ANCHORAGE — A federal agency said Wednesday that it will consider listing four species of ice seals as endangered, a move hailed by an environmental group seeking government recognition that Arctic marine life is threatened by global warming.
The National Marine Fisheries Service accepted a petition seeking threatened or endangered status for ribbon seals, which have been losing habitat as sea ice recedes.
It also expanded the status review to include ringed, spotted and bearded seals.
Last summer, Arctic ice shrank to an area that was 27 percent smaller than the previous record. In September, a series of reports from the U.S. Geological Survey predicted that as much as two-thirds of the polar bear population could disappear by midcentury due to climate change.
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Page compiled from Tribune news services
