The Center's “Leave Seals Be” campaign urges beachgoers to report sick and injured seal pups to rescuers. Sausalito, CA (PRWEB) March 15, 2012

The US Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that the Pacific walrus needs additional protection from the threat of climate warming but cannot be added to the threatened or endangered list because other species have higher priority.

A partial estimate of Pacific walruses puts their minimum population at a mere 15,164, but researchers admit that the count probably missed some of the animals.

Scientists have recently discovered a surge in malnourished sea lions along the Northern California coast and are working hard to discover the cause.

Efforts to protect Manatees in Florida have not worked, possibly because the sea cows could be hard of hearing, a researcher says. The Sunshine State has created manatee safety zones and slow wake waterways designed to protect them, but the sea mammals repeatedly get in the paths of boats and are slashed by propellers. Florida Atlantic University researcher Edmund Gerstein has measured the hearing abilities of manatees for 17 years, trying to understand why manatees get in the way of boats, often several times. Underwater, especially in murky water, everything is related to sound, he said. Gerstein said the specially marked zones where boaters must reduce speeds for manatees may actually be harming them. Gerstein found that manatees cannot hear approaching boats moving between 4 and 6 miles per hour, or idling. As of Dec.