One of the Pacific Ocean's most vital species is collapsing in real time, and the federal government is doing nothing.

Sunflower sea stars — giant, multi-armed creatures that once stretched from Baja California to Alaska — have lost 90% of their population since 2013. In California, they are already functionally extinct. In Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, massive die-offs continue. A bacterial wasting disease, supercharged by warming oceans, is turning these animals to mush before they can recover.

These aren't just beautiful animals. Sunflower sea stars are a keystone species — they eat sea urchins that, without predators, devour kelp forests. When kelp forests collapse, so does the habitat that fish, marine mammals, and coastal fishing communities depend on. Losing sunflower sea stars doesn't just mean losing a species. It means watching the Pacific Ocean unravel.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) proposed listing them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act back in 2023. Federal law required a final decision within 12 months. That deadline passed over a year ago. The Trump administration has not acted.

Scientists are already breeding sunflower sea stars in captivity and releasing them into the wild. That work cannot succeed without the legal protections only NOAA can provide. Every month of delay is another month these animals edge closer to a point of no return.

Sign this petition to demand NOAA finalize Endangered Species Act protections for sunflower sea stars now — before extinction becomes irreversible.