Dan Hull, Chairman
Chris Oliver, Executive Director
SUBJECT: Title
Protected Species Report
end
STAFF CONTACT: Steve MacLean
ACTION REQUIRED:recommended action
Review Protected Species Report, action as necessary
BACKGROUND:
Iliamna Lake Harbor Seal
On November 17, 2016 the National Marine Fisheries Service announced that they completed their review of the status of eastern North Pacific harbor seals in Iliamna Lake, Alaska. They concluded that the seals in Iliamna Lake do not constitute a species, subspecies, or Distinct Population Segment, and therefore listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act is not warranted.
The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned NMFS to list the harbor seals in Iliamna Lake as threatened or endangered on November 19, 2012. After review, NMFS concluded that although the seals are a discrete population, data suggest that the population is not significant to the greater taxon to which they belong; eastern North Pacific harbor seals. The NMFS internal paper evaluating the “distinctness” of the harbor seals in Iliamna Lake is available at https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/pr/harbor-seals
The notice is available at <https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/11/17/2016-27690/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-determination-on-whether-to-list-the-harbor-seals-in-iliamna-lake>