Dan Hull, Chairman
Chris Oliver, Executive Director
SUBJECT: title
EFH Omnibus Amendments - Initial/Final Review
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STAFF CONTACT: Steve MacLean
ACTION REQUIRED: recommended action
Review Draft EA - Initial Review/Final Action
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BACKGROUND:
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act includes provisions concerning the identification and conservation of Essential Fish Habitat (EFH). The MSA defines EFH as "those waters and substrate necessary for fish spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity". The EFH final rule states that a review of EFH components should be completed every five years, and the EFH provisions should be revised or amended, as warranted, based on the best available information. The latest review of EFH for the NPFMC's FMPs was completed in October 2016. Based on that review, the Council determined that new information is available to revise many of the EFH descriptions and maps in the Council's FMPs, and to review the potential effects of fishing on EFH. This Environmental Analysis (EA) evaluates the potential effects to the human environment of the no-action, and the action alternative to several actions to update EFH definitions in several of the Council's FMPs, update the non-fishing effects evaluation for all of the Council's FMPs, reinitiate the HAPC prioritization and proposal process, and update EFH research priorities in the Council's FMPs.
Purpose and need
The purpose of the eight proposed actions is to comply with the Final Rule implementing the EFH provision of the MSA (50 CFR Part 600, Subpart J). The EFH Final Rule and each of the Council's FMPs state that a review of EFH components should be completed every 5 years and the EFH provisions should be revised or amended, as warranted, based on the best available information. To comply with the EFH Final Rule, the most recent 5-year review of EFH was completed in October 2016 and synthesized in a Final Summary Report presented to the Council. Based...
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