National News

Fearing Changes to Endangered Species Act, Conservationists Point to Bald Eagle’s Soaring Success. “The recovery of the bald eagle is one of the most notable successes of the 1973 Endangered Species Act. This year, the state counted 717 active nesting pairs of bald eagles in its aerial survey, an increase of 13 percent since its last survey in 2013. Only 31 pairs were counted in the state’s first survey in 1976. Today there are an estimated 143,000 bald eagles across the country, compared with just over 400 nesting pairs in the continental U.S. in the 1960s. In light of the eagle’s rebound, conservation groups in Maine are concerned about changes the Trump administration is proposing that could weaken the Endangered Species Act. They are waiting anxiously for the Interior and Commerce departments to go through public comment received last week about those proposed changes.” [Press Herald, 10/2/18 (+)]

Defenders of Endangered Right Whales Pursue Limits on Aquaculture. “Right whale defenders are now taking aim at aquaculture as they try to protect the highly endangered species from deadly fishing gear entanglements. Advocates usually focus on the lobster industry, which is estimated to account for a million surface-to-seabed trap lines in East Coast waters, when talking about entanglement risks faced by the North Atlantic right whale, whose numbers have now dwindled to fewer than 450. But animal rights groups asking for federal intervention to avoid extinction of the whales are now asking regulators to reduce the threat of aquaculture entanglement, too. Researchers from Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a U.K.-based nonprofit that advocates for marine animals, want regulators to reduce surface-to-seabed lines in all Gulf of Maine fisheries, not just lobstering. They name aquaculture and gill net as rope-based fishing methods that are known to entrap, injure and kill both humpback and right whales. They say it’s not fair for regulators, who are meeting next week, to seek rope reduction from lobstermen while issuing permits for other fisheries that use similar rope.” [Press Herald, 10/3/18 (=)]