FWC - Imperiled Species Listing Process

Current Actions

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s goal is to provide conservation for imperiled species through a comprehensive management system including a listing process that requires a written conservation plan for all listed species.

A team of FWC employees has been working on draft rules to achieve this goal as well as identify species that need state intervention for survival. The draft rules link species protections to science, while using a balanced approach through collaboration and partnerships.

The FWC welcomes public input and comment on the draft rules. The current draft will be revised based on stakeholder and public input and the revised draft may be presented to the Commission in December. Adoption of the rules may occur at the February Commission meeting.

The public comment period on the draft rule is closed at this time. A revised draft rule will be available for public comment in late November.

TThe FWC has two active listing actions in process for the Florida manatee and the Panama City crayfish. At the December 2007 meeting, Commissioners asked FWC staff to review the current imperiled species listing process and provide ideas on how to overcome the polarization created by the process and how to improve the process itself. No new petitions will be accepted or evaluated for potential listing during this time.

The Commission also deferred listing actions for the Panama City crayfish. The Florida manatee management plan was approved at the Dec. 2007 Commission meeting; however, reclassification of the manatee to a threatened species was deferred while staff reviews FWC’s imperiled species listing system. Finalization of the Panama City crayfish plan has been deferred while staff reviews the imperiled species listing system.

Staff ideas

and thoughts

on the listing process and imperiled species management system were presented to the Commission at the June 2008 meeting. The Commission directed staff to pursue the ideas with stakeholders, provide interim updates, and bring a recommendation to the June 2009 meeting. In June 2009, staff were directed to begin drafting a rule and provided an update to the Commission in September 2009. It is expected that staff will present a draft rule package in December 2009 and that the Commission could approve final rules on imperiled species as soon as February 2010

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