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Essential Fish Habitat
Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) was defined by the U. T. Congress in the 1996 changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Resource efficiency and Management Act, or Magnuson-Stevens Act, as "those waters and substrate needed to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding or growth to maturity. "|1| Implementing regulations clarified that marine environments include all aquatic areas and their physical, chemical, and biological properties; substrate contains the associated biological residential areas that make these areas appropriate for fish habitats, and the description and identification of EFH should include habitats used whenever you want during the species' life spiral.|2| EFH involves all types of aquatic habitat, just like wetlands, coral reefs, sand, seagrasses, and rivers.|3|
NOAA Fisheries works with the regional fishery management councils to designate EFH making use of the best available scientific data. EFH has been described for more than a 1, 000 managed varieties to date.|4| The primary purpose of EFH regulations is 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 Work was amended to establish a fresh requirements to identify and explain EFH to protect, conserve and enhance EFH for the benefit of the fisheries.|5| The Magnuson-Stevens Act has jurisdiction over the management and conservation of marine fish species. Federal agencies need to consult with NOAA Fisheries when ever their actions or actions may adversely affect environment identified by federal regional fishery management councils or NOAA Fisheries as EFH.|6| On Dec 19, 1997, interim final rules were published inside the Federal Register (Vol. sixty two, No . 244) which indicate procedures for implementation with the EFH provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.|7| These kinds of rules were amended by simply publication of final rules about January 17, 2002 (Vol. 67, No . 12).|8| he rules, in two subparts, address requirements for fishery management system (FMP) amendment, and details the coordination, consultation, and recommendation requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Influences from certain fishing techniques and coastal and submarine development and may alter, harm, or destroy habitats essential for fish. NOAA Fisheries, the regional fishery management councils (FMCs), and other federal firms work together to minimize these threats.|13| Congress has established councils to classify unfavorable effects on fishes in relation to types of fishing gear, coastal developments and non-point 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 kinds. As new FMPs will be developed, EFH for recently managed species will also be defined.|14| FMPs need to describe and identify EFH for the fishery, reduce to the extent practicable the adverse effects of fishing on EFH, and identify various other actions to encourage the conservation and enhancement of EFH.
Through consultations, NOAA Fisheries can recommend ways federal agencies can easily avoid or minimize the adverse effects of their actions for the habitat of federally handled commercial and recreational fisheries.|16| Federal action agencies which fund, licenses, or carry out activities which 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 recommended actions authorized, funded, or undertaken by the agency that may adversely affect EFH.|18| Then NOAA Fisheries will provide the federal action agency with EFH Resource efficiency recommendations.|19| These Conservation Recommendations provide information on steer clear of, minimize, mitigate, or counteract 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 reduce the adverse effects of sportfishing gear and fishing actions on EFH as well.|22| In addition , NOAA The fishing industry and the FMCs may comment on and make recommendations to any state agency on their actions which may affect EFH.|23|
Most consultations are done in the NMFS regional offices: Increased Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO), Southeast Regional Business office (SERO), West Coast Local Office (WCRO), Alaska Regional Office (AKRO), and Ocean Islands Regional Office (PIRO). National consultations spanning multiple regions can be done at NOAA Fisheries Headquarters.
State firms and private landowners are not required 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 direct or indirect physical, chemical or biological alterations with the waters or substrate and loss of, or injury to variety and their habitat, and other ecosystem components, or reduction in the quality and/or quantity of EFH.
Environment areas of particular concern or HAPCs are considered high main concern areas for conservation, supervision, and research.|26| HAPCs are subsets of EFH that merit work because they meet in least one of the following 4 criteria:
provide important environmental function;
are sensitive to environmental degradation;
include a habitat type that is/will come to be stressed by development;
will include a habitat type that is rare.|27|
Current HAPCs involve important habitats like estuaries, canopy kelp, corals, seagrass, and rocky reefs, between other areas of interest. HAPCs are afforded the same regulatory protection as EFH and do not leave out activities from occurring in the area, such as fishing, diving, swimming or surfing.
Fundamental Fish Habitat is selected for all federally managed fish under the MSA whereas Essential Habitat is designated pertaining to the survival and recovery of species listed while threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).|29| Critical refuge 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 is certainly designated as critical at that moment a species is listed beneath the ESA.|31| EFH and Critical Habitat are very different in terms of designation and regulations, but they may overlap for several species such as salmon.|32|
Home characteristics include sediment type, type of bottoms (sand, silt and clay), structures underlying the water surface, and marine community structures. These habitats are essential for fish and ecosystem health. The fundamental environment structure begins with crud. Erosion is stabilized simply by submerged aquatic vegetation. You will discover two main types of bottoms, hard and very soft.|33| A study by Christensen at el. (2004) looked at three bottom an 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 shrimp 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 delivers hard complex vertical framework for attachment of a sponge, seaweed, and coral, which support a diverse reef fish community.|35| This community can comprise invertebra, coral, hard coral, bryozoans, ploychaete worms, tunicates, a variety of fin-fishes, alga, and sponges. Areas of compacted or sheered mud and sediment can also be 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 are often primary nursery areas, anadromous fish spawning areas, and anadromous nursery areas. Attributes that affect soft starting in relation to organisms that employ them include sediment hemp size, salinity, dissolved breathable oxygen and flow.
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