Under the ESA, a species must meet one of the following five criteria to be considered for protection and listing, found in Section (4)(a)(1) of the Act:
The species in question must have
• (A) the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat
• or range;
• (B) overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes;
• (C) disease or predation;
• (D) the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms;
• (E) other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence.

However, even when a species clearly meets the criteria for protection, it might not be covered, reports Sign On San Diego.  The Hermes copper, a rare butterfly found in southwest San Diego County, is an example. A subject of concern since 1980, the Hermes copper relies on a specific host plant to lay its eggs. This plant, along with much of the sage scrub community, has been in decline. As a result, over half of the known Hermes copper butterfly populations have been lost. Despite these obvious threats, the butterfly was not placed on the protected species list. Jane Hendron , a spokeswoman from FWS, blames the result on a lack of funds:

“It has nothing to do with (whether) there is room on the list,” she said. “It has everything to do with higher priority actions that we are required to take because we have court orders. We have limited funds.” Indeed, the FWS has only $22 million dollars to work with for endangered species listings.

Some groups have become so frustrated with inaction that they have resorted to legal measures. Along with five other conservation groups, the Center for Biological Diversity recently filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The groups allege that the FWS failed to respond to a 2010 petition which sought protection for 403 species in the southeastern United States waterways. The Endangered Species Act requires the FWS to determine the validity of any petition within 90 days and to render a decision on species protection within one year.

Unfortunately, incidents such as the Hermes butterfly decision and the southeastern species petition are only going to become more common unless funding and support for the FWS and endangered species increases.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency of the US Department of Commerce.   NOAA’s goal is to enrich life through science, and to keep Americans informed about the changing environment around them from the sun’s surface to the ocean’s floor.  NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) is the nation’s premier science agency for oceans and coasts.

The Educational Part:

NOS has a section on their website called Five Things You Should Know About Coral Reefs.  It is both nicely presented and educational.

Page One advises that coral reefs are the ocean’s version of land-based rainforests.  With rich biodiversity and thousands of creatures, coral is one of the largest living structures on earth.

Next, think about the number of people who depend upon reefs.  Do you think the number of people who are totally dependent on reefs is 5 million?  15 million?  20 million?  Or 30 million?  Then guess how much money is generated annually by coral ecosystems?  Both answers can be found on Page Two on the website.

Then NOS invites us to consider the sad news that around 20% of the world’s reefs are damaged beyond recovery, and about 50% are seriously at risk.  Both manmade and natural threats exist, from climate change to marine debris to invasive species.  Check out Page Three for more information.

Page Four mentions the activities of NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program.  The program also helps international reefs since, similar to other animals and plants, reefs don’t know what a border is.

Page Five wraps up the section with what you can do to help reefs. Awareness is step one, so check out this section and other parts of their website.  And managing your impact is important, so follow their invitation to check out their Coral Reef Conservation Program.

The Fun Part:

Check out NOS’s fun section.  In particular, The Migration Game is a fun way to learn about topics including shipping lanes, animal migrations, and other ocean facts.  The game has a few technical twists to learn, but soon you’ll be zipping around the board.

The Ocean Guardian Activity Book is fun for younger kids, while Nim’s Island teaches about special ocean places such as national marine sanctuaries.

If you like seeing storms, the Tornado section shows some fascinating photos.

And so on.  This website is worth poking around.  It is very multi-layered and one trail will lead to another.  Have fun checking it out!

But there’s hope.  Apparently lionfish taste great, and efforts are being made to develop a market in which humans can eat lionfish into local extinction in the areas it doesn’t belong.

Sea to Table is a New York based organization which seeks out locally and sustainably managed fisheries needing better access to direct markets and provides a direct connection between fishermen and chefs.  In a recent interview, Sean Dimin of Sea to Table told me about the high level of interest that was shown when lionfish was made available in several restaurants in the test markets of New York and Chicago.  “With a few boxes and plenty of conversations around the country, we feel there is a large enough market to tackle this problem,” Dimin commented.

That lionfish tastes delicious is a large success factor.  Although it could be sold through a conservation story, people would only go so far in supporting the effort if the taste wasn’t there.  But the lionfish feeds on small crustaceans and fish, and has a similar taste to snapper.  The delicate, snow white flesh has an almost sweet flavor.

Now that the market has been found, Sea to Table is working on creating a reliable supply.  The challenge is that conventional harvesting methods, such as hooks and lines, don’t work.  Lionfish are top predators, not scavengers which might feed on already dead animals such as bait in a fish trap.  Sea to Table has been working with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) off the coast of North Carolina, as well as with a number of dive outfits, to try to find a solution.  One method that works is using live bait.  When live bait fish are put into a 2 litre soda bottle and then placed into a fish trap, the lionfish think it’s a school of small fish and enter the trap, becoming trapped themselves.  The live bait can be used again and again, unlike dead bait.

Dimin also mentioned “the largest of the fish processors in the Bahamas are working to develop traps and are also working on putting bounties out there for spear fishermen to go and harvest” as many lionfish as possible.  Bounties were used previously but became too expensive to maintain when the number of lionfish exceeded the budget.  But bounties become affordable when paid by a fish processing plant that sells the fish.  “It’s a commercialization of directed overfishing”, suggests Dimin.

So if a reliable supply can be obtained, human appetites for healthy and delicious foods might just eat this menacing species out of existence in the areas it causes harm.  It looks like this invasive species story is heading towards a deliciously happy ending.