Status Reviews
Overview
Status reviews are comprehensive assessments of a species' biological status and its threats, and are the basis for making determinations as to whether a species warrants listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) conducts status reviews for the following:
- Any species which it believes may warrant a listing under the ESA;
- Species of Concern for which enough information has been gathered;
- Species that have been petitioned for listing under the ESA by any citizen, provided that the petition presents substantial information indicating that listing may be warranted;
- Species already listed under the ESA on a periodic basis to ensure that the listing status is appropriate, usually done through 5-Year Reviews
Status Review Reports
Marine Turtles
- Loggerhead Turtle (2009) [pdf]
- Sea Turtles Listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (1995) [pdf]
Marine Mammals
- Beluga Whales: Cook Inlet (2008) [pdf] [3.6 MB]
- Bowhead Whales (1995)
- False Killer Whales: Hawaiian Insular Population (2010)
- Gray Whales: Eastern North Pacific (1999)
- Killer Whales: Southern Resident (2004; 2002)
- Ribbon Seal (2008) [pdf]
- Right Whales: North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans (2006) [pdf]
Marine & Anadromous Fishes
- Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (2011) [pdf] [2.2 MB]
- Atlantic Salmon (2006) [pdf] [2.8 MB]
- Atlantic sturgeon (2007) [pdf] [2.7 MB]*
- 1998 Atlantic Sturgeon Status Review [pdf] [1.5 MB]*
- Barndoor Skate (2002) [pdf]*
- Bocaccio (2002) [pdf]*
- Green Sturgeon (2005) [pdf]**
- Largetooth Sawfish (2010) [pdf]
- Pacific Salmonids
- Puget Sound (WA) Fishes:*
- Rockfish: Bocaccio, Canary Rockfish, Yelloweye Rockfish, Greenstriped Rockfish, and Redstripe Rockfish (2010) [pdf]
- Smalltooth Sawfish (2000) [pdf]
(Note: Appendix A to Smalltooth Sawfish [pdf] is best printed on 11x17" paper) - White Marlin (2007) [pdf] [1.8 MB]
- 2002 White Marlin Status Review [pdf] [2.7 MB]*
Marine Plants and Invertebrates
- Black Abalone (2009) [pdf]
- Eastern Oyster (2007) [pdf]
(Federal Register notice: 72 FR 35388) - Johnson's Seagrass (1997) [pdf]
- White Abalone (2000) [pdf] [1.7 MB]
*NMFS determined that these species did not warrant listing as threatened or endangered under the ESA.
**NMFS' initial non-warranted determination was changed as a result of a revised status review.
Updated: January 4, 2012