NOAA Fisheries has proposed Endangered Species Act listings for 10 giant clams, saying five of the marine species are in danger of extinction throughout the entirety or a significant portion of their ranges with five others losing habitat at alarming rates.
The clams — which can weigh as much as 500 pounds and have shells as long as 4.5 feet — have been decimated by “pervasive harvest for subsistence and domestic sale, and several periods of short-lived but intensive commercial harvest have severely depleted giant clam populations throughout their respective ranges,” the agency said in a Federal Register notice Thursday.
The proposed rule, which is open for public comment through Oct. 23, arrives eight years after biologist Dwayne Meadows petitioned NOAA to protect the giant clams whose range includes parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans, including Hawaii and the Marshall Islands.
In a statement from the Center for Biological Diversity, which threatened to sue NOAA in 2023 for failing to consider the petition, Meadows said the “iconic giant clams play a crucial role in the ocean ecosystem and reef habitats, and I’m thrilled they may get the protection they need to survive and flourish.”
