NOAA NEPA Document Database

Amendment 15 has two broad components: (1) Modification, data collection, and assessment of four commercial longline spatial management areas and (2) Modification of the administration and funding of the HMS pelagic longline electronic monitoring program. Significant impacts are not expected and there are no known issues or problems.

This Environmental Assessment analyzes the environmental effects of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources’ decision regarding issuance of a Letter of Authorization pursuant to section 101(a)(5)(A) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for the take of small numbers of marine mammals incidental to fisheries and ecosystem research conducted by the Interagency Ecological Program in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary.

"NOAA Fisheries has received an application for a Section 10(a)(1)(A) Enhancement Permit under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) from NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center Fisheries Ecology Division (SWFSC FED) for the continued implementation of the Southern Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program (SCSCBP, or program) in accordance with its Hatchery Genetic Management Plan (HGMP).

FED proposes to operate a genetically managed hatchery program for the restoration of depleted or lost populations of Central California Coast (CCC) coho salmon in the Santa Cruz Mountain Diversity Stratum (SCMDS). The intent of an integrated program is to create conditions wherein the natural environment drives the adaptation and fitness of a composite population of fish that spawns both in a hatchery and in the wild (i.e., naturally).

The program currently uses both natural-origin (NOR) and captive broodstock as well as the release of juvenile and adult fish to prevent regional extirpation, conserve population genetics, and to maintain a breeding population of CCC coho salmon south of San Francisco. Broodstock for the program are usually collected in SCMDS streams. A small number of outbreeders are used annually to increase genetic diversity. The outbreeders are sourced from the Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program (RRCSCBP) operated at Don Clausen Fish Hatchery (DCFH) in Sonoma County and include NOR fish from the Russian River (Sonoma County) and Lagunitas-Olema Creek (Marin County).

The program releases CCC coho salmon annually into SCMDS streams. Hatchery programs contribute to the recovery of listed salmonid populations by maintaining or increasing the abundance and genetic diversity of the naturally spawning population until it is self-sustaining. The HGMP outlines a four-phased approach for the Program that details a hatchery management strategy from a population preservation phase (Phase 1) to full recovery in SCMDS (Phase 4). Established regional monitoring will provide data to evaluate the program’s status and effects to ESA-listed species, and inform the decision making-body, a technical oversight committee (TOC), on program progress."

This Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review/Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis/Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Analysis (EA/RIR/RFAA/MSA) analyzes a proposed management measure that would apply exclusively to the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. Specifically, this would remove the Cordell Bank Groundfish Conservation Area (GCA) for all groundfish fisheries and implement a new Groundfish Exclusion Area (GEA) for all groundfish fisheries on the Cordell Bank (50 fm isobath) bottom contact Essential Fish Habitat Conservation Area (EFHCA).  No changes are proposed to the Cordell Bank bottom trawl EFHCA or the bottom contact EFHCA.

This Environmental Assessment analyzes the environmental impacts of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources proposal to issue Scientific Research Permit Modifications for the Conduct of Scientific Research and Enhancement for the translocation of shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon.

The Trustees’ proposed action (preferred alternative) is the Kensington& Tacony Trail (K&T Trail) Living Shoreline and Tacony Boat Ramp Project. The project would transform an eroding shoreline and industrial bulkhead into a naturalized and living shoreline (1,100 linear feet) on a site approximately ¼ mile south of the Metal Bank site. The park project includes: repair and stabilization of the riverbank at the Tacony Boat Launch and a wharf that is directly south along the K&T Trail; integration of living shoreline techniques in the design of the shoreline restoration; creation of a freshwater tidal wetland; and protection of Spatterdock (Nuphar advena) stands found in the work area.

The Texas TIG proposes to allocate $40 million of Texas TIG Wetland, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitat Restoration Type funds in this RP/EA #3 to restore wetland habitat along the Texas coast. This funding would be divided among the selected projects to provide the incremental cost to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or pay for other viable sources to beneficially use sediments dredged to construct preferred restoration alternatives, as well as for Trustee implementation costs, planting, and monitoring.

NMFS is proposing to issue an incidental take permit (ITP) to North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries for the incidental take of ESA-listed sea turtles and sturgeon in NC commercial inshore large and small-mesh anchored gill net fisheries.

"NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) declared the northern subpopulation (NSP) of Pacific sardine (Pacific sardine) overfished in June 2019. This determination was based on the results of an April 2019 stock assessment (Hill et al. 2019), which indicated that the biomass of Pacific sardine had dropped below the overfished threshold of 50,000 metric tons (mt), as defined in the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). NMFS notified the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) about the overfished declaration on July 9, 2019. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requires that NMFS and the Council prepare and implement a rebuilding plan within two years of NMFS’ overfished notification to the Council that specifies a rebuilding timeframe (TTARGET) within 10 years, except where the biology of the stock or other environmental conditions dictate otherwise (see MSA 304(e)). The Council adopted a rebuilding plan (Amendment 18 to the CPS FMP) on June 15, 2020. The plan was approved by NMFS on June 14, 2021. 
On April 22, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Court) issued a decision holding that NMFS violated the MSA in establishing the rebuilding timeframe by assuming catch levels significantly below the annual catch limit (ACL) based on historic catch data and management measures used in the fishery. The Court also held that the associated Environmental Assessment (EA) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) due to NMFS’ reliance on flawed assumptions in comparing alternatives, and by failing to take a hard look at impacts to the humpback whale and its critical habitat. On June 28, 2024, the Court issued its order on remedy, vacating the portions of Amendment 18 (Rebuilding Plan for Pacific Sardine) that it found invalid and remanding the remainder to NMFS without vacatur. The Court also vacated the EA in its entirety. The Court required NMFS to prepare a compliant rebuilding plan and EA by June 1, 2025. In this remedy, the Court only vacated portions of Amendment 18, meaning the entire original amendment and related analysis does not need to be abandoned. Rather, the revised Pacific sardine rebuilding plan and related EA can closely follow the original amendment, making revisions as necessary, to respond to the court’s order.  In response to the court order this document analyzes new proposed alternatives for the rebuilding plan that rely on Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC)/ACLs to achieve the rebuilding target for Pacific sardine. The Council will also need to consider if TTARGET should be revised to align with the new rebuilding strategy.
Additionally, the Court found that NMFS violated the MSA in setting the overfishing limit (OFL) because NMFS relied on a scientific methodology, relying exclusively on the California Cooperative Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) temperature index, that had been shown to result in artificially high OFLs that do not reliably indicate when overfishing is occurring, without accounting for that bias.  The CPS FMP Section 4.6.4 describes the current OFL and ABC harvest control rule (HCRs) for Pacific sardine, which are also described in Section 1.4.  Changes to Emsy or the HCRs are not considered in this document and will be considered as a part of the upcoming 2025-2026 harvest specifications.  Ultimately though, the harvest specifications are dependent upon the recommendation of the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). Therefore, to comply with the court orders, methodology for setting the harvest specifications will be considered in April 2025.
This document is intended to meet the analytical needs and statutory requirements associated with NEPA and MSA."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), which is within the National Ocean Service (NOS), a line office under NOAA, proposes to join California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) in its development of a new science and engineering academic building. CSUMB has planned to construct such a facility since its previous Master Plan was drafted in 2004. CSUMB would own the building. NOAA proposes to (1) provide partial funding for a portion of the construction and maintenance of the new 25,000-gross-square-foot (GSF) Edward ‘Ted’ Taylor Science and Engineering Building (referred to as the Taylor Science Building), and (2) relocate the main office of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS or the sanctuary) from Monterey to a portion of the new building. The provision of federal funding by NOAA is a federal action subject to NEPA. Accordingly, NOAA is the federal lead agency for this project in fulfillment of its obligations under NEPA to evaluate the effects of, and alternatives to, the Proposed Action. The Proposed Action being reviewed in this EA is therefore the construction and operation of the Taylor Science Building, including NOAA office space.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is proposing to designate a national marine sanctuary to manage nationally significant resources off the coast of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, California. In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 United States Code (U.S.C.) 4321 et seq.) and the 2020 Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA regulations (85 Federal Register (Fed. Reg.) 43304, July 16, 2020), and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA), 16 U.S.C. § 1431 et seq., NOAA has prepared a final environmental impact statement (EIS), which is separated into two volumes; the first considers alternatives for the proposed national marine sanctuary and identifies a Final Preferred Alternative, and the second contains the appendices. 

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes regulations to implement Amendment 55 pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.  The latest Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) stock assessment (SEDAR 68 Operational Assessment [OA] 2022) assessed scamp and yellowmouth grouper in the South Atlantic as a single species due to misidentification issues between the two species.  SEDAR 68 OA (2022) indicated that the scamp and yellowmouth grouper stock is overfished, but that overfishing is not occurring.  Yellowmouth grouper is currently part of the Other South Atlantic Shallow Water Grouper (OSASWG) complex (containing rock hind, red hind, coney, graysby, yellowmouth grouper, and yellowfin grouper).  Amendment 55 would reorganize the OSASWG complex, establish a new Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper Complex including stock determination criteria, rebuilding plan, catch levels, sector allocations, management measures, and accountability measures.  Additionally, Amendment 55 would modify the catch levels for the remaining species (rock hind, red hind, coney, graysby, and yellowfin grouper) within the OSASWG complex.  The need for this amendment is to rebuild the scamp and yellowmouth grouper stock, and achieve optimum yield while minimizing, to the extent practicable, adverse social and economic effects.

The proposed action would update management reference points, including the annual catch limits, for the Triggerfish Stock Complex under the Puerto Rico Fishery 80 Queen Triggerfish stock assessment and application of the Caribbean Fishery Management Council’s Acceptable Biological Catch Control Rule included in the Puerto Rico Fishery Management Plan.

This Environmental Assessment analyzes the environmental impacts of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources’ proposal to issue an amendment to Scientific Research Permit No. 23188-03 to the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz for additional reproductive studies on embryonic diapause in northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris).

This RP4/EA focuses on a reasonable range of alternatives to restore injuries to fish and water column invertebrates and sea turtles in the Open Ocean Restoration Area. In this RP4/EA, the TIG identifies its preferred alternatives, which the TIG believes would best compensate the public for, in part, for the injuries caused by the DWH oil spill in the Open Ocean Restoration Area.

In this supplemental evaluation the Alabama TIG proposes to use the remaining funds under the Marine Mammals restoration type allocation to continue the restoration of Marine Mammals in the Alabama Restoration area by extending the implementation of one or more projects previously selected in RP II/EA.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)propose Amendment 11 to the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region to modify thelimited entry permit program for the American Samoa Pelagic Longline Fishery. In 2002, the Council recommended avessel size-based limited entry program with criteria for participation in the American Samoa longline fishery to managecapacity in the then-rapidly developing fishery. In 2005, the NMFS implemented the program and issued 60 limited accesspermits to qualified candidates among four vessel size classes. The small vessel fleet steadily contracted due to multipleexternal sources, including the economic costs incurred to go fishing, reduced albacore tuna catch rates, and lower pricesat landing. The modifications intend to reduce programmatic barriers that may be hampering small vessel (less than 50feet) participation in the fishery by consolidating permit vessel size-classes, removing fishing history requirements, andreducing the minimum harvest requirements for small vessels in the fishery.

Under section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) shall issue regulations they deem necessary and advisable for the conservation of species listed as threatened. The Secretary may also apply any of the prohibitions in Section 9(a)(1) of the ESA, including prohibiting import, export, take, and interstate commerce. This proposed ESA 4(d) rule would issue regulations for the threatened Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni). This is the accompanying EA to this Proposed Rule.

NMFS is proposing to issue an incidental take permit (ITP) to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology for the incidental take of ESA-listed sea turtles and sturgeon while conducting fisheries survey activities for the collection of baseline fisheries data prior to the construction of multiple offshore wind developments.

Furie is proposing to conduct rig tugging and pile driving activities in Cook Inlet, Alaska. These activities are similar to activities that Hilcorp has conducted in the past. NMFS was sued on the initial authorization to Hilcorp for not issuing take associated with tugging, and later issued two IHAs for tugging as a result of the lawsuit.