Isle corals considered for endangered list

The National Marine Fisheries Service has agreed to determine whether 82 coral species in U.S. waters should be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, including a number of species found in Hawaii.

Federal protection of reefs could prompt stricter regulatory scrutiny of land-use practices, dumping, dredging, fishing, offshore oil projects and other activities.

In the agreement with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity Tuesday, the agency will submit its decision on the issue to the Federal Register by April 15.

The center said the world’s corals are in crisis and that in just a few decades many corals and their biodiversity could become extinct.

Two species of coral — the elkhorn and staghorn corals found in Florida and the Caribbean — are the only two coral species protected under the Endangered Species Act, a law established in 1973.

Miyoko Sakashita, the center’s senior attorney, said the 82 species in U.S. waters have all declined by 30 percent in the last 30 years. "Unless we protect them right now, the coral reefs will be lost within decades," she said.

Sakashita said the settlement is an important step toward reducing threats to the most vulnerable coral reefs.

She said decisive action needs to taken to reduce global warming and ocean acidification to ensure the recovery of coral reefs.

The center said of the species under review, 75 are found in the Pacific.

Nine exist in Hawaii waters, including the Hawaiian reef coral, or Montipora dilatata, found only in five sites including Kaneohe Bay; and blue rice coral, Montipora flabellata, found only in Hawaii and mainly in shallow reefs with high wave-energy.

Federal protections apply to a species listed as "endangered," including a ban on taking or killing it.

Federal officials would issue regulations on how to conserve a species, if it is listed as "threatened."

The center filed a petition in October 2009 to list more than 80 coral species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act and to designate areas of critical habitat.

The center said the oceans are becoming more acidic as they absorb more carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels in the atmosphere and that the fisheries service was failing in its mandate to protect endangered coral species.

Officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Honolulu were unavailable for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.