FWS Ends Blanket Import-Export Restrictions for Threatened Species
The Fish and Wildlife Service is ending its practice of imposing blanket restrictions on importation and exportation of species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, it said in an Aug. 12 press release. Going forward, import and export restrictions will not automatically apply to species listed as threatened, and FWS will have to issue a species-specific “Section 4(d)” rule to implement any restrictions on import, export and taking, the agency said. Species currently listed as threatened will not be affected, FWS said.
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According to a pre-publication version of the final rule, current regulations extend ESA Section 9 restrictions on import, export and taking of endangered wildlife so that they also apply to threatened species. The agency is amending those provisions so that they only affect species already listed as threatened by the effective date of this final rule (i.e., 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register). "Species listed or reclassified as a threatened species after the effective date of this rule would have protective regulations only if the Service promulgates a species-specific rule (also referred to as a special rule). In those cases, we intend to finalize the species-specific rule concurrent with the final listing or reclassification determination," FWS said.
The change does not necessarily mean that FWS will revise current blanket restrictions in place on any species listed as threatened, FWS said. "Nothing in these final revised regulations is intended to require (now or at such time as these regulations may become final) that any previous listing or reclassification determinations or species-specific protective regulations be reevaluated on the basis of any final regulations," it said.
FWS says the new provisions align the agency with the approach taken by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which for over 40 years has issued regulations for each threatened species detailing the extent of restrictions. The final rule comes alongside two others amending the Endangered Species Act that environmental groups have criticized as weakening protections on endangered species (see 1807300037).