The article, which features quotes from NWC’s Chairman of the Board Stephen M. Kohn and Senior Wildlife and Climate Policy Advisor Scott Hajost, details how FWS continues to underutilize whistleblower awards. Based on information obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, WNN reports that from late 2019 through 2022, FWS issued only twenty-one whistleblower awards and that a vast majority of these were for between $2,000 and $5,000.
“Fish and Wildlife continues to radically underutilize whistleblower awards,” says Kohn. “The program has tremendous potential and could revolutionize the enforcement of wildlife crime. Fish and Wildlife needs to follow the lead of the SEC and other agencies and implement a robust whistleblower award program.”
“Extinctions are forever. Loss of habitat is often irreplaceable. FWS must implement the whistleblower program in accordance with the highly successful procedures used by other agencies,” Kohn says.
Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and the Saudi Red Sea Authority (SRSA) sign agreement to promote marine conservation in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea
Led by IUCN Members the Quebec-Labrador Foundation (QLF) and the Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC), the Summit brings together experts to discuss a roadmap for conserving ecosystems across US-Canada border