Guam News - Guam News

Guam - Guam Senator Judi Guthertz believes that a proposal to put an additional 82 coral species on the endangered species list "un-needed" and she has written to National Marine Fisheries Service Regional Office to tell them so. 

In her letter to Fisheries Regulatory Chief Lance Smith, Senator Guthertz  questions whether placing 82 more species under the protection of the Environmental Species Act is "an “'to hijack the ESA for ulterior purposes and agendas.'”

READ Senator Guthertz's letter to HERE

Smith is currently reviewing the plan following public hearings that were held here on Guam earlier this year.

In a release, Guthertz states adding the additional species to the endangered list "would have 'catastrophic impacts to subsistence and commercial reef fisheries.'"

And she cites testimony from Kitty Simonds of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council [WESPAC] who said that WESPAC believes the proposal “will have no benefits to the conservation or protection of these coral species while placing burden on localized activities and associated communities that are not contributing to the increased risk of extinction of coral species.” 

And she concludes “Our local fishermen are already struggling to survive ... and with them, a crucial component of our indigenous culture. Those fishermen are the true endangered species. We need to protect them just as much, if not more, than we protect non-human species.”

READ the release from Senator Guthertz in FULL below:

August 17, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SENATOR GUTHERTZ SAYS UNNEEDED ‘ENDANGERED SPECIES’ LABEL FOR DOZENS OF CORALS THREATENS FISHING AND OTHER ACTIVITIES

Senator Judi P. Guthertz, a longtime advocate for both Pacific fisheries and conservation is questioning whether a current proposal to put 82 coral species under the protection of the Environmental Species Act doesn’t amount to an attempt, “to hijack the ESA for ulterior purposes and agendas.”

Senator Guthertz, a former Chair of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, directed her concerns to Lance Smith, Regulatory Branch Chief of the National Marine Fisheries Service Regional Office in Hawaii.

Smith is reviewing a draft marine management plan that includes ESA protections for the 82 coral species.

Guthertz quoted Kitty Simonds of WESPAC on these provisions:

“The Council, therefore, believes that ESA listing on the basis of these global threats will have no benefits to the conservation or protection of these coral species while placing burden on localized activities and associated communities that are not contributing to the increased risk of extinction of coral species.”

Senator Guthertz also noted current U.S. federal and local regulations already protect corals “through prohibitions on coral and ‘live rock’ harvest, prohibition or restriction of fishing on extensive areas of coral reef, various form of marine protected areas, pollution control, and coastal management.”

Guthertz echoed the WESPAC concern that the further regulation would have “catastrophic impacts to subsistence and commercial reef fisheries,” as well as tourism and Pacific islands native cultures.

“Our local fishermen are already struggling to survive,” Senator Guthertz wrote, “and with them, a crucial component of our indigenous culture. Those fishermen are the true endangered species. We need to protect them just as much, if not more, than we protect non-human species.”

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