Federal Register, Volume 75, Number 2, January 5, 2010, Pages 219-736 Page: 241
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Federal Register/Vol. 75, No. 2/Tuesday, January 5, 2010/Rules and Regulations
island (Cruz and Cruz 1990a, p. 317),
and by 1985, return rates for banded
birds was 80 to 90 percent due to the
predator control program (Cruz and
Cruz 1990a, p. 323). To emphasize the
significance of such a reduction in
predation on adults with respect to
petrel population growth, the Hawaiian
dark-rumped petrel (Pterodroma
sandwichensis), a species related to the
Galapagos petrel, exhibited a 5 percent
annual decline in its population size
when adult survival rates were reduced
as low as 10 percent (Simons 1984, p.
1073).
There is no information to indicate
that predator control efforts have been
successfully implemented on San
Crist6bal Island or Isabela Island where
rats, cats, and pigs continue to threaten
the species; and these threats are likely
to continue in the foreseeable future.
Summary of Factor C
In summary, while several diseases
have been documented in other species
of petrels, disease has not been
documented in the Galapagos petrel.
Therefore, for the reasons described
above, we do not find that disease is a
threat to this species currently or in the
foreseeable future.
While the species is at sea during the
nonbreeding season, we are unaware of
any threats due to predation on
Galapagos petrels. However, predation
by introduced mammalian species
causes mortalities at all life stages of the
Galapagos petrel while on land. Rats are
a significant threat because they eat eggs
and chicks. Feral cats, in particular, and
to a lesser extent dogs also threaten
Galapagos petrels by eating eggs and
killing chicks, juveniles, and adult
birds. Pigs may kill nestlings, juveniles,
and some adult birds by digging up a
nest while the adult is incubating but
this is much less common than
predation by rats and cats (Wiedenfeld,
in litt. 2008, unpaginated). There are
predator control programs for rats on
Isabela, San Crist6bal, and Santiago
Islands and, as of 2006, a program was
planned on Floreana Island. However,
there is no information to indicate that
rat eradication has been achieved on
any of these islands, and there is no
information to indicate that there is a rat
control program on Santa Cruz.
According to Guo (2006, p. 2), a control
program for feral cats was planned for
2007. There is no information to
indicate that feral cats have been
eradicated on any of the islands or in
any of the petrel breeding sites. Pigs
have been removed from Santiago and
northern Isabela Islands but are still a
threat to Galapagos petrels on Floreana,Santa Cruz, southern Isabela, and San
Crist6bal Islands (Wildlife Extra 2006,
unpaginated). There is no information
on predator control efforts for dogs on
any of the islands where Galapagos
petrels breed. The threat of predation
has been shown to result in rapid
population declines in the past and this
threat is likely to continue in the
foreseeable future due to the inability of
predator control efforts to adequately
eradicate these predators. Therefore, we
find that predation is a threat to the
Galapagos petrel throughout all or a
significant portion of its range now and
in the foreseeable future.
D. The Inadequacy of Existing
Regulatory Mechanisms
As previously mentioned, several
commenters disputed our statement in
the proposed rule that long-line
fisheries threaten all seabirds and in
particular, the Galapagos petrel, and
Heinroth's shearwater. According to the
U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) and BirdLife International (BLI
2009, unpaginated), the seabirds killed
in long-line fisheries are predominantly
albatrosses and other species of petrels
(not Pterodroma species). The
characteristics of a petrel species
vulnerable to long-line fishing (seabird
that is aggressive and good at seizing
prey (or baited hooks) at the water's
surface, or is a proficient diver) do not
describe the Pterodroma species.
Although we are unaware of any
documented cases of incidental take of
Galapagos petrels by commercial long-
line fishing operations or entanglement
in marine debris, long-line fishing
operations in the eastern Pacific Ocean
have been identified as a potential
threat to the Galapagos petrel (BLI 2009,
unpaginated). In particular, long-line
fishing in the Galapagos Marine Reserve
was suggested as a factor in affecting
foraging birds (BLI 2009, unpaginated).
In 2004, fishermen seized Galapagos
National Park headquarters and a
scientific research station to demand,
among other things, permission to use
long-line fishing in the Galapagos
Marine Reserve. To end the standoff, the
government of Ecuador agreed to review
the rules regarding the Galapagos
Marine Reserve (New York Times 2004,
unpaginated). A separate report
published in the same year described
the illegal long-lines as "crisscross[ing]"
the reserve "like spider webs" (Hile
2004, unpaginated). However, there is
no information indicating that,
subsequent to 2004, commercial long-
line fishing is permitted in the
Galapagos Marine Reserve or that
Galapagos petrels have been injured or
killed by long-line fishing operations inthe Marine Reserve or elsewhere in the
eastern Pacific Ocean. Therefore, based
on the best available information
regarding the threat of long-line fishing
on the Galapagos petrel, we are not able
to determine the significance of this
threat to this bird.
The first legislation to specifically
protect the Galapagos Islands and its
wildlife and plants was enacted in 1934
and further supplemented in 1936, but
effective legislation was not passed until
1959, when the Ecuadorian government
passed new legislation declaring the
islands a National Park (Fitter et al.
2000, p. 216; Jackson 1985, pp. 7, 230;
Stewart 2006, p. 164).
The Galapagos Islands were declared
a World Heritage Site (WHS) under the
auspices of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) in 1978
(UNESCO World Heritage Centre
n.d.(a)), as they were recognized to be
"cultural and natural heritage of
outstanding universal value that needs
to be protected and preserved"
(UNESCO World Heritage Centre
n.d.(b)). The aim of establishment as a
WHS is conservation of the site for
future generations (UNESCO World
Heritage Centre 2008). However, in June
2007, due to threats to this site posed by
introduced invasive species, increasing
tourism, and immigration, the World
Heritage Committee placed the
Galapagos on the "List of World
Heritage in Danger." This is intended to
increase support for their conservation
(UNESCO World Heritage Centre News
2007a). In March 2008, the UNESCO
World Heritage Centre/United Nations
Foundation project for invasive species
management provided funding of $2.19
million U.S. (USD) to the Ecuadorian
National Environmental Fund's
"Galapagos Invasive Species" account
to support invasive species control and
eradication activities on the islands
(UNESCO World Heritage Centre News
2008). In addition, the Ecuador
government previously had contributed
$1 million USD to this fund (UNESCO
World Heritage Centre News 2008),
demonstrating the government of
Ecuador's commitment to reducing the
threat of invasive species to the islands.
Ecuador designated the Galapagos
Islands as a National Park and the
islands were declared a World Heritage
Site in 1979 (BLI 2009, unpaginated). In
the 1990s, overall fishing pressure in the
waters around the Galapagos Islands
increased rapidly and led in 1998 to
establishment of the Galapagos Marine
Reserve (Bustamante et al. 2000, p. 3),
which is a legally protected area. The
reserve boundaries are 40 nautical mi
from the outermost points of land of thearchipelago, and protected within those
241
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United States. Office of the Federal Register. Federal Register, Volume 75, Number 2, January 5, 2010, Pages 219-736, periodical, January 5, 2010; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc52585/m1/31/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.