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Title and Description:
Designation of Critical Habitat for Leatherback Sea Turtles Biological and 4(b)(2) Report
The critical habitat report is in response to a petition received October 2, 2007, from the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, and Turtle Island Restoration Network (Petitioners) to revise the leatherback sea turtle critical habitat designation. Current critical habitat consists of terrestrial shoreline at and waters adjacent to Sandy Point Beach, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The Petitioners seek to revise the critical habitat designation to include the area we currently manage to reduce leatherback interactions in the California/Oregon drift gillnet fishery. The Petitioners request that, if we determine some portion of the petitioned area does not meet the criteria for critical habitat, we analyze whether some subset of this area should be designated as critical habitat.

ID:  127 Info. Type:  ISI
Estimated Dissemination Date: 10/2/2009
Contact Person:  Rebecca Rootes NOAA Locator

Date First Posted in Peer Review Agenda: 6/16/2008

Estimated Peer Review Start Date: 9/2/2009
Review type: individual letters
Expected number of peer reviewers: 4-10
Peer reviewers will be selected by:  the agency

Will the public, including scientific or professional societies, be asked to nominate potential peer reviewers?  no

Will there be opportunities for the public to comment on the work product to be peer reviewed?  no

How? 

When? 

Will the agency provide significant and relevant public comments to the peer reviewers before they conduct their review?  no

Primary disciplines or expertise needed in the review: 
(1) genetics related to sea turtle population structure; (2) ecology, behavior, and biology of sea turtles; (3) Endangered Species Act policy and regulations

Comments on Peer Review: