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Essential Fish Habitat
Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) was defined by the U. H. Congress in the 1996 amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Resource efficiency and Management Act, or Magnuson-Stevens Act, as "those waters and substrate essential to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding or growth to maturity. "|1| Applying regulations clarified that oceans include all aquatic areas and their physical, chemical, and biological properties; substrate comes with the associated biological residential areas that make these areas suited to fish habitats, and the description and identification of EFH should include habitats used whenever you want during the species' life circuit.|2| EFH includes all types of aquatic habitat, including wetlands, coral reefs, mud, seagrasses, and rivers.|3|
NOAA Fisheries works with the regional fishery management councils to designate EFH using the best available scientific details. EFH has been described for more than a 1, 000 managed variety to date.|4| The main purpose of EFH regulations is usually to minimize the adverse effects of fishing and non reef fishing impacts on EFH for the maximum extent practicable.
In 1996, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Take action was amended to establish a brand new requirements to identify and express EFH to protect, conserve and enhance EFH for the benefit of the fisheries.|5| The Magnuson-Stevens Act offers jurisdiction over the management and conservation of marine fish species. Federal agencies need to consult with NOAA Fisheries the moment their actions or activities may adversely affect environment identified by federal regional fishery management councils or perhaps NOAA Fisheries as EFH.|6| On January 19, 1997, interim final rules were published in the Federal Register (Vol. sixty two, No . 244) which indicate procedures for implementation of the EFH provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.|7| These types of rules were amended by publication of final rules about January 17, 2002 (Vol. 67, No . 12).|8| he rules, in two subparts, address requirements for fishery management approach (FMP) amendment, and detail the coordination, consultation, and recommendation requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Impacts from certain fishing methods and coastal and submarine development and may alter, destruction, or destroy habitats essential for fish. NOAA Fisheries, the regional fishery management local authorities (FMCs), and other federal agencies work together to minimize these hazards.|13| Congress has established councils to classify unfavorable affects on fishes in relation to types of fishing gear, seaside developments and nonpoint and point source pollution, and, evaluating how well each fishery is managed. The FMCs, with assistance from NOAA Fisheries, has delineated EFH for federally managed varieties. As new FMPs will be developed, EFH for newly managed species will also be identified.|14| FMPs need to describe and identify EFH for the fishery, reduce to the extent practicable the adverse effects of fishing in EFH, and identify other actions to encourage the conservation and enhancement of EFH.
Through consultations, NOAA Fisheries can suggest ways federal agencies can easily avoid or minimize the adverse effects of their actions within the habitat of federally maintained commercial and recreational the fishing industry.|16| Federal action agencies which fund, licenses, or carry out activities that may adversely affect EFH must consult with NOAA Fisheries.|17| The federal actions agency must provide NOAA Fisheries with an assessment of all actions or offered actions authorized, funded, or perhaps undertaken by the agency that may adversely affect EFH.|18| Then NOAA The fishing industry will provide the federal action agency with EFH Preservation recommendations.|19| These Conservation Recommendations provide information on steer clear of, minimize, mitigate, or balance those adverse effects.|20| Federal action agencies must provide a written explanation to NOAA Fisheries if any of these recommendations have not been implemented.|21| NOAA Fisheries must also include measures to minimize the adverse effects of reef fishing gear and fishing activities on EFH as well.|22| In addition , NOAA The fishing industry and the FMCs may discuss and make recommendations to any state agency on their activities which may affect EFH.|23|
Most consultations are done in the NMFS regional offices: Better Atlantic Regional Fisheries Workplace (GARFO), Southeast Regional Workplace (SERO), West Coast Local Office (WCRO), Alaska Territorial Office (AKRO), and Pacific cycles Islands Regional Office (PIRO). National consultations spanning multiple regions can be done at NOAA Fisheries Headquarters.
State firms and private landowners are not forced to consult with NMFS. EFH services are required if the federal government offers authorized, funded, or taken on part or all of a proposed activity, and if the action will adversely influence EFH.|24| Adversely affecting EFH includes immediate or indirect physical, substance or biological alterations in the waters or substrate and loss of, or injury to kinds and their habitat, and other environment components, or reduction with the quality and/or quantity of EFH.
Natural environment areas of particular concern or HAPCs are considered high top priority areas for conservation, administration, and research.|26| HAPCs are subsets of EFH that merit work because they meet at least one of the following 5 criteria:
provide important ecological function;
are sensitive to environmental degradation;
include a home type that is/will be stressed by development;
include a habitat type that is rare.|27|
Current HAPCs contain important habitats like estuaries, canopy kelp, corals, seagrass, and rocky reefs, between other areas of interest. HAPCs happen to be afforded the same regulatory safety as EFH and do not don't include activities from occurring inside the area, such as fishing, diving, swimming or surfing.
Imperative Fish Habitat is specified for all federally managed seafood under the MSA whereas Important Habitat is designated pertaining to the survival and restoration of species listed because threatened or endangered beneath the Endangered Species Act (ESA).|29| Critical habitats include areas occupied by the threatened or endangered species that include physical and scientific features that are essential to the conservation of the species.|30| Critical Habitat can be designated as critical at the time a species is listed under the ESA.|31| EFH and Critical Habitat are different in terms of designation and legislation, but they may overlap for many species such as salmon.|32|
Environment characteristics include sediment type, type of bottoms (sand, silt and clay), structures hidden the water surface, and aquatic community structures. These case are essential for fish and ecosystem health. The fundamental natural environment structure begins with crud. Erosion is stabilized by simply submerged aquatic vegetation. You will discover two main types of bottoms, hard and gentle.|33| A study by simply Christensen at el. (2004) looked at three bottom an environment types (vegetated marsh edge, submerged aquatic vegetation, and shallow non-vegetated bottom) in terms of juvenile brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus). The results from the research showed that brown shrimp selected vegetated areas in salinities 15-25 ppt and so they would select vegetated areas over marsh edges whenever they co-occurred. Finding the areas that had the highest abundance helped to identify EFH of young , small brown shrimp.|34|
Hard bottom also known as coral reefs or live bottom delivers hard complex vertical structure for attachment of a dry sponge, seaweed, and coral, which in turn support a diverse reef seafood community.|35| This community can comprise invertebra, coral, hard coral, bryozoans, ploychaete worms, tunicates, a number of fin-fishes, alga, and a sponge. Areas of compacted or sheered mud and sediment are also a form of hard bottom.|36|
Soft bottom consists of unconsolidated sediment and unvegetated areas. In some regions soft bottoms are not protected even though they can be primary nursery areas, anadromous fish spawning areas, and anadromous nursery areas. Features that affect soft lower side in relation to organisms that employ them include sediment wheat size, salinity, dissolved air and flow.
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