Commerce Department, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
We, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), are issuing final determinations to list 16 Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) of West Coast salmon (chum, Oncorhynchus keta; coho, O. kisutch, sockeye, O. nerka; Chinook, O. tshawytscha; pink, O. gorbuscha) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended. We have concluded that four ESUs are endangered, and twelve ESUs are threatened, in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Fifteen of these ESUs were previously listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA, and one ESU was previously designated as a candidate species. With respect to the Oregon Coast coho ESU and ten O. mykiss ESUs, we have found that substantial disagreement regarding the sufficiency or accuracy of the relevant data precludes making final listing determinations at this time, and accordingly we are extending the deadline for making our final determinations for these 11 ESUs for an additional 6 months. The findings regarding the extension of the final listing determination for the Oregon Coast coho ESU and for the ten O. mykiss ESUs appear in the Proposed Rules section in today's Federal Register issue. The ten O. mykiss ESUs were previously listed and remain listed pending final agency action. Also in this notice, we are finalizing amendments to the ESA 4(d) protective regulations for threatened salmonid ESUs. As part of the proposed listing determinations in June 2004, we proposed changes to these protective regulations to provide the necessary flexibility to ensure that fisheries and artificial propagation programs are managed consistently with the conservation needs of ESA-listed ESUs, and to clarify the existing regulations so that they can be more efficiently and effectively interpreted and followed by all affected parties. Finally, we are soliciting biological and economic information relevant to designating critical habitat for the Lower Columbia River coho salmon ESU.
Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Parts 223 and 224 [Docket No. 040525161-5155-02; I.D. 052104F] RIN No. 0648-AR93 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: We, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), are issuing final determinations to list 16 Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) of West Coast salmon (chum, Oncorhynchus keta ; coho, O. kisutch , sockeye, O. nerka ; Chinook, O. tshawytscha ; pink, O. gorbuscha ) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended. We have concluded that four ESUs are endangered, and twelve ESUs are threatened, in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Fifteen of these ESUs were previously listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA, and one ESU was previously designated as a candidate species. With respect to the Oregon Coast coho ESU and ten O. mykiss ESUs, we have found that substantial disagreement regarding the sufficiency or accuracy of the relevant data precludes making final listing determinations at this time, and accordingly we are extending the deadline for making our final determinations for these 11 ESUs for an additional 6 months. The findings regarding the extension of the final listing determination for the Oregon Coast coho ESU and for the ten O. mykiss ESUs appear in the Proposed Rules section in today's Federal Register issue. The ten O. mykiss ESUs wer…
Citation: 70 FR 37160
