Restoration, creation, and protection of marsh and riverine habitats will compensate for the environmental injuries from the Kerr-McGee Site by providing an opportunity to generate additional fish and wildlife in the Cape Fear Basin.
NOAA NEPA Document Database (beta)
This beta version of the NOAA NEPA Document Database catalogs environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (EISs) that NOAA is currently developing. The Database also includes some of the EAs or EISs NOAA has completed in the past, although information may be limited and contain errors. The Database does not track proposed actions that rely on categorical exclusions. The Database also does not capture information on proposed actions for which another Federal agency is the lead agency for NEPA or when NOAA adopts another Federal agency’s EA or EIS. Please send any questions or corrections to noaa.nepa@noaa.gov with the Subject line: “NOAA NEPA Document Database comment.“
Amendment 28 to the FMP intends to accomplish three goals: (1) revise the EFH components of the FMP; (2) make adjustment to the trawl RCAs; and (3) use the discretionary authorities in the MSA to protect deep-sea benthic habitats, including deep sea corals, from the adverse effects of fishing. In order to achieve these three goals, the PFMC, in coordination with the NMFS has identified multiple purposes and needs of the proposed action.
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This document evaluates the proposed action to revise and remove trawl gear regulations for the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery’s trawl catch share program, including trawl gear configuration and gear use. Pre-trawl rationalization regulations applied to the entire fleet may no longer be appropriate for managing individuals operating under the incentives provided in the rationalized portion of the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. Incentives of the catch share program include resources allocated to individuals (individual fishing quota [IFQ]) or to cooperatives, 100 percent at-sea and shoreside monitoring, and individuals or cooperatives held accountable for the consequences of their decisions.
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This Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review analyzes proposed management measures that would apply to the Central Gulf of Alaska (CGOA) Rockfish Program (RP) fisheries. The measures under consideration include reauthorizing the RP by either removing the sunset date or establishing a new sunset date within a range of 10 through 20 years. The action also includes other potential measures that would alter regulations associated with the reallocation of Pacific cod and rockfish, exempt crab program sideboard limits for vessels when fishing in the RP, establish regulations that require NMFS to provide annual cost recovery reports for the RP, and other regulatory changes.
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This Supplemental Environmental Assessment supplements the 2019 Environmental Assessment for Endangered Species Act Section 4(d) Approval and Section 10(a)(1)(A) Permit Issuance for Steelhead Hatchery Programs and Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permit Issuance for Summer/Fall and Fall Chinook Salmon Hatchery Programs in Upper Columbia River. NMFS is proposing to approve an additional 1,000,000 subyearling summer Chinook salmon from the Wells Hatchery under limit 5 of the 4(d) Rule of the Endangered Species Act. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Douglas County Public Utility District have submitted a Hatchery and Genetic Management Plan that outlines the supportive breeding, rearing, releasing, and associated monitoring and evaluation actions for the proposed hatchery program. The primary purpose of the proposed hatchery program is to augment the prey base of Southern Resident killer whale.
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Annual Catch Limits and Accountability Measures for Main Hawaiian Islands Gray Jobfish (Aprion virescens)
NMFS proposes to implement annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for three fishing years (2019, 2020 and 2021) in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) for gray jobfish, or uku. The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) recommended the ACLs and AMs in accordance with requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and with the approved processes in the Hawaii Fishery Ecosystem Plan. The ACL for each fishing year (January through December) would be 127,205 lb of uku.
NMFS is preparing an environmental assessment (EA) to evaluate potential effects of this rule. The ACLs and AMs would not result in changes to the Hawaii uku fishery because it has not reached levels of the proposed ACLs since this management measure was first employed in 2012. We do not expect large or adverse environmental effects for the proposed action.
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The proposed actions are to 1) eliminate the 2020 annual catch target (ACT) for cowcod (Sebastes levis) south of 40°10’ N lat. with a potential adjustment to the set-aside or off-the-top deduction from the ACL, and 2) increase the 2020 annual catch limit (ACL) of shortbelly rockfish (S. jordani) to avoid negative socioeconomic impacts to the West Coast groundfish fishery.
Cowcod south of 40°10’ N lat. is one of two West Coast groundfish stocks currently managed under a rebuilding plan. Cowcod is also a quota species in the West Coast trawl catch share program with very small individual fishing quotas (IFQs) allocated to quota shareholders based on the sector’s allocation of the 2020 ACT of 6 metric ton (mt). As such, cowcod is a constraining species to California trawlers south of 40°10’ N lat. According to the 2019 stock assessment adopted by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) at their September 2019 meeting, cowcod has now attained a healthy and rebuilt status. As the stock has increased in abundance, incidental bycatch of cowcod has been increasingly difficult to avoid. Some LE groundfish trawlers south of 40°10’ N lat. are prematurely approaching their vessel limits of cowcod threatening their ability to prosecute their fishery. The Council is interested in providing some economic relief by raising or eliminating the ACT, with a possible reduction to the yield set-aside. These actions would increase the annual cowcod vessel limit for affected LE trawl fishery participants south of 40°10’ N lat.
Shortbelly rockfish is one of the most abundant rockfish species in the California Current and is not targeted in any West Coast fishery (Field et al. 2008). While shortbelly rockfish are most abundant along the continental shelf break between the northern end of Monterey Bay and Point Reyes, California and around the Channel Islands in the Southern California Bight (Love et al. 2002; Moser et al. 2000; Pearson et al. 1991a; Phillips 1964), they have increasingly been encountered and incidentally caught in midwater trawl fisheries in waters north of 40°10’ N lat. as far north as northern Washington. The observed magnitude of encounters of shortbelly rockfish north of 40°10’ N lat. in recent years is unprecedented and may be the result of a climate change-driven distributional shift and/or the effect of large recruitments. It appears both explanations are contributing factors given evidence of continued high recruitment and abundance in the core habitats off southern and central California. The shortbelly ACL of 500 mt was exceeded in 2018 and has been exceeded this year according to catches to date. The Council is interested in specifying a higher shortbelly ACL in 2020 than the 500 mt ACL in regulations to avoid premature closure of groundfish fisheries that incidentally take shortbelly rockfish.
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NOAA is proposing to designate a national estuarine research reserve in coastal Connecticut.
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This Final Supplement amends the Final Damage Assessment Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (DARP/EA) and selects Restoration Alternative 2, which includes the Oyster Reef Creation project described below, as preferred, in lieu of Restoration Alternative 1, which was previously selected for implementation by the Trustees and included the Long Branch Creek Marsh Restoration project.
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This Environmental Assessment analyzes the environmental impacts of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources’ proposal to issue an Incidental Harassment Authorization, pursuant to section 101(a)(5)(D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, to the Port of Alaska for the take of small numbers of marine mammals incidental to construction of the Petroleum and Cement Terminal for the Port of Alaska Modernization Program in Cook Inlet, Alaska.
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Environmental Assessment on Issuance of Incidental Harassment Authorizations for the Port of Alaska Modernization Program, Petroleum and Cement Terminal in Cook Inlet, Alaska.
In response to the Port of Alaska’s (POA) request, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) NMFS proposes to issue an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA or Authorization) to the POA, under the MMPA. This Authorization would allow the POA to take, by Level B harassment and Level A harassment, small numbers of marine mammals, incidental to construction of the POA’s proposed Petroleum and Cement Terminal (PCT) for the Port of Alaska Modernization Program (PAMP) in Knik Arm, Cook Inlet, Alaska. NMFS has determined that the taking of marine mammals incidental to the proposed project would have a negligible impact on the affected species/stock, be of small numbers, and not have an unmitigable impact on subsistence use. No significant effects would occur from the proposed action (i.e., issuance of the IHAs).
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The proposed actions are NMFS’ Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 4(d) Limit 6 determination that steelhead hatchery operation in the Skykomish River Basin will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of survival and recovery of affected threatened ESUs and the issuance of ESA section 10(a)(1)(A) permit for the Sunset Falls Trap and Haul operation. The action is likely to adversely affect ESA-listed salmonids in the Skykomish Basin, but the effect is not likely to rise to the level of significance.
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Mid-C/Hood River Hatchery Programs
EA for the operation of the Hood River Spring Chinook Salmon, Hood River Winter Steelhead, Touchet Endemic Summer Steelhead, Umatilla Summer Steelhead, Round Butte Hatchery Spring Chinook Salmon, and Round Butte Hatchery Summer Steelhead programs.
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The restoration actions identified in the RP/EA will compensate the public for interim losses to coral reef resources at the LNG-C Matthew grounding sites that were not able to be recovered during Emergency Restoration.
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NOAA, as the lead federal Trustee, proposes to compensate the public for interim losses to coral reef resources caused by the T/V PORT STEWART grounding by implementing an active coral propagation project. The environmental review process has led NOAA to conclude that these restoration actions will not have a significant adverse effect, individually or cumulatively, on the quality of the human environment.
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The Final Supplemental EA (SEA) addresses alternatives and environmental consequences associated with three Readiness Category II shoreline and aquatic resource restoration projects— the Round Hill Salt Marsh Restoration Project; the Horseshoe Pond Dam-Weweantic River Restoration Project; and the Conservation Moorings Restoration Project.
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The RP/PEA evaluates restoration type alternatives that are to be implemented in the Upper Mobile-Tensaw River Delta with settlement funds from a natural resource damage assessment at the Ciba-Geigy NPL Site to compensate for natural resource injuries incurred as a result of the release of hazardous substances, including the pesticide DDT and other chemicals, at and from the Ciba-Geigy NPL Site in McIntosh, Alabama. As specific restoration projects are identified, they will be evaluated based on their consistency with the restoration type alternatives assessed in the RP/PEA. The RP/PEA identified two proposed restoration type alternatives: 1) Habitat Enhancement and Restoration on Newly Acquired Lands and 2) Habitat Enhancement and Restoration on State-Owned Lands.
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The RP/EA evaluates restoration alternatives for natural resource injuries incurred from historical releases of contaminants from the National Priorities List Superfund site known as the St. Louis River Interlake/Duluth Tar (SLRIDT) Site in Duluth, Minnesota. As a result of this evaluation, the Trustees selected restoration projects in Kingsbury Bay, Kingsbury Creek and wild rice restoration within several locations of the St. Louis River estuary.
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The RP/EA evaluates restoration alternatives that compensate for natural resource injuries incurred from historical releases of contaminants from the National Priorities List Superfund site known as the Sheboygan River and Harbor Superfund Site (Sheboygan Site) in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. As a result of this evaluation, the Trustees selected Alternative C, preservation projects at Willow Creek and Amsterdam Dunes.
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PROPOSED RULE TO MODIFY NORTH ATLANTIC SWORDFISH AND SHARK RETENTION LIMITS FOR CERTAIN PERMIT HOLDERS AND ADD INSEASON ADJUSTMENT AUTHORIZATION CRITERIA
This Draft Environmental Assessment analyzes the potential environmental impacts of several alternatives that could increase the flexibility of and provide consistency between the swordfish retention limits for commercial swordfish fishermen fishing with similar gears within U.S. Atlantic and Caribbean waters; adjust shark retention limits and change regulatory procedures for commercial shark fishermen in the U.S. Caribbean; and increase administrative efficiencies by managing the swordfish fishery in two regions with one action as needed (i.e., inseason adjustment). The goal is to improve efficacy of management while also avoiding overharvests in these fisheries. Specifically, this action considers modifying the swordfish and shark retention limits and adding regulatory criteria for inseason adjustment of those swordfish and shark retention limits for certain permit holders. This proposed action would also streamline Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) regulations to align swordfish retention limits for commercial swordfish permits established for HMS Commercial Caribbean Small Boat permit holders under Amendment 4 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic HMS Fishery Management Plan with those established in Amendment 8 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic HMS Fishery Management Plan for Swordfish General Commercial permit holders and HMS Charter/Headboat permit holders.