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Essential Fish Habitat
Necessary Fish Habitat (EFH) was defined by the U. T. Congress in the 1996 amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, or Magnuson-Stevens Act, as "those waters and substrate needed to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding or growth to maturity. "|1| Utilizing regulations clarified that waters include all aquatic areas and their physical, chemical, and biological properties; substrate involves the associated biological organizations that make these areas well suited for fish habitats, and the explanation and identification of EFH should include habitats used any time during the species' life cycle.|2| EFH incorporates all types of aquatic habitat, such as wetlands, coral reefs, mud, seagrasses, and rivers.|3|
NOAA Fisheries works with the regional fishery management local authorities to designate EFH making use of the best available scientific data. EFH has been described for over a 1, 000 managed varieties to date.|4| The primary purpose of EFH regulations is usually to minimize the adverse effects of fishing and non sport fishing impacts on EFH for the maximum extent practicable.
In 1996, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Action was amended to establish a brand new requirements to identify and identify EFH to protect, conserve and enhance EFH for the main advantage of the fisheries.|5| The Magnuson-Stevens Act provides jurisdiction over the management and conservation of marine fish species. Federal agencies need to consult with NOAA Fisheries once their actions or activities may adversely affect an environment identified by federal territorial fishery management councils or NOAA Fisheries as EFH.|6| On 12 , 19, 1997, interim final rules were published inside the Federal Register (Vol. 62, No . 244) which stipulate procedures for implementation on the EFH provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.|7| These types of rules were amended by simply publication of final rules on January 17, 2002 (Vol. 67, No . 12).|8| he rules, in two subparts, address requirements for fishery management system (FMP) amendment, and depth the coordination, consultation, and recommendation requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Impacts from certain fishing practices and coastal and submarine development and may alter, harm, or destroy habitats necessary for fish. NOAA Fisheries, the regional fishery management councils (FMCs), and other federal businesses work together to minimize these threats.|13| Congress has established councils to classify unfavorable affects on fishes in relation to types of fishing gear, coastal developments and nonpoint and point source pollution, along with, evaluating how well every single fishery is managed. The FMCs, with assistance from NOAA Fisheries, has delineated EFH for federally managed varieties. As new FMPs happen to 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 about EFH, and identify various 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 for the habitat of federally supervised commercial and recreational fisheries.|16| Federal action agencies which fund, support, or carry out activities that may adversely affect EFH must consult with NOAA Fisheries.|17| The federal action agency must provide NOAA Fisheries with an assessment of all actions or recommended actions authorized, funded, or perhaps undertaken by the agency which may adversely affect EFH.|18| Then NOAA Fisheries will provide the federal actions agency with EFH Conservation recommendations.|19| These kinds of Conservation Recommendations provide information on steer clear of, minimize, mitigate, or balance out those adverse effects.|20| Federal action agencies need to provide a written explanation to NOAA Fisheries if any of these recommendations have not been adopted.|21| NOAA The fishing industry must also include measures to minimize the adverse effects of angling gear and fishing actions 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 actions which may affect EFH.|23|
Most consultations are done inside the NMFS regional offices: Better Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO), Southeast Regional Office (SERO), West Coast Local Office (WCRO), Alaska Local Office (AKRO), and Pacific cycles Islands Regional Office (PIRO). National consultations spanning multiple regions can be done at NOAA Fisheries Headquarters.
State businesses and private landowners are not forced to consult with NMFS. EFH consultations are required if the federal government possesses authorized, funded, or carried out part or all of a proposed activity, and if the action will adversely affect EFH.|24| Detrimentally affecting EFH includes immediate or indirect physical, chemical or biological alterations from the waters or substrate and loss of, or injury to types and their habitat, and other environment components, or reduction in the quality and/or quantity of EFH.
An environment areas of particular concern or HAPCs are considered high main concern areas for conservation, control, and research.|26| HAPCs are subsets of EFH that merit special attention because they meet at least one of the following 5 criteria:
provide important environmental function;
are sensitive to environmental degradation;
include a habitat type that is/will come to be stressed by development;
add a habitat type that is rare.|27|
Current HAPCs involve important habitats like estuaries, canopy kelp, corals, seagrass, and rocky reefs, amongst other areas of interest. HAPCs happen to be afforded the same regulatory security as EFH and do not don't include activities from occurring in the area, such as fishing, snorkeling, swimming or surfing.
Fundamental Fish Habitat is designated for all federally managed fish under the MSA whereas Vital Habitat is designated to get the survival and restoration of species listed because threatened or endangered beneath the Endangered Species Act (ESA).|29| Critical demeure include areas occupied by the threatened or endangered variety that include physical and biological features that are essential to the conservation of the species.|30| Critical Habitat is designated as critical at that time a species is listed underneath the ESA.|31| EFH and Critical Habitat differ in terms of designation and legislation, but they may overlap for sure species such as salmon.|32|
Habitat characteristics include sediment type, type of bottoms (sand, silt and clay), structures root the water surface, and marine community structures. These refuge are essential for fish and ecosystem health. The fundamental natural environment structure begins with residue. Erosion is stabilized by submerged aquatic vegetation. There are two main types of bottoms, hard and smooth.|33| A study by simply Christensen at el. (2004) looked at three bottom environment types (vegetated marsh border, submerged aquatic vegetation, and shallow non-vegetated bottom) regarding juvenile brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus). The results from the analysis showed that brown prawn selected vegetated areas in salinities 15-25 ppt and so they would select vegetated areas over marsh edges every time they co-occurred. Finding the areas that had the highest abundance helped to identify EFH of juvenile brown shrimp.|34|
Hard bottom also known as coral reefs or live bottom gives hard complex vertical structure for attachment of a sponge, seaweed, and coral, which in turn support a diverse reef seafood community.|35| This kind of community can comprise invertebra, coral, hard coral, bryozoans, ploychaete worms, tunicates, many different fin-fishes, alga, and a dry sponge. Areas of compacted or sheered mud and sediment are a form of hard bottom.|36|
Soft bottom consists of unconsolidated sediment and unvegetated areas. In some regions soft underside are not protected even though they could be primary nursery areas, anadromous fish spawning areas, and anadromous nursery areas. Characteristics that affect soft bottom level in relation to organisms that make use of them include sediment wheat size, salinity, dissolved fresh air and flow.
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