Status Review of the Ribbon Seal

This status review is intended to be a compilation of the best available information concerning the status of ribbon seals (Histriophoca fasciata), including the past, present, and future threats to this species. It is an update to a previous review  conducted in response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity to list the ribbon seal as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, primarily due to concern about threats to this species’ habitat from climate warming and loss of sea ice. This update was compiled by a NOAA biological review team under a settlement agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity on August 30, 2011. In that settlement NMFS agreed to apply a modified approach to analyzing extinction risk in the “foreseeable future”, and incorporate new information that has become available since the previous review.