Links to the petition, proposed rule (including the version that went on
public inspection today), and status reviews can be found on our website at:
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/petition81.htm

Tomorrow the fully formatted version of the proposed rule and a link to
the public comment site will also be accessible from the above web page.

Please submit any comments or information through that site.

//

—

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~