Global News - March 2008

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US considers protecting Arctic seals

Thu 27 March 2008 13:30 UK — North America,Marine Wildlife

The US is considering listing four species of ice seals as endangered.

Reports suggest that the US National Marine Fisheries Service revealed yesterday (March 26th) that it has accepted a petition seeking threatened or endangered status for ribbon seals.

It added that it was also expanding the status review to include ringed, spotted and bearded seals.

Experts have been concerned that the seals are threatened by climate change.

Doug Mecum, the organisation's acting administrator for the Alaska region, explained to the Associated Press: "While the four species of ice seals in Alaska all utilise various types of sea ice habitats, they use the ice in different ways.

"Therefore, careful status reviews of each species is warranted."

Shaye Wolf, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity and the lead author of the listing petition, added: "The science is really clear that all of the seals are threatened by global warming by the loss of sea ice, and they all need protection."

At the moment, there are no reliable figures for how many of each species of seal exist in the wild.

However, experts have suggested the US populations for each type might be between 100,000 and 300,000.

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