CONTACT: Gordon Helm FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1/24/97
The National Marine Fisheries Service will begin the process of identifying, conserving and enhancing imperiled aquatic habitats in coordination with regional fishery management councils, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today. Loss of essential aquatic habitat is one of the greatest long-term threats to many of the nation's fish and shellfish, such as salmon, summer flounder and shrimp.
NOAA's fisheries service plan will begin implementation of the essential fish habitat mandates under the new Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act approved by Congress in its last session. The plan was unveiled on Capitol Hill before members of Congress and interested constituents. The fisheries service also announced the public release of the agency's recently completed National Habitat Plan.
From Alaska and Maine to the Gulf of Mexico, many fish population declines can be attributed to lost wetlands and seagrass beds, dammed rivers, contaminated sediments, polluted coastal bays, and other habitat loss or degradation. The NOAA Fisheries Habitat Initiative, including the National Habitat Plan and the Essential Fish Habitat provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, was developed to meet the ecological and economic imperative to address the nation's habitat problems before these treasured finfish, shellfish, marine mammals and sea turtles disappear.
Initial guidelines prepared by the fisheries service will be used by the fishery management councils to identify habitats in need of designation. These "essential" habitats will then be highlighted within all fishery management plans.
"We are responding to the American public's concern about the diminishing quantity and quality of our marine habitat," said D. James Baker, Department of Commerce under secretary for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of NOAA. "The fisheries service will be working closely with the regional fishery management councils, coastal states and other partners to protect and enhance the habitat essential to the fisheries and other living marine resources under our stewardship."
Under the new Congressional mandate, essential habitats must be identified for all life stages of species managed under fishery management council plans. Activities that damage that habitat must also be identified, and the fisheries service is charged with providing federal and state agencies with recommendations to conserve essential fish habitat and ensure the continued productivity of our nation's coastal environments.
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), principal sponsor of S. 39, the 1996 legislation that renewed U.S. fisheries management and added the new habitat protections, said all parties had supported the essential habitat provisions of the act because of their importance to the nation's valuable marine fisheries.
"I'm pleased with the agency's first rule making under S. 39," Senator Stevens said. "This is the beginning of what could be a challenging two years for NOAA and the fisheries service to implement this crucial legislation."
Also at the Hill ceremony, the fisheries service unveiled its National Habitat Plan that clarifies its mission and vision, and provides a framework for efforts to protect, conserve, restore, create and understand habitats. The plan underscores NOAA's continuing commitment to habitat research and management.
The National Habitat Plan strengthens NOAA's habitat mission by expanding ecosystem approaches to fishery management, which will increase habitat protection on rivers supporting anadromous species to the high seas; emphasizes innovative approaches to meet traditional mandates and new partnerships to improve capabilities; and establishes new lines of communication with constituents and partners to improve overall effectiveness.
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