Fish and Wildlife Service — the agency that’s mostly in charge of carrying out the Act, with a few ocean species covered by another agency called NOAA Fisheries — has been too slow, on average taking 12 years to protect species even though, by law, it’s only supposed to take two.
More than 1,600 animals and plants are protected, or “listed,” as endangered or threatened in the United States. But there are hundreds more waiting for protection under this crucial law. Unfortunately the process used to list species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — the agency that’s mostly in charge of carrying out the Act, with a few ocean species covered by another agency called NOAA Fisheries — has been too slow, on average taking 12 years to protect species even though, by law, it’s only supposed to take two.