Abstract:
The Sustainable Fisheries Act established as one of its mandates for
regional fishery management councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service a
requirement to identify and protect Essential Fish Habitat. The Act defines Essential
Fish Habitat as “those waters and substrates necessary to fish for spawning, breeding,
feeding and growth to maturity.” 16 U.S.C. § 1802(10). To promote the protection of
Essential Fish Habitat, the Act establishes interagency consultation between the National
Marine Fisheries Service and federal agencies that fund, authorize, or undertake action
that may adversely affect Essential Fish Habitat. For their part in the interagency
consultation process, the National Marine Fisheries Service is required to provide
Essential Fish Habitat Conservation Recommendations, and, if appropriate, in an
expedited manner.
The time required to develop proper Essential Fish Habitat Conservation
Recommendations can be extensive because managers do not always have access to
sufficient information and the scale of Essential Fish Habitat descriptions is larger than
the scale of most projects. To facilitate accurate abbreviated assessment of projects and
proper Essential Fish Habitat Conservation Recommendations, I have developed an
Essential Fish Habitat Reference Guide. This guide is specific to the fish and habitats
found in Southern California’s three largest bays: Santa Monica Bay, San Pedro Bay, and
San Diego Bay. I synthesized the information contained within this guide from
documents traditionally used to support the creation of Essential Fish Habitat
Conservation Recommendations. Managers can use the Essential Fish Habitat Reference
Guide for interagency consultations when the predicted impact to Essential Fish Habitat
is minimal; actions with larger impacts need higher levels of scrutiny. The Reference
Guide provides habitat and Essential Fish Habitat descriptions that are on the same, or
similar scale, as the projects of federal action agencies. The Habitat Conservation
Division of the National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Regional Office has used
draft versions of this guide.
