Candidate, Proposed, and Delisted Species Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Candidate species are those petitioned species that are actively being considered for listing as endangered or threatened under the ESA, as well as those species for which NMFS has initiated an ESA status review that it has announced in the Federal Register. For detailed definitions and explanations, please refer to the April 15, 2004 and October 17, 2006, Federal register notices (69 FR 19975) [pdf], (71 FR 61022) [pdf], which revised the Candidate Species definition.

Proposed species are those candidate species that were found to warrant listing as either threatened or endangered and were officially proposed as such in a Federal Register notice after the completion of a status review and consideration of other protective conservation measures. Public comment is always sought on a proposal to list species under the ESA. NMFS generally has one year after a species is proposed for listing under the ESA to make a final determination whether to list a species as threatened or endangered.

Delisted species are those species that were formerly listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA.

List of Candidate, Proposed, and Delisted Species under NMFS' Jurisdiction

Species	Year	Federal Register notice
Candidates for Listing (13 candidate "species")
Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus)	2006	71 FR 61022 [pdf]
bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus)	2008	73 FR 16617 [pdf]
bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis) Puget Sound	2008	73 FR 14195 [pdf]
canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger) Puget Sound	2008	73 FR 14195 [pdf]
cusk (Brosme brosme)	2007	72 FR 10710 [pdf]
greenstripe rockfish (Sebastes elongatus) Puget Sound	2008	73 FR 14195 [pdf]
Pacific eulachon/smelt (Thaleichthys pacificus) WA, OR, and CA	2008	73 FR 13185 [pdf]
Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) Southeast Alaska	2008	73 FR 19824 [pdf]
redstripe rockfish (Sebastes proriger) Puget Sound	2008	73 FR 14195 [pdf]
ringed seal (Phoca hispida)	2008	73 FR 16617 [pdf]
ribbon seal (Histriophoca fasciata)	2008	73 FR 16617 [pdf]
spotted seal (Phoca largha)	2008	73 FR 16617 [pdf]
yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) Puget Sound	2008	73 FR 14195 [pdf]

Species	Year Proposed	Status
Proposed for Listing (3 proposed "species")
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) Gulf of Maine (other populations in streams and rivers in Maine outside the range of 2006 the listed Gulf of Maine DPS); anadromous	2008	73 FR 51415 [pdf]
black abalone (Haliotis cracherodii)	2008	proposed endangered [pdf]
beluga whale (1 proposed DPS) (Delphinapterus leucas) Cook Inlet	2007	proposed endangered [pdf]

Species	Year Listed	Year Delisted	Status
Delisted Species (1 delisted "species")
gray whale (1 delisted DPS) (Eschrichtius robustus)
Eastern North Pacific	1970	1994	Delisted from ESA [pdf]; remains protected under MMPA

Endangered and Threatened Marine Species