NOAA NEPA Document Database (beta)

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes to implement Amendment 6 to the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for the Mariana Archipelago (FEP). If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, Amendment 6 would establish a rebuilding plan with an annual catch limit (ACL) of 31,000 lb starting in 2022. The Council expects the bottomfish stock to be rebuilt within eight years. If NMFS determines that the fishery reaches the ACL, we would close Federal waters to bottomfish fishing until NMFS and Guam develop a coordinated management strategy that ensures that the catch in both Federal and territorial waters is maintained at levels that allow the stock to rebuild.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) prepared this Supplemental Overseas Environmental Assessment (SOEA) in compliance with the Executive Order (E.O.) 12114, Department of Defense regulations found at 32 Code of Federal Regulations Part 187and the Chief of Naval Operations Instruction 5090.1 and its accompanying manual (M-5090). This SOEA updates and revises the OEA ONR prepared in 2018 and the supplement to that document prepared in 2019, both of which this SOEA incorporates by reference. This SOEA evaluates the potential harm to the environment from ONR Arctic Research Activities that would occur because of changes in the 2018 and 2019 Proposed Actions resulting from revised 2021-2022 research activities. The Naval requirement for this continuing scientific research still relates to the need to understand environmental conditions to ensure combat capable forces ready to deploy worldwide in accordance with Title 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) § 8062, and to support the aims of the Arctic Research and Policy Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 4101 et seq.). For the Arctic this consists of potential submarine and surface ship operations with active sonar for anti-submarine warfare and submarine/surface ship force protection. The characterization of the potential Arctic battlespace, given the changes in water properties and ice cover, is critical to performance predictions for active and passive acoustic systems. The year-round characterization of the Arctic environment requires the development of a navigation system for vehicles operating under the ice through the use of intermittent acoustic source transmissions, and rapid characterization of the environment by leave-behind sources. The purpose of the Proposed Action is still to conduct scientific research in the Arctic and to gather data on environmental conditions and acoustics in an Arctic environment. This SOEA evaluates three alternatives: the No Action Alternative and two Action Alternatives. The No Action Alternative would be limited to a cruise for the retrieval of previously deployed acoustic sources. Alternative 1, the Preferred Alternative, starting with the next research cruise scheduled for October 2021, reflects proposed changes and additions to the location and use of active acoustic sources to improve ONR’s ability to meet scientific objectives including a very low frequency source. Alternative 2 includes everything within the Preferred Alternative except the use of the very low frequency source. In this SOEA, the Navy analyzes potential harm to the environment that could result from the updates to two Action Alternatives in comparison to the No Action Alternative. Only marine mammals were analyzed for potential for “significant harm” (as defined by E.O. 12114) by the Proposed Action updates. This is the fourth year of activities for a longer project. Previous Incidental Take Authorizations (ITAs) have been issued, including 2 standard Incidental Harassment Authorizations (IHAs) and one renewal IHA.

Wisconsin – Lake Michigan is an 875 square mile area of Lake Michigan with waters extending from Port Washington to Two Rivers. The state of Wisconsin nominated this area as a national marine sanctuary through the Sanctuary Nomination Process with broad community support. The area encompasses historic shipwrecks of national significance that merit the additional management authority of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. The nominated area contains an extraordinary collection of 39 known shipwrecks, 15 of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Annual NMFS decision to award PCSRF funding as provided for by Congress.

Title: SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT TO UPDATE THROUGH 2025: PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DECISIONS OF THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL PACIFIC FISHERIES COMMISSION ON MANAGEMENT OF TROPICAL TUNAS IN THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN FROM 2015-2020 Summary: This document updates the analysis in a programmatic environmental assessment for decisions of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) on Tropical Tunas to include analysis of WCPFC decisions on tropical tunas through the end of 2025, and also includes specific analysis of the rulemaking that NMFS is undertaking to implement WCPFC emergency decisions in a timely manner.

NMFS notified the Pacific Fishery Management Council that it declared the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine overfished in July 2019. The proposed action is to implement a rebuilding plan for the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine by July 2021 in accordance with Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requirements. The associated Environmental Analysis for this action will analyze the effects of three management alternatives to achieve rebuilding targets: 1) "status quo" management, where the existing harvest control rule for Pacific sardine would be used to set annual catch limits until the stock is rebuilt, 2) "zero harvest," which would set an annual catch limit of zero until the stock is rebuilt, and 3) "5 percent of acceptable biological catch", where the annual catch limit would not exceed 5 percent of the acceptable biological catch until the stock is rebuilt. The socioeconomic effects on the fishing industry compared among the three alternatives are expected to vary significantly.

The Vigor Shipyards Habitat Projects are expected to restore, replace or acquire the equivalent of natural resources injured and services lost due to releases of hazardous substances and discharges of oil from Vigor’s Harbor Island facility in the LDR. Exxon Mobil Corporation (“Exxon”) will also satisfy its natural resource damages liability for its historic activities at the Vigor facility on Harbor Island with ecological benefits created by the Shipyards Projects. The restoration analyzed by the Trustees in the Final RP/EA has been proposed by Vigor and Exxon to resolve their liability in a consent decree filed with the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The proposed restoration will not result in significant impacts, and is expected to provide mainly beneficial impacts to natural resources and services that were injured.

NMFS is proposing to adopt regulations to reduce the threat of take to Hawaiian spinner dolphins, including harassment and disturbance caused by dolphin-directed activities that are concentrated in coastal waters (within 2 nautical miles (nm) (3.7 kilometers (km) of shore) and in designated waters bounded by Lāna‘i, Maui, and Kahoʻolawe), and to reduce the impact of viewing and interaction on resident stocks.

We are preparing a draft environmental impact statement, analyzing measures approved by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Jonah Crab and its addenda, as well as other reasonable alternatives. The goal of the Jonah Crab Plan is “to promote conservation, reduce the possibility of recruitment failure, and allow the full utilization of the resource by the industry.” This document analyzes management measures that are common industry practice and have already been implemented by states.

The DEIS analyzes the impacts of a reasonable range of alternatives intended to provide limited authority to Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, to manage recreational fishing of red snapper. These actions would allow those states the flexibility to manage recreational fishing of red snapper in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico adjacent to their state waters. Actions include allowing states to request closure of federal waters, set minimum and maximum size limits, set bag limits, determine the season length and structure.

The Amendment 8 DEIS provides a range of alternatives to address the following issues:
-Establishing a long-term acceptable biological catch control rule that may explicitly account for herring’s role in the ecosystem and address the biological and ecological requirements of the stock; and
-Addressing localized depletion and user group conflict occurring when effort in the herring fishery overlaps, spatially and temporally, with effort in fisheries targeting predators of herring (e.g., tuna, groundfish) or ecotourism industries.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, in cooperation with the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, has prepared a draft environmental impact statement that analyzes the impacts of establishing 22 new habitat areas of particular concern (HAPC) in the Gulf of Mexico, modifying the fishing regulations within the boundaries of the existing Pulley Ridge HAPC, and excluding dredge fishing in HAPCs that are managed with fishing regulations.

Action considers adjustments to commercial state-by-state quota allocations and requalification of summer flounder moratorium permits.

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC); Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Scoping Process
Referred to at the "Squid Capacit Amendment" - this action would reduce latent effort in the squid fishery. Action is still under development by MAFMC.

In this action, the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Council) would modify the Gulf state-specific red snapper annual catch limits (ACL) with the intent that the combined private angling component ACLs would not exceed the total private angling component quota ACL established by NMFS and the Council. Preferred Alternative 2 would modify the state-specific red snapper private angling component ACLs using the conversion ratios developed by NOAA Office of Science and Technology and the Gulf states, and recommended by the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). These ACL modifications would not take effect until January 1, 2023.

Because the Preferred Alternative would not take effect until 2023, current measures, which have allowed the ACL (and preliminarily the overfishing limit) to be exceeded in 2019 and 2020, would remain in place. Thus, the proposed rule may allow the fishery to exceed the ACL and OFL prior to implementation.

Upon implementation, this proposed rule would have variable effects on the Gulf states, with three states expecting have similar or slightly increased ACLs, while two states are expecting to have substantially reduced ACLs. The reduced ACLs in these states are expected to result in greatly reduced fishing opportunities and catch in these states, and will likely result in reduced economic benefits to these states and affected fishing communities.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, in consultation with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, proposes to adopt and implement Amendment 21 to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP), also known as the Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment, pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). This Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) presents a range of alternatives under consideration in this amendment, which address the amendment purposes outlined in the document. The proposed action is to modify the state allocation of summer flounder commercial quota. This amendment also proposes revisions to the FMP objectives for summer flounder (applicable to both the recreational and commercial summer flounder fisheries). This amendment also considers additional commercial summer flounder fishery management issues, including federal commercial moratorium permit qualification criteria for summer flounder and modifying the list of framework provisions within the FMP; however, the preferred management alternatives include making no changes to these issues. This document also includes a detailed description of the affected environment and valued ecosystem components, and analyses of the impacts of the measures under consideration on the affected environment. It addresses the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the MSA, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), and other applicable laws.

NOAA proposes to expand, as appropriate, the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) boundary and apply existing regulations and management plan actions in these areas. The DEIS includes analyzes five alternatives for implementing the proposed actions. The five alternatives range in size from 56 square miles to 935 square miles, including a no action alternative representing the current size of the sanctuary.

NOAA proposes to designate the Mallows Bay-Potomac River as a National Marine Sanctuary in the state of Maryland. The designation is expected to help conserve at-risk, nationally-significant shipwrecks and associated maritime heritage resources through the promulgation regulations and development of a management plan that includes both regulatory and non-regulatory actions.