The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced a six-month extension period to finalize whether or not it will list two Edwards Aquifer-dwelling fish — the toothless blindcat and widemouth blindcat — as endangered species.
The service is also reopening the public comment period for 30 days, it announced in a press release issued late Wednesday morning. During the previous public comment periods, the agency received new information and data regarding well operations that could be relevant to the final determination, the service stated in the release.
The service will now make a final determination on the proposed rule no later than Feb. 22, 2025, it said.
The agency is seeking new information during the 30-day comment period, including data on species status, species life history, analogous species, extent and use of available habitat and species mortality estimates from groundwater wells.
The new comment period will open Aug. 1, and close on Sept. 3. In August 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the toothless blindcat and widemouth blindcat as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Following a public request in October, the comment period was reopened for an additional 30 days on Dec. 7, 2023.
The two fish are tiny catfish species found in the artesian segment of the Edwards Aquifer, the vast underground reservoir that is the main water source for 2 million people in Central Texas, including San Antonio. Growing no larger than 6 inches, the two species are among the smallest catfishes in Texas.
Like other cave-adapted animals, they do not have any pigmentation or functioning eyes. The species typically live 40 to 50 years and have a slow rate of reproduction.
Because they are so small, the fish can easily get sucked up through well pumps, Michael Warriner, supervisory fish and wildlife biologist for the agency’s Austin Ecological Services Field Office told the San Antonio Report last August. This is fatal to the little fish, which dwell roughly 900 to 1,500 feet below ground.
The crusade to get the blindcats on the federal endangered species list dates back to 2007 when the grassroots environmental nonprofit WildEarth Guardians petitioned for 100 species to be added to the list, including the two blindcats.
Their efforts slowly pushed the Austin Ecological Services Office into action, and in 2019 that office began a species status assessment, which looks at how healthy a species is currently and considers how it might fare in the future.
The assessment, published in 2022, found both species — but especially the widemouth blindcat — could be in danger of extinction as a growing population taps aquifer water.
It is unclear how or if adding the fish to the endangered species would affect pumping from the aquifer, however that hasn’t stopped U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, leaders from the San Antonio Water System, and even Edwards Aquifer Authority officials from pushing back on the listing, worried it could further restrict the use of the Edwards Aquifer.
To obtain information on the proposal or submit comments to the service, go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: regulations.gov/docket/FWS-R2-ES-2023-0069. The service will accept comments received or postmarked on or before 11:59 p.m., Sept. 3.