Thursday, July 16, 2009Last Update: 11:57 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has initiated a status review of 12 parrot species to see if they warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act. Acting on a 2008 petition from Friends of Animals, the agency found that the petition contained sufficient data to warrant the full review.
     The 12 parrot species are: crimson shining parrot, great green macaw, grey-cheeked parakeet, hyacinth macaw, military macaw, Philippine cockatoo, red-crowned parrot, scarlet macaw, thick-billed parrot, white cockatoo, yellow-billed parrot, and the yellow-crested cockatoo.
     The species face significant threats from degradation of habitat, capture for the international pet trade and low reproduction rates. In 1990 nearly 150,000 parrots were imported into the United States. After Congress passed the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992 which restricted trade in birds considered endangered by other countries, the number of parrots imported fell to just 17,000 per year.
     Click the document icon beneath the "San Joaquin Valley Needs Better Smog Rules" for additional federal regulations.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District must rewrite its plan for controlling volatile organic compound emissions from large confined animal facilities such as dairies, cattle feedlots, poultry and swine farms.
     The EPA has found that the district has not demonstrated that its rule fulfills Reasonably Available Control Technology standards for poultry and swine operations. It also is postponing a decision on whether the standards are fulfilled for dairies, beef feedlots and other cattle facilities until a National Air Emission Monitoring Study is done next year.
     Click the document icon for this and other new regulations.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Navy has asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to authorize incidental harassment of marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico during naval readiness activities from December 2009 to December 2014.
     The Gulf has populations of many endangered whales, dolphins and the West Indian manatee.
     The Navy expects that most of the harassment will be from underwater sound waves caused by munitions explosions during training although it also says there is a small chance of collisions between whales and surface vessels that could result in injury or death for the whale involved.
     Click on the document icon beneath "San Joaquin Valley Needs Better Smog Rules," for additional federal regulations.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Krill, a tiny shrimp-like crustacean, will be protected from fishing within the California Current, a massive marine ecosystem that includes five marine sanctuaries where the krill are at the source of the food chain.
     The krill cannot be taken within 200 nautical miles of the West Coast, as a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rule prohibits krill harvest in the Exclusive Economic Zones off of California, Oregon and Washington State. The zones set the boundaries for the marine resources over which each adjacent state has special rights.
     The agency also will deny the use of exempted fishing permits to allow krill fishing.
     This rule, implementing an amendment to the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan, is effective Aug. 12.
     Click the document icon beneath "San Joaquin Valley Needs Better Smog Rules" for additional federal regulations.