Still waiting to hear about the ESA listing

As of March 15, 2013, there is still no word yet from the National Marine Fisheries Service about listing alewife and blueback herring as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The link below takes you to a NMFS page where all the ESA related documents can be found.

http://www.nero.noaa.gov/Protected/riverherring/

Here's the quick background:

On August 5, 2011 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) received a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council to list alewife and blueback herring as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. On November 2, 2011 the NMFS responded to this request and wrote that, "the petition presents substantial scientific information indicating the petitioned action may be warranted". The Federal Register notice also states that, "Within 12 months of the receipt of the petition (August 5, 2011), we will make a finding as to whether listing alewife and/or blueback herring as endangered or threatened is warranted, as required by section 4(b)(3)(B) of the ESA.

NMFS initiated a review of the status of the two species and in June and July of 2012 held three workshops seeking input on stock structure, extinction risk, and climate change. The presentations and audio files from those workshops can all be found on the NMFS river herring page.

If NMFS does determine that listing the species is warranted, they will issue a "proposed rule" and publish it in the Federal Register. Public comment will be sought and hearings will most likely be held. Twelve months after the proposed rule is published a final determination will be published.

Abby Franklin