By Tonya Wiley
Sawfish are unique and intriguing animals. The population of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) in the United States was once found in coastal waters from Texas to North Carolina. However, smalltooth sawfish populations declined dramatically during the second half of the 20th century due to the loss of important nursery habitat from coastal development and decades of mortality in both commercial and recreational fisheries. Smalltooth sawfish are now found mostly in Florida, and regularly found only in southwest Florida around Everglades National Park. In response to the dramatic reductions in both their numbers and range, NOAA Fisheries listed the U.S. population of smalltooth sawfish as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2003.
The goal of the Endangered Species Act listing is to recover the population to the point that it no longer needs the protection of the ESA. After the listing, NOAA Fisheries convened the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Team to develop a plan to recover the U.S. smalltooth sawfish population. The team worked for several years to build additional knowledge of the species and to identify the most severe threats to the population. Published in 2009, the plan recommends specific steps to recover the population, focusing on (1) educating the public to minimize human interactions with sawfish and any associated injury and mortality, (2) protecting and/or restoring important sawfish habitats, and (3) ensuring sawfish abundance and distribution increase. After the plan was published the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Implementation Team was assembled to implement the recovery plan, protect the remaining sawfish population in the United States, and rebuild the population. (Sawfish News author Tonya Wiley is an appointed member of the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Implementation Team).
Newborn sawfish, like many other marine species, use specific habitats referred to as nurseries to protect small sawfish from predators and provide ample food for quick growth. Young sawfish often rely on shallow estuarine habitats fringed with red mangroves, but development has changed or destroyed much of this habitat which potentially affects in which areas sawfish can give birth and the juveniles can survive. Protecting these nurseries is vital to the recovery of the species so NOAA Fisheries designated two areas as Critical Habitat for juvenile sawfish in 2009: one in Charlotte Harbor and one in the Ten Thousand Islands/Everglades. It is important to note that the designation of an area as critical habitat does not create a closed area, marine protected area, refuge, or other conservation area. However, it ensures that federal agencies that undertake, fund, or permit activities that may affect these designated critical habitat areas are required to consult with NOAA Fisheries to ensure that their actions do not adversely modify or destroy the designated critical habitat.
NOAA Fisheries is required by the ESA to periodically re-examine the listing classification of all threatened or endangered species to ensure accuracy. These periodic reviews collect and consider information about sawfish from the public, recovery plans, critical habitat designations, previous reviews, and all scientific literature, reports, and presentations. Two reviews in 2010 and 2018 determined the U.S. smalltooth sawfish population remains in danger of extinction throughout its range and continues to meet the ESA definition of endangered.
- All these management documents and more information are available, HERE.
- A video looking at smalltooth sawfish conservation and recovery in the United States is available, HERE.
For more information about current sawfish conservation and research in the United States visit www.SawfishRecovery.org or call 1-844-4SAWFISH.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media