NOAA NEPA Document Database

Under the proposed action, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) (collectively referred to as the Services) would approve the Western Oregon State Forest (WOSF) Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and issue incidental take permits (ITPs) with 70-year permit terms to the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF or the Applicant) for incidental take of covered species from covered activities in the plan area.

To implement measures to improve reliability and accountability of catch reporting and to ensure a precise and accurate representation of catch (landings and discards).

To improve the accuracy of collected catch data. Accurate catch data are necessary to ensure that catch limits are set at levels that prevent overfishing and to determine when catch limits are exceeded. To create fair and equitable catch reporting requirements for all commercial groundfish fishermen, while maximizing the value of collected catch data and minimizing costs for the fishing industry and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The proposed action consists of the creation of 17 acres of salt marshand and an additional 3.2 acres of oyster reef creation estimated to be equivalent to about 18 acres of saltmarsh based on relative productivity. Together, the two restoration components represent a total of approximately 35 equivalent acres of saltmarsh. The projects will compensate the public for injuries to benthic habitat at four former phosphate facilities in South Carolina now owned by ExxonMobil: Atlantic Phosphate Site, Stono Phosphate Site, Swift-Agrichem Fertilizer Site, and Port of Baldwin Site. Three are located on the Ashley River in Charleston Harbor; the fourth is located in Port Royal Sound, SC. All four sites border and drain into emergent saltmarsh.

Sufficiency analysis and FONSI for full approval of the Texas coastal nonpoint pollution control program

NMFS proposes to implement Amendment 5 to the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for the American Samoa Archipelago (FEP). The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) recommended Amendment 5 in response to the determination that that the American Samoa bottomfish stock complex is overfished and experiencing overfishing. Amendment 5 would establish a rebuilding plan that consists of an annual catch limit (ACL) and two accountability measures (AM) and remain in place until we determine that the stock complex is rebuilt, which is expected to take ten years. We would set the ACL at 5,000 lb starting in 2022. As an in-season AM, when NMFS projects that the fishery will reach the ACL in any fishing year, then we would close the fishery in Federal waters for the remainder of that year. As an additional AM, if subsequent analyses indicate that the fishery exceeded the ACL during a fishing year, we would close the fishery in Federal waters until NMFS and the Territory of American Samoa implement a coordinated management approach to ensure that catch in both Federal and territorial waters is maintained at levels that allow the stock to rebuild.

This Supplemental Environmental Assessment (Supplemental EA) is intended to supplement the Final Environmental Assessment (Final EA) for the Issuance of an Endangered Species Act Section 10(A)(1)(A) Permit to the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service for Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans associated with Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery (LSNFH 10(A)(1)(A) Permit).

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes to provide federal funding from the Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Funds to the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council to allow the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Lands and Natural Resources (DLNR) to construct a shoreline revetment at Garapan Fishing Base. This EA evaluates the potential environmental effects of the construction project. The fishing base supports small boat fisheries on Saipan and includes a nearby boat ramp and pier. The low -profile rock revetment would prevent erosion into Saipan Lagoon by stabilizing approximately 380 feet of shoreline. The construction contractor would deploy erosion control devices including a silt fence and silt curtain and other best management practices to protect the environment. The DLNR would obtain construction permits and Department of the Army authorization under Nationwide Permit 13.

The USACE/CDFW proposes to rear hatchery steelhead to produce fish for harvest in sport fisheries in the Russian River. Hatchery production is required to “mitigate” for the loss in natural steelhead production due to the construction of Warm Springs and Coyote Valley dams by the USACE.
The hatchery program releases up to 500,000 yearling steelhead smolts at the Don Clausen Fish Hatchery (DCFH), aka Warm Springs Hatchery, located at Warm Springs dam on Dry Creek, and the Coyote Valley Fish Facility (CVFF) located on the East Fork of Russian River in the upper basin below Coyote Valley dam (Figure 1). Of the 500,000 smolts released, a maximum of 200,000 may be released at DCFH and up to 300,000 at CVFF so long as Program performance metrics identified in the Hatchery Genetic Management Plan (Appendix A) are achieved. Until the metrics are achieved, hatchery production will be limited to 400,000 fish (200,000 from each facility). The goal of the Program is to provide adult steelhead for harvest by sport fishers in the Russian River.
The Program will be operated consistent with the recommendations of the California Hatchery Scientific Review Group (CA HSRG) and the Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG) of the Columbia River. Operating the program consistent with the recommendations of these two HSRGs is expected to reduce effects to naturally produced Russian River steelhead and thereby support restoration efforts for this species (CA HSRG 2012, HSRG 2014).
The Program will be operated as an integrated type as defined by the HSRG (2014): “In an ideal integrated program natural-origin (NOR) and hatchery-origin fish (HOR) represent two components of a single gene pool that is adapted to the natural habitat.”
The DCFH and CVFF components will be integrated with the Dry Creek and Upper Russian River steelhead populations, respectively. Program integration is achieved by incorporating NOR adults into the broodstock and controlling the proportion of the HOR adults spawning naturally. NOR adults for the two programs would come from fish arriving at the two hatcheries, traps, seines or from sport fishers.
The program proposes to conduct monitoring to quantify program effects to ESA-listed species and inform the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on Program progress and need for additional actions to achieve performance metrics.
NMFS is reviewing the ESA section 10(a)(1)(A) permit application submitted by the USACE and CDFW to evaluate whether the application meets applicable criteria specified in section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA and NMFS’ implementing regulations. Under the proposed action, NMFS will determine if the HGMP meets the criteria of the ESA, and if it meets these requirements, NMFS will issue an ESA section 10(a)(1)(A) enhancement permit. The draft EA analyzes two alternatives for comment, prior to a decision by NMFS whether to approve the proposed hatchery program. Additionally, NMFS is reviewing the effects of the Program under section 7 of the ESA to determine whether issuance of the enhancement permit is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or result in destruction or adverse modification of any critical habitat.
The following hatchery production activities, as described in the HGMP, have the potential to affect the CCC steelhead DPS, CCC Coho Salmon Evolutionary Significant Unit (ESU) and CC Chinook ESU (Appendix A):
● Collection and transport of broodstock including natural origin juveniles,
● Holding, identification, and spawning of adult fish,
● Egg incubation and rearing,
● Marking of hatchery-origin juveniles,
● Juvenile and adult releases, and
● Monitoring and evaluation to assess Program performance and effects to ESA listed species.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Protected Resources (OPR) leads the administration and coordination of the National Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network (STSSN). The STSSN currently responds to, and documents, sick, injured and dead sea turtles that are found in coastal areas under U.S. jurisdiction along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Although the STSSN has been in operation for several decades, the National Coordination role formally shifted to the Office of Protected Resources in January 2022, which prompted an evaluation of STSSN operations, development of a formal Operating Procedures document, which are subject to this National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review.

NMFS WCR proposes to issue Scientific Research and Enhancement Permit 26342 (and subsequent permit renewals) under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and thereby allow them to rescue and relocate endangered black abalone (Haliotis cracherodii) in response to emergency events. Permit 26342 and subsequent permit renewals would authorize UCSC to: collect and remove black abalone from the wild, hold the rescued black abalone in captivity for one day to several months, release them to field sites, and conduct post-release monitoring. If UCSC seeks and receives NMFS’s approval, they may also use a subset of the rescued abalone in spawning, culturing, and experimental outplanting studies. All activities would be conducted in rocky intertidal reefs along the California coast within the range of black abalone as well as at approved land-based facilities. NMFS WCR did not identify any potential significant impacts or known issues or problems with the project.

NMFS is analyzing the effects of select changes to harvest setting policies and fishery accountability measures in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery within our ongoing multi-species adaptive management program. No significant impacts are expected.

NMFS proposes a 2023 limit of 2,000 metric tons (t) of longline-caught bigeye tuna for each U.S. Pacific territory (American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). NMFS would allow each territory to allocate up to 1,500 t each year to U.S. longline fishing vessels in a specified fishing agreement that meets established criteria, but the overall allocation limit among all territories may not exceed 3,000 t. As an accountability measure, NMFS would monitor, attribute, and restrict (if necessary) catches of longline-caught bigeye tuna, including catches made under a specified fishing agreement. The proposed 2023 catch limits and accountability measures for each U.S. participating territory are identical to those that the Council recommended and NMFS implemented in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The proposed catch limits and accountability measures would support the long-term sustainability of fishery resources of the U.S. Pacific Islands.

NMFS PIFSC (and their contracted staff) wrote a programmatic EA for their fisheries research program, which also includes PR1's action of issuance of an LOA authorizing take of marine mammals incidental to the fisheries research activities. The draft PEA was published in 2015 and PIFSC is finishing the final PEA now.

Management Measures developed to limit Pacific Ocean salmon fishery impacts on SONCC Coho salmon off the Western Coast of the lower 48 contiguous U.S.

Final rule to designate reintroduced fish in the upper Yuba River as a nonessential experimental population under Endangered Species Act (ESA) section 10(j), and establish a limited set of take prohibitions for the experimental population.

Sufficiency analysis and FONSI for full approval of the Washington coastal nonpoint pollution control program

EA for Boundary Change for South Slough NERR

Sufficiency analysis and FONSI for Hawaii CZMP Coastal Nonpoint Program Full Approval

Sufficiency analysis and FONSI for Mississippi CZMP Coastal Nonpoint Program Full Approval

Sufficiency analysis and FONSI for Oregon CZMP Coastal Nonpoint Program Full Approval