The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, pushing to finalize long‑delayed protections for the imperiled sunflower sea star.
Sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) are enormous compared to their counterparts, about 3 feet wide with up to 24 arms. They display a wide range of colors, often in combinations including bright orange, yellow-red, brown, purple, pink and occasionally blue. They occur throughout intertidal and subtidal coastal waters of the Northeast Pacific Ocean from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, to at least northern Baja California, Mexico.
The animals used to be abundant along Oregon's coast -- but nearly 90% of the entire population has been lost due to a gruesome disease known as Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. It causes their arms to twist, melt away and fall off, ultimately resulting in death.
The Center for Biological Diversity’s Oceans Program Director Miyoko Sakashita is one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit on June 22. Sakashita said she sued because the National Marine Fisheries Service has yet to list the giant sea star as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
She explained that while still under the Biden administration in 2023, the federal government acknowledged the urgency and proposed listing the species as endangered or threatened, yet no final decision has followed. The agency was required to finalize the listing in a year but did not meet that deadline.
This has left the sunflower sea star without the legal protections that a threatened or endangered listing would trigger.
“Under the Trump administration, endangered species listings have just stalled, nothing is going through,” Sakashita said. “The lawsuit we filed is intended to compel the government to follow through. The current administration has a clear legal duty to take action to save the these amazing creatures from extinction.”
A NOAA spokesperson told KLCC that work on the listing for the sunflower sea star is ongoing, but not yet complete.
"NOAA Fisheries continues to optimize its available resources to prioritize mission-critical research and actions to address fisheries management and endangered species responsibilities," said Michael Milstein. "NOAA remains dedicated to providing information, research and resources that serve the American public and ensure our nation’s economic and environmental resilience."
NOAA lost hundreds of staff during an initial round of DOGE cuts last year, though some were later hired back.
The listing protection would ensure habitat safeguards, research funding and a recovery plan, Sakashita said.
Scientists have discovered Sea Star Wasting Syndrome is caused by a bacteria and worsened by warming oceans. NOAA forcasters warn of an El Nino event from June to February, 2027, adding more threats to the small number of sunflower sea stars remaining.
Sunflower sea stars are keystone predators. They keep sea urchin populations in check. Without them, urchins proliferate and decimate kelp forests—ecosystems that support fisheries, shelter marine life, and contribute to the overall health of coastal waters.
A 2023 NOAA Fisheries report found “in some places, the loss of sunflower sea stars due to Sea Star Wasting Syndrome caused medium-sized urchins to increase by over 300% and kelp forest density to decrease by 30%.”
While she awaits a response from government lawyers to the lawsuit, Sakashita said there has been a glimmer of hope: a new colony was recently discovered off Northern California, raising optimism that protections could help the species rebound along the entire West Coast, including Oregon.
