Cyanide fishing is one of the most destructive techniques employed to collect live reef fish. Whi... more Cyanide fishing is one of the most destructive techniques employed to collect live reef fish. While national laws of most source countries ban this practice, cyanide is still widely employed to capture live reef fish for human consumption and marine aquariums. The United States is one of the largest importers of live reef fish, and the implementation of new approaches to screen for fish caught with cyanide is urgently needed. A fast and reliable noninvasive and nondestructive approach to screen live reef fish for cyanide poisoning was recently developed, yet deployment of this test may be obstructed by U.S. law. The Lacey Act prohibits the import, export, transport, and acquisition in interstate or international commerce of fish taken in violation of any foreign law. Therefore, if a fish tests positive for cyanide poisoning, the testers could expose themselves to liability for potential Lacey Act violations, as they are " knowingly " engaging in an illegal act. To eliminate this disincentive, the U.S. government should help conservationists develop protocols on how to test for cyanide poisoning without violating the Lacey Act.
Many species listed under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) face continuing threats and will re... more Many species listed under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) face continuing threats and will require intervention to address those threats for decades. These species, which have been termed conservation-reliant, pose a challenge to the ESA's mandate for recovery of self-sustaining populations. Most references to conservation-reliant species by federal agencies involve the restoration of population connectivity. However, the diverse threats to connectivity faced by different species have contrasting implications in the context of the ESA's mandate. For species facing long-term threats from invasive species or climate change, restoration of natural dispersal may not be technically feasible in the foreseeable future. For other species, restoration of natural dispersal is feasible, but carries economic and political cost. Federal agencies have used a broad definition of conservation reliance to justify delisting of species in the latter group even if they remain dependent on artificial translocation. Distinguishing the two groups better informs policy by distinguishing the technical challenges posed by novel ecological stressors from normative questions such as the price society is willing to pay to protect biodiversity, and the degree to which we should grow accustomed to direct human intervention in species' life cycles as a component of conservation in the Anthropocene Epoch.
Separating myth and reality is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of laws. Section 7 of t... more Separating myth and reality is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of laws. Section 7 of the US Endangered Species Act (Act) directs federal agencies to help conserve threatened and endangered species, including by consulting with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or National Marine Fisheries Service on actions the agencies authorize, fund, or carry out. Consultations ensure that actions do not violate the Act's prohibitions on " jeopardizing " listed species or " destroying or adversely modifying " these species' critical habitat. Because these prohibitions are broad, many people consider section 7 the primary tool for protecting species under the Act, whereas others believe section 7 severely impedes economic development. This decades-old controversy is driven primarily by the lack of data on implementation: past analyses are either over 25 y old or taxonomically restricted. We analyze data on all 88,290 consultations recorded by FWS from January 2008 through April 2015. In contrast to conventional wisdom about section 7 implementation, no project was stopped or extensively altered as a result of FWS finding jeopardy or adverse modification during this period. We also show that median consultation duration is far lower than the maximum allowed by the Act, and several factors drive variation in consultation duration. The results discredit many of the claims about the onerous nature of section 7 but also raise questions as to how federal agencies could apply this tool more effectively to conserve species. We build on the results to identify ways to improve the effectiveness of consultations for imperiled species conservation and increase the efficiency of consultations.
Cyanide fishing is one of the most destructive techniques employed to collect live reef fish. Whi... more Cyanide fishing is one of the most destructive techniques employed to collect live reef fish. While national laws of most source countries ban this practice, cyanide is still widely employed to capture live reef fish for human consumption and marine aquariums. The United States is one of the largest importers of live reef fish, and the implementation of new approaches to screen for fish caught with cyanide is urgently needed. A fast and reliable noninvasive and nondestructive approach to screen live reef fish for cyanide poisoning was recently developed, yet deployment of this test may be obstructed by U.S. law. The Lacey Act prohibits the import, export, transport, and acquisition in interstate or international commerce of fish taken in violation of any foreign law. Therefore, if a fish tests positive for cyanide poisoning, the testers could expose themselves to liability for potential Lacey Act violations, as they are " knowingly " engaging in an illegal act. To eliminate this disincentive, the U.S. government should help conservationists develop protocols on how to test for cyanide poisoning without violating the Lacey Act.
Many species listed under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) face continuing threats and will re... more Many species listed under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) face continuing threats and will require intervention to address those threats for decades. These species, which have been termed conservation-reliant, pose a challenge to the ESA's mandate for recovery of self-sustaining populations. Most references to conservation-reliant species by federal agencies involve the restoration of population connectivity. However, the diverse threats to connectivity faced by different species have contrasting implications in the context of the ESA's mandate. For species facing long-term threats from invasive species or climate change, restoration of natural dispersal may not be technically feasible in the foreseeable future. For other species, restoration of natural dispersal is feasible, but carries economic and political cost. Federal agencies have used a broad definition of conservation reliance to justify delisting of species in the latter group even if they remain dependent on artificial translocation. Distinguishing the two groups better informs policy by distinguishing the technical challenges posed by novel ecological stressors from normative questions such as the price society is willing to pay to protect biodiversity, and the degree to which we should grow accustomed to direct human intervention in species' life cycles as a component of conservation in the Anthropocene Epoch.
Separating myth and reality is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of laws. Section 7 of t... more Separating myth and reality is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of laws. Section 7 of the US Endangered Species Act (Act) directs federal agencies to help conserve threatened and endangered species, including by consulting with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or National Marine Fisheries Service on actions the agencies authorize, fund, or carry out. Consultations ensure that actions do not violate the Act's prohibitions on " jeopardizing " listed species or " destroying or adversely modifying " these species' critical habitat. Because these prohibitions are broad, many people consider section 7 the primary tool for protecting species under the Act, whereas others believe section 7 severely impedes economic development. This decades-old controversy is driven primarily by the lack of data on implementation: past analyses are either over 25 y old or taxonomically restricted. We analyze data on all 88,290 consultations recorded by FWS from January 2008 through April 2015. In contrast to conventional wisdom about section 7 implementation, no project was stopped or extensively altered as a result of FWS finding jeopardy or adverse modification during this period. We also show that median consultation duration is far lower than the maximum allowed by the Act, and several factors drive variation in consultation duration. The results discredit many of the claims about the onerous nature of section 7 but also raise questions as to how federal agencies could apply this tool more effectively to conserve species. We build on the results to identify ways to improve the effectiveness of consultations for imperiled species conservation and increase the efficiency of consultations.
Uploads
Papers by Jake Li