FWS Proposes to Restore 'Blanket' Import/Export Restrictions for Threatened Species

The Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to bring back its practice of imposing blanket restrictions on importation and exportation of species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the agency said in a notice released June 21.

From the 1970s until 2019, the FWS regulations automatically extended ESA Section 9 restrictions on import, export and taking of endangered wildlife so that they also apply to threatened species. But in 2019, the FWS issued new regulations that ended the blanket restrictions on threatened species (see 1908120020), instead requiring the agency to set restrictions on imports and exports via a special Section 4(d) rule. The FWS is now proposing to return to its pre-2019 regulatory scheme for threatened species. Comments are due Aug. 21.

In the proposal, the FWS said restoring the prior practice of blanket restrictions would improve the agency’s chances of preventing species from going extinct. “Although threatened species are not currently in danger of extinction like endangered species, we have determined those species are likely to become in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future and we have an opportunity to try to prevent that from happening,” the agency said.

The FWS also said blanket rules are necessary because the agency often lacks “a complete understanding of the causes of a species’ decline, and taking a precautionary approach to applying protections would proactively address potentially unknown threats.”

The change back to blanket restrictions would have little practical effect, the FWS said. The FWS issued species-specific “Section 4(d) rules” on all 35 species listed as threatened since the blanket restrictions ended for newly listed species Sept. 26, 2019, the “vast majority” of which included the protections applicable to endangered species, including restrictions on imports and exports.

As was the case under the blanket restrictions in place prior to 2019, the FWS would retain the ability to issue Section 4(d) rules to exempt threatened species from endangered species protections, the FWS said.