Abstract
In the last issue of the AFA Watchbird magazine (XXXVI Vol. 1-2) we wrote to tell you about activists seeking to include 14 species of parrots under the US. Endangered Species Act. At the time of the last issue we did not have enough information to respond properly to the USFWS's call far information. AF A submitted a Freedom of Information Act request far all documents filed by the AR activists to support the proposed listing. AF A also submitted a separate FOIA request to the USFWS far all import data on the 14 species since 1990.
The responses to our FOIA request demonstrated to us that the petition to list the species under the act was not warranted; this is based on the "lack" ofscientific information submitted by the proponents. It is clear that there is insufficient scientific and commercial data to support the proposed listings and therefore the AF A has submitted a response in opposition to the listing of the 14 species.
Below is the AFA's official response to the Service's call far information on this proposal. The USFWS will now review all information submitted pursuant to their notice. This process will not be completed far a year or longer.
The AF A Legislative Committee, with assistance from the AF A CITES Committee, the AF A Conservation Committee, and private consultants collaborated to prepare AFA's official response and they will continue to monitor this proposal.
September 8, 2009
Public Comments Processing Attn: FWS-R9-IA-2009-0016
Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222 Arlington, VA 22203
Re: [FWS-R9-IA-2009-0016; 96100- 1671-9FLSB6]-Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a Petition to List 14 Parrot Species as Threatened or Endangered
The American Federation of Aviculture (AFA) (see footnote I) submits that there is woefully insufficient scientific and/or commercial data to support the advancement of the proposal to list the 14 species of parrots that is the subject of FWS-R9-IA-2009-0016; 96100-1671- 9FLSB6]- Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a Petition to List 14 Parrot Species as Threatened or Endangered.
The proposed listing of the 14 species of parrots that is the subject of "FWS-R9-IA-2009-0016; 96100-1671- 9FLSB6- Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a Petition to List 14 Parrot Species as Threatened or Endangered" will harm not only the 14 species of birds that are the subjects of the proposal, but it will harm U.S. aviculture and those who rely on U.S. aviculturists for current, correct, and humane assistance in keeping all of their birds.
I. No hard scientific data on the status in the wild is presented in the Notice or in the underlying Friends of Animals (FOA) petition or complaint to support the basis for the listing of these birds under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Allegations stated in any petition for listing under the ESA, without supporting reliable scientific and commercial data, are nothing more than allegations and suppositions-they are not facts upon which a listing can be based. Neither the Notice, or the underlying FOA petition, or the underlying FOA complaint, cite any specific current or reliable scientific research or reports required to support the petition. Neither the Notice, or the petition, or the complaint cite any current or reliable commercial information from anyone currently involved with the conservation or trade in these species required to support the petition. The supporting data is more prose suggesting that local (in situ) ownership is the cause of endangerment, suggesting that the uplisting of these species by the U.S.FWS will somehow correct this condition. This is not scientific or commercial data.
The ESA requires that "The Secretary shall make determinations required by subsection (a)(l) of this section solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available to him ... " (16 U.S.C 1533(b) )
The general references to Birdlife International, NatureServe, and IUCN website information on these species which are recited in the Notice, the FOA petition, and the FOA complaint, do not constitute "the best scientific or commercial data available to [ the Secretary]' that is required by 16 U.S.C 1533 (b) to support a determination by the Secretary that a listing of any of these species under the ESA is warranted.
The general claims made in the Petition and Complaint regarding threats to these species are not supported by citations to current scientific or commercial data that document the claimed threats. The absence of timely or recent citations in the Petition is remarkable-the citations in the Petition are, for the most part, preWCBA (1992 Wild Bird Conservation Act). The 1992 WCBA stopped the taking of birds from the wild for sale as pets in the U.S. Claims based on data and observations from the period prior to the WCBA cannot be considered reliable current scientific or commercial data.
Some of the data cited is nearly threedecades old and was the same data used to support passage of the WBCA (see below) in 1992. The premise of the WBCA was that these birds should be bred in captivity by U.S. Aviculturists.