Q&A – What’s the Difference in an ‘Endangered’ & ‘Threatened’ Species

Q&A of the Day – What’s the Difference in an ‘Endangered’ Species & ‘Threatened’ Species 

Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.      

Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com     

Social: @brianmuddradio    

iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.       

Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio What’s the difference between endangered and threatened? Does anything change? 

Bottom Line: Today’s note resulted from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently denying a petition for Florida’s manatees to once again be protected under ‘endangered’ status. In 2017 manatees were moved from the ‘endangered species’ list to ‘threatened’ status. The petition, filed in 2022, was brought by Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Save the Manatee Club, Miami Waterkeeper and Frank S. González Garcia, they sought additional protections for manatees following the mass starvation event that occurred in 2021 and 2022 which led to a record number of Florida’s manatees dying.  

U.S. Fish and Wildlife issued this statement in declining to reclassify Florida’s manatees, the West Indian manatee, as an endangered species: For almost 60 years, the Service has worked closely with conservation partners to save Florida (and Antillean) manatees from extinction. The best available science always drives our decision-making, and we are committed to ensuring the protection and recovery of both subspecies of the West Indian manatee. Species face significant threats including watercraft collisions, habitat loss, seagrass decline, coastal development, human interactions, harmful algal blooms and climate change impacts. Florida manatees are particularly vulnerable to losing warm-water refuges. So, what would have changed had Florida’s manatees once again been reclassified as ‘endangered’? 

The 1973 Endangered Species Act provides guidance as to what each classification means. Under the Act a threatened species is defined as:  

  • Any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. 

An endangered species is defined as: 

  • Any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. 

As for what the Act calls for based upon those classifications...  

Without getting into the weeds of the regulations...there are similarities with the protections between endangered and threatened species with one significant legal distinction. Under the Endangered Species Act there’s what’s called “Section 9” regulations and Section 4(d) regulations.  

Section 9, for endangered species states:  

  • It is illegal to import, export, or take endangered species for any purpose, including commercial activity. The term “take” means to harass, hunt, shoot, capture, trap, kill, collect, wound, harm, or pursue an ESA-listed species, or attempt any of these activities. 

Section 4(d) for threatened species: 

  • Directs the Secretary of the Interior to issue protective regulations deemed “necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of” threatened species.   

So basically, rather than being granted the blanket protections of ‘endangered’ status, threatened species are handled on a case-by-case basis. So, what are the current protections for Florida’s manatees which will remain ‘threatened’ for now? None under Section 4(d) specifically. There are three marine mammals that the Secretary of the Interior has issued additional protections for under Section 4(d). Manatees aren’t one of them. With that said, there are two other laws that provide added protections to Florida’s manatees. The Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act. Under those protections it’s explicitly illegal to feed, harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, annoy, or molest manatees. 

Often the different layers of law, state vs. federal, and who has the authority to enforce them can be confusing. Because of the added protections for manatees at the state level, the decision by the federal government to not reclassify Florida’s manatees at the federal level is mitigated. However, the one area where it perhaps could have been most helpful would have been with the Army Corps of Engineers in the ongoing effort to attempt to put an end once and for all to the harmful east-west Lake Okeechobee discharges into our waterways. That battle will continue.  


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