How to Submit Your Comment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Making your voice heard is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. The most effective way to protect the Endangered Species Act is to submit your comment directly to the official federal record.
Step 1: Go to the Official Portal Visit Regulations.gov.
Step 2: Find the Correct Docket In the main search bar on the homepage, copy and paste one of the following Docket IDs related to the proposed changes (you can submit a comment for each one, but the first two are the most critical for this petition):
- For the “Blanket Rule” Removal (Threatened Species):
FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0029 - For Listing Species & Critical Habitat Changes:
FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0039 - For Critical Habitat Exclusions (Economic Impact):
FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0048
Step 3: Click “Comment” Once the search results appear, look for the blue box that says “Comment” (usually on the left side or under the document title). Click it to open the submission form.
Step 4: Paste Your Petition
- Comment Box: Copy the petition text above and paste it directly into the “Comment” field.
- Personalize It (Optional but Recommended): Adding a single sentence at the top about why you personally care (e.g., “I am a diver who loves sea otters…” or “I want my grandchildren to see whales…”) makes your comment unique and more impactful.
Step 5: Fill in Your Details
- Email: Enter your email address (required for confirmation, but usually not posted publicly).
- Identity: You can choose “Individual.”
- Anonymous: If you prefer, you can submit anonymously, but signing your name shows that real voters are watching.
Step 6: Submit! Click “Submit Comment.” You will receive a tracking number—save this if you want to check the status later.
Subject: OPPOSITION to Proposed Revisions to ESA Regulations (Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0039)
To the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service:
I am writing to strongly oppose the proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act regulations announced on November 19, 2025. Specifically, I object to the rescission of the “Blanket Rule” under Section 4(d) and the re-introduction of economic considerations into listing decisions.
1. Restore the Blanket Rule: Removing the automatic protections for “Threatened” species creates a dangerous gap in enforcement. For species like the Tope Shark, which is currently awaiting listing decisions, this change means they could be listed as threatened but remain legally unprotected from harvest for years while species-specific rules are drafted. This delay could lead to functionally extinct populations before a single protection is enforced.
2. Science Over Profit: The ESA was designed to base extinction decisions solely on science. Re-introducing economic impact assessments into the listing and critical habitat designation process inevitably prioritizes short-term industry profits over long-term biodiversity. For highly migratory species like the Oceanic Whitetip Shark and Scalloped Hammerhead, protecting critical habitat is often inconvenient for commercial fisheries. That inconvenience is not a valid reason to allow a species to go extinct.
3. Lessons from Success: The recovery of the Eastern North Pacific (California) Gray Whale and Southern Sea Otter proves that strict, automatic protections work. The ESA has saved 99% of species listed under fifty years since the ESA was enacted. The California Gray whale population numbered only a few thousand when it was listed in 1973. The rebuilding of the population- up to 27,000 in 2016 led to the delisting of the whale in a great success story. However, a lack of food and other threats have put this whale back into peril, underscoring the need for vigilance. Weakening the ESA would ensures that other threatened species will not share in the success story shared by plants and animals protected in the past.
I urge you to withdraw these proposals and maintain the automatic protections that have prevented the extinction of 99% of listed species.
Sincerely, [Your Name] [City, State]