Listing may not achieve conservation: A call for proactive approaches to threatened species management

Abstract

Species listing and subsequent conservation efforts are dependent on a number of political, social, and scientific factors, often to the disadvantage of uncharismatic taxa, such as small, cryptic, and rare species, and those that lack commercial value. This case study examined the listing, impact assessment and conservation process of the critically endangered marine seaweed Nereia lophocladia (Nereia hereafter), which is a small and sporadically occurring species. Nereia was initially listed as vulnerable, and upgraded to critically endangered, following the precautionary principle. Despite the elevation of its listing and the existence of a recovery plan, little conservation effort was devoted to Nereia. A major upgrade to a large breakwater adjacent to Nereia's only known location triggered legislation and targeted searches for the species. Once found at the site, adaptive management actions, including modifications to the breakwater and some of the first targeted scientific surveys for this species took place. The targeted surveys quickly revealed a far greater population of Nereia with a broader distribution than was previously realized. Given this, the breakwater upgrade probably caused less extinction risk to Nereia than predicted and a costly redesign may not have been necessary to secure the species' survival. The case study argues for a proactive, evidentiary approach to species conservation, where conservation actions should be initiated as soon as species are listed and not when an immediate risk of extinction arises. Such approaches would improve conservation efforts and may also reduce the overall costs of saving species.