After yesterday's announcement of potential changes to critical habitat for right whales, a number of fishermen and fisheries organizations asked the question "What, if any, is the potential affect on groundfishing and scalloping?" We posed the question to NOAA Fisheries.
The following is their response: It's too early to say, since we have not fully determined what physical or biological features will constitute revised critical habitat for North Atlantic right whales and may require special management consideration or protection. That's what we will be proposing next year.
The petitioners requested very large areas to be designated critical habitat. We are evaluating the information presented in the petition as well as information from other sources in developing our proposed rule.
While NMFS may implement special management to protect the relevant physical or biological features in critical habitat areas, we may also find that special management is not presently required. For example, special management was not required in the current right whale critical habitat areas (designated in 1994) in order to prevent the "adverse modification or destruction" of the seasonal copepod blooms that are the primary feature in these areas critical to right whales.