Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Announces a Negative 90-day Finding on A Petition Request to Revise the Critical Habitat Designation for the North Atlantic Right Whale

July 21, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries received a petition from Save Long Beach Island, Inc. to revise the critical habitat designation for North Atlantic right whales under the Endangered Species Act. The petition requests a revision to the current critical habitat designation to include a migratory habitat in waters between Maine and Georgia.

NOAA Fisheries reviewed the petition, references provided by the petition, and information readily available in our files, and found that the petition does not present substantial scientific information indicating a revision to North Atlantic right whale critical habitat may be warranted. Therefore, a negative 90-day finding was made.

Read the notice as filed in the Federal Register today.

Questions?

Industry: Jean Higgins, Protected Resources, 978-281-9345

Media: Contact GARFO Public Affairs

Environmental groups sue government to stop a big change to the Endangered Species Act

July 15, 2026 — By altering the interpretation of a single word in the Endangered Species Act, the Trump administration has made what could be a sweeping change to how wildlife is protected in the United States.

That word is “harm.” For more than 50 years, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service defined harm to refer to anything that injures or kills a protected organism, including “significant habitat modification or degradation” that might impact a species’ ability to feed, reproduce or seek shelter.

But now, the federal government has officially rescinded that definition — a move that is already being challenged in court.

“This action restores common sense, respects private property, provides much-needed certainty for landowners and follows the statute Congress actually passed,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a statement Friday, when the change was announced.

“The final rule will restore the definition of ‘harm’ to its original intent as written under the ESA, and will maintain protections for endangered species while reducing unnecessary or duplicative permitting requirements, cutting compliance costs, and eliminating confusion for Americans,” a representative for NOAA Fisheries said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

But environmental groups worry the rule change, which goes into effect on September 14, could destroy the wild places that endangered species depend on, undermining the protections that have helped sustain them.

Shortly after the new rule was published in the federal register Tuesday, the law firm Earthjustice, alongside more than half a dozen other environmental groups, filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Seattle against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries (also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service).

Kristen Boyles, an attorney with the group, told NPR that they’re contesting the change on various levels. “The agencies haven’t explained themselves adequately,” she says. “Making this kind of dramatic change doesn’t make any legal sense because it goes against the fundamental purpose and spirit of the statute itself. All of those things make it an unreasoned and unreasonable decision.”

Read the full article at NPR

 

CBD sues NOAA Fisheries over lack of queen conch protections

July 10, 2026 — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) sued NOAA Fisheries over inadequate queen conch protection, noting the agency has yet to designate critical habitat for the snail despite listing the species as a threatened under the Endangered Species Act

“The Fisheries Service’s failure to protect the coral reefs and other places where the queen conch lives is driving this iconic snail closer to extinction,” CBD attorney Alex Muir said in a release. “Without this crucial protection, we’ll have to watch pollution, dredging, and climate change continue to threaten these charming marine snails. What’s so frustrating is that this is preventable. If federal officials move quickly to shield their habitat, it’d give these conchs a fighting chance as they struggle to survive devastating overharvesting.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

White House starts key ESA ‘critical habitat’ review

March 14, 2022 — The Fish and Wildlife Service this week stepped closer toward erasing a Trump administration rule that crimped the Endangered Species Act’s definition of “critical habitat.”

On Tuesday, records show, the federal agency, along with NOAA Fisheries, submitted a long-awaited ESA rule for final White House review. Once the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has done its thing, it will be go time for one of the environmental community’s priorities.

“The Endangered Species Act has saved hundreds of irreplaceable plants and animals from extinction, but it could be doing so much more good,” Stephanie Kurose, a senior policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

Kurose added that “despite the law’s remarkable success, the services have been reluctant to fully implement it, succumbing to years of political and industry pressure to weaken what is the only hope for imperiled species.”

On Tuesday, the same day the federal agencies handed the ball to White House reviewers, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a sweeping petition urging FWS and NOAA Fisheries to take a variety of actions.

Read the full story at E&E News

 

Hawaiian Killer Whales Granted Critical Habitat Protection

July 25, 2018 — The federal government has officially listed the coastal areas surrounding the Hawaiian Islands as a protected, critical habitat for the endangered population of false killer whales living there.

The National Marine Fisheries Service published its long-awaited rule Tuesday on the designation of a critical habitat for the whales, which conservationists said is crucial for the “recovery” of a species once considered on the brink of extinction.

Giulia Good Stefani, staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s ocean’s project, said in an interview that the designation is a victory that came “in the nick of time” for the small, unique population of whales.

“While it’s tragic that it’s taken so long, we’re thrilled they finally have critical habitat designation,” Stefani said. “We know that listed species with critical habitat [designation] do far better than those without.”

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

Sturgeon habitat in focus

September 6, 2017 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Federal fisheries managers have taken a significant step toward promoting the recovery of the nation’s depleted Atlantic sturgeon resource.

Last week, NOAA Fisheries designated a vast area along the Atlantic coastline as critical habitat for the Atlantic sturgeon. The critical habitat designation will require federal agencies to consult NOAA Fisheries if they operate or fund activities that may affect designated critical habitat in more than 3,968 miles of important coastal river habitat from Maine to Florida.

Atlantic sturgeon was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2012.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Sturgeon ruling may impact federally funded projects

Merrimack River made ‘critical habitat’ for Atlantic sturgeon

September 1, 2017 — They are large, bony fish whose ancestors began swimming the Earth during the Triassic period, some 245 million years ago.

The federal government says the Atlantic sturgeon is now an endangered species in some places and is threatened in others, and that states up and down the Eastern Seaboard must take necessary measures to ensure their survival.

A ruling handed down on Aug. 16 by the Department of Commerce through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, designates the Gulf of Maine as a critical habitat for the fish, which includes approximately 152 miles of water in the Merrimack River in Massachusetts, the Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin and Piscataqua rivers of Maine, and the Cocheco and Salmon Falls rivers of New Hampshire.

But what sort of impact will the efforts to replenish the Atlantic sturgeon population have on Merrimack Valley cities like Haverhill and Lawrence?

Allison Ferreira, spokeswoman for NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, said Friday that the ruling mandates that when a federal agency constructs or develops a project near the river or there is a project that is receiving some amount of federal money, such as a highway or bridge project where there could be significant water runoff, that agency must contact NOAA to ensure proper measures are taken so as not to upset the fish’s natural habitat.

Read the full story at the Haverhill Gazette

NOAA Fisheries Designates Critical Habitat for Atlantic Sturgeon

August 16, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries today designated critical habitat for Atlantic sturgeon–an important step to ensuring their recovery.

The critical habitat designation will require federal agencies to consult NOAA Fisheries if they operate or fund activities that may affect designated critical habitat in more than 3,968 miles of important coastal river habitat from Maine to Florida. Atlantic sturgeon was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2012 and is comprised of the threatened Gulf of Maine distinct population segment and the endangered New York Bight, Chesapeake Bay, Carolina, and South Atlantic distinct population segments.

The ESA requires that NOAA Fisheries designate critical habitat when a species is listed as threatened or endangered. Under the ESA, critical habitat is defined as specific areas within the geographical areas that are occupied by the species, that contain physical or biological features essential to the conservation of that species, and that may require special management considerations.

The designation of critical habitat does not include any new restrictions or management measures for recreational or commercial fishing operations, nor does it create any preserves or refuges. Instead, when a federal agency funds, authorizes, or carries out activities that may affect critical habitat, it must work with NOAA Fisheries to avoid or minimize potential impacts to critical habitat. The activity of the federal agency may need to be modified to avoid destroying or adversely modifying the critical habitat.

“We look forward to working with our federal partners to reduce potential impacts to Atlantic sturgeon critical habitat,” said Samuel D. Rauch III, deputy assistant administrator for regulatory programs at NOAA Fisheries. “Our focus now will be on providing guidance to federal agencies to help them carry out their actions efficiently and effectively while minimizing impacts to habitat that is critical to these endangered and threatened populations of sturgeon.”

Atlantic sturgeon are anadromous and use coastal and estuarine waters throughout their lives, and travel to rivers to spawn or lay their eggs. Unlike some anadromous fish, sturgeon do not die after spawning and will return to spawn multiple times. They can grow up to 14 feet long, weigh up to 800 pounds, and live up to 60 years.

Historically, Atlantic sturgeon inhabited approximately 38 rivers in the United States spanning from Maine to Florida. Scientists identified 35 of those as spawning rivers. Atlantic sturgeon can now be found in approximately 32 of these rivers, and spawn in at least 20 of them. Critical habitat areas in coastal rivers were identified based on physical and biological features, such as soil type in the river bed, water temperature and salinity, and underwater vegetation, that are essential to the conservation of Atlantic sturgeon, particularly for spawning and development.

Atlantic sturgeon were harvested heavily in the twentieth century, particularly for their eggs (or roe) used for caviar. Overfishing led to a decline in abundance of Atlantic sturgeon, and in 1998 the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission issued a coast-wide moratorium on the harvest of Atlantic sturgeon, and NOAA Fisheries followed with a similar moratorium in federal waters.

More information on the critical habitat designation is available in the Federal Register notice and on our website.