Federal Court Vacates Ice Seal Habitat Protections, Uncertainty Follows

A federal judge last month set aside a sweeping critical habitat designation for ringed and bearded seals that covered the entire coastline from the Canadian border along western Alaska down to Nunivak Island, including St. Lawrence Island and Little Diomede. The vacatur applies to the boundaries the National Marine Fisheries Service established, returning the matter to the agency to respond to legal shortcomings identified by the court.

The court found that the Service failed to explain why more than 160 million acres were essential to the seals conservation. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason also criticized the agency for not considering specific exclusions requested by the State of Alaska and other parties. Those requests included a 20 mile buffer around communities along the Beaufort Sea coast and a 10 mile buffer around North Slope villages and lands conveyed to the Borough or to Alaska Native corporations. The ruling remands the habitat designation back to the agency for further proceedings consistent with the court order.

The State of Alaska sued the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2023, arguing that the habitat protections were overbroad and interfered with sovereign interests including oil and gas development and marine transportation in North Slope waters. The vacatur removes the mapped constraints that had limited activities such as oil leasing and deep sea trawling. The legal finding does not delist ringed and bearded seals, which remain protected under the Endangered Species Act. The agency has 60 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling or to rework the rulemaking, and it has not yet announced its next step. NMFS and NOAA declined to comment on the case because of ongoing litigation.

For residents of the North Slope Borough the decision raises immediate questions about economic planning and the protection of traditional subsistence lifeways. Habitat designations did not restrict subsistence harvest by Alaska Native hunters, but they did affect the regulatory landscape for industry and shipping that surround coastal villages. Regional subsistence leaders and conservation advocates had stressed that ice dependent seals are a critical food source for Bering Strait communities and that affordable alternatives are limited. Conservation organizations that intervened in the case argued that large protected areas are necessary because sea ice moves and the animals follow the ice, and that narrowing boundaries could leave seals exposed as ice conditions shift with a warming climate.

The ruling underscores how Arctic policy decisions sit at the intersection of local subsistence needs, state economic interests, federal wildlife law, and wider climatic change. For the North Slope Borough the coming weeks will be pivotal as residents, Tribal governments, and state and federal officials assess the practical effects on leasing plans, shipping routes, and subsistence planning while the agency determines whether to appeal or reopen the habitat designation process.