Status Review of the Ringed Seal (Phoca hispida) (2010)

A Biological Review Team convened by the NOAA Fisheries assessed the best available information concerning the status of ringed seals and past, present, and future threats to the species. This review was in response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity. The petition seeks to list the ringed seal as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, primarily due to concern about threats to the species’ habitat from climate warming and diminishing ice and snow cover.