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Beluga Sturgeon Added to Endangered Species List

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday it is listing beluga sturgeon as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing takes effect six months from its April 21, 2004 announcement in the Federal Register. "Unregulated overfishing, loss of spawning habitat, and poaching to supply the black market beluga caviar trade have all contributed to a notable decrease in the wild beluga sturgeon population," said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams. "Listing beluga sturgeon as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act brings this country's conservation requirements in line with existing international measures for the species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)," Williams explained. Historically, beluga sturgeon inhabited a wide range throughout eastern Europe and central Asia. Now remaining wild beluga sturgeon populations are found only in the Black and Caspian Sea Basins. In 1998, beluga and all other previously unlisted sturgeons and paddlefish were included in CITES Appendix II, which allows sustainable and controlled international trade for commercial and noncommercial purposes through a system of permits. All sturgeon and paddlefish and their byproducts must be accompanied by valid CITES documentation to be legally imported into or exported from the United States. […]

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Stars Urge Los Angeles to Kick the Coal Habit

Hollywood stars sent a letter Tuesday to Los Angeles city officials calling on them to increase the city's use of clean, renewable energy such as wind and solar power. The letter, signed by more than 15 members of the entertainment industry, asked Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn to adopt an official renewables portfolio standard of 20 percent clean energy by 2017. "As members of the arts and entertainment community in Los Angeles, we are not only concerned about film and television production, but energy production as well," said actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr, one actor who signed the letter. "Los Angeles is at a critical energy crossroads – we should become a leader not just in the entertainment business, but the clean energy industry as well. It is time to kick the coal habit." Other signatories to the letter are: Peter Abrams, Ed Asner, Alec Baldwin, Hart Bochner, Clancy Brown, James Cromwell, Benicio Del Toro, Mike Farrell, Liberty Godshall, Dennis Haysbert, Peter Horton, Bill Maher, Wendie Malick, William Petersen, Amy Smart, and Ed Zwick. The letter comes after Mayor Hahn announced earlier this year that his committed to reaching a goal of 20 percent clean energy by 2017. Two […]

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