Sir

Your News story “Is this any way to save a species?” (Nature 436, 14–16; 2005) implies that US taxpayers were not well served by the narrow funding of about $120 million between 2001 and 2004 to promote the recovery of an endangered population of Steller sea lions. I disagree with this suggestion.

Alaska produces roughly half of the United States' commercial fisheries landings by volume. The economic foundations for most coastal communities in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea are marine-fisheries products, and the families that live in these communities would be hard pressed to make a living without these fisheries. From this perspective, an investment in research and management over a four-year period of less than 10% of the annual value of the fishery seems prudent. In any event, the legal impasse that had been reached between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the environmental group bringing suit would have resulted in an estimated loss of annual revenue of between $200 million and $500 million.

Another important point is that the $120 million supported not only research on Steller sea lions in Alaska, but a complex ecosystem-based research programme. The Congressional language referred to in your article directed NOAA to conduct research on a comprehensive set of factors that might have contributed to the decline in abundance of sea lions. These include climate change in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea, pollution, disease, deaths caused by human involvement (such as entanglement in marine debris, poaching, vandalism and Alaska native subsistence harvests) and the impacts of predators on sea lions and of commercial fisheries on Steller sea lions' prey fishes. Research on all these factors was carried out at varying levels of sophistication. In addition, NOAA used these funds to support various management activities relevant to the two populations of Steller sea lions in Alaska.

Although it is too early to conclude that a recovery is under way, and too soon to definitively assign cause and effect, the conservation measures developed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and implemented by NOAA are associated with the first increase in abundance in the western population of Steller sea lions in more than 30 years. If this trend continues for two more biennial censuses, this population will indeed be recovering.

Of course, $120 million is a great deal of money. Doing research in the difficult field conditions of Alaskan waters is expensive and time-consuming, particularly given the enormous distances covered in the sea lions' geographical range. Although many environmental issues remain to be addressed, the example in Alaska shows that it is possible to achieve sustainable fishing as well as protection of endangered species.