[Coral-List] NOAA Proposes Critical Habitat for 5 Threatened Caribbean Corals under the ESA

[Jennifer Moore - NOAA Federal]

NOAA Fisheries is proposing to designate critical habitat for five
Caribbean reef-building coral species currently listed as threatened under
the Endangered Species Act (ESA) within U.S. waters in Florida, Puerto
Rico, U.S. Virgin Island, Navassa Island, and Flower Garden Banks. The five
species are: Orbicella annularis, O. faveolata, O. franksi, Dendrogyra
cylindrus, and Mycetophyllia ferox.

Proposed coral critical habitat consists of substrate and water column
habitat characteristics essential for the reproduction, recruitment,
growth, and maturation of the listed corals. In this case, critical habitat
is being proposed for most of the geographic area occupied by the
threatened corals in US Southeast and Caribbean waters, including a total
of 28, mostly overlapping, specific areas, based on where the species
occur. In Florida, NOAA Fisheries is proposing to exclude only one
particular area, the Navy’s South Florida Ocean Measuring Facility, on the
basis of national security impacts.

Critical habitat protections apply only to Federal actions under Section 7
of the ESA; activities that are not funded, authorized, or carried out by a
Federal agency are not subject to these protections.

The proposed rule and other materials prepared in support of this action,
including maps showing the proposed critical habitat, are available and
accessible via the Internet at:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/proposed-rule-designate-critical-habitat-threatened-caribbean-corals
.

We are accepting public comments for the proposed rule for 60 days through
January 26, 2021. Thank you for your attention to this important rulemaking
and for your continued cooperation in the conservation of corals.

-- 

Jennifer Moore

Protected Coral Recovery Coordinator, Southeast Region

NOAA Fisheries | U.S. Department of Commerce

Office:  (727) 824-5312

Mobile: (727) 647-2357

www.fisheries.noaa.gov

*To those who sacrificed careers of adventure in the wide-open spaces
to wrestle for conservation in the policy arena.*