[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 71 (Friday, April 11, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19824-19825]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-7797]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 070727423-8495-02]
RIN 0648-XB75


Endangered and Threatened Species; Notice of Finding on a 
Petition to List the Lynn Canal Population of Pacific Herring as a 
Threatened or Endangered Species

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of finding; initiation of status review.

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SUMMARY: We, NMFS, announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list 
Lynn Canal Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi) as a threatened or 
endangered Species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). After a 
formal review of the best available scientific and commercial 
information, we find that listing Lynn Canal Pacific herring as 
threatened or endangered under the ESA is not warranted because this 
population does not constitute a species, subspecies, or distinct 
population segment (DPS) under the ESA. However, the Lynn Canal 
population is part of a larger DPS of Pacific herring that may warrant 
listing under the ESA, and, therefore, we initiate a status review to 
evaluate its status.

DATES: The finding announced in this notice is effective immediately.

ADDRESSES: The complete file for this finding is available for public 
inspection by appointment during normal business hours at the office of 
NMFS Alaska Region, Protected Resources Division, 709 West Ninth 
Street, Room 461, Juneau, AK 99801. This file includes the status 
review report, information provided by the public, and scientific and 
commercial information gathered for the status review.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erika Phillips, NMFS Alaska Region, 
(907) 586-7312, Kaja Brix, NMFS Alaska Region, (907) 586-7235 or Marta 
Nammack, NMFS Office of Protected Resources, (301) 713-1401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 
amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA) requires that when a petition to 
revise the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants is 
found to present substantial scientific and commercial information, we 
make a finding on whether the petitioned action is (a) not warranted, 
(b) warranted, or (c) warranted but precluded from immediate proposal 
by other pending proposals of higher priority. This finding is to be 
made within 1 year of the date the petition was received, and the 
finding is to be published promptly in the Federal Register.
    On April 2, 2007, we received a petition to designate the Lynn 
Canal stock of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) as a threatened or 
endangered DPS under the ESA. The petition was submitted by the Juneau 
Group of the Sierra Club, Juneau, Alaska. The Petitioner also requested 
that we designate critical habitat for Lynn Canal Pacific herring 
concurrent with listing under the ESA.
    After reviewing the petition, the literature cited in the petition, 
and other literature and information available in our files, we found 
that the petition met the requirements of the regulations under 50 CFR 
424.14(b)(2) and determined that the petition presented substantial 
information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted. 
This finding was published on September 10, 2007 (72 FR 51619). At that 
time, we commenced a status review of Lynn Canal herring and solicited 
information pertaining to the stock structure and status of Pacific 
herring in southeast Alaska, including Lynn Canal.

Status Review

    In order to determine whether the Lynn Canal Pacific herring 
population constitutes a species that warrants protection under the 
ESA, we convened a Biological Review Team of Federal scientists with 
expertise in Pacific herring biology, fish genetics and stock 
delineations, population ecology of forage fishes, nearshore marine 
ecology, fisheries stock assessment, and herring population status 
reviews. This expert panel reviewed Pacific herring life history, 
genetics data, stock structure research, information on larval 
distribution and transport, spawning distributions, tagging studies, 
metapopulation research, and other published and unpublished literature 
and data on herring stocks throughout the eastern North Pacific.
    For the purposes of the ESA, Congress has defined a species as 
``any subspecies of fish or wildlife or plants, and any distinct 
population segment of any species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which 
interbreeds when mature'' (16 U.S.C. 1532(16)). Guidance on what 
constitutes a distinct population segment (DPS) is provided by the 
joint NMFS-USFWS interagency DPS policy (61 FR 4722; February 7, 1996). 
In order to be classified as a DPS, a vertebrate population must meet 
two criteria - discreteness and significance. A population, or group of 
populations, must first be ``discrete'' from other populations and then 
``significant'' to the taxon (species or subspecies) to which it 
belongs.
    According to the joint DPS policy, a population segment may be 
considered discrete if it satisfies either one of the following 
conditions: (1) it is markedly separated from other populations of the 
same biological taxon as a consequence of physical, physiological, 
ecological, or behavioral factors (quantitative measures of genetic or 
morphological discontinuity may provide evidence of this separation); 
or (2) it is delimited by international governmental boundaries across 
which there is a significant difference in exploitation control, 
habitat management or conservation status. If a population is 
determined to be discrete, the agency must then consider whether it is 
significant to the taxon to which it belongs. When evaluating the 
significance of a discrete population, we consider the following: (1) 
persistence of the discrete population in an unusual or unique 
ecological setting for the taxon; (2) evidence that the loss of the 
discrete population segment would cause a significant gap in the 
taxon's range; (3) evidence that the discrete population segment 
represents the only surviving natural occurrence of a taxon that may be 
more abundant elsewhere outside its historical geographic range; or (4) 
evidence that the discrete population has marked genetic differences 
from other populations of the species.
    We considered several types of data and information when evaluating 
the DPS structure and discreteness of populations of Pacific herring in 
Lynn Canal and the eastern North Pacific. This information included: 
geographic variability in life-history characteristics, physiology, and 
morphology; ecosystem and oceanographic conditions; spawn timing and 
locations; tagging and recapture studies that would indicate the extent 
of migration and intermingling among stocks; and studies of genetic 
differentiation among stocks

[[Page 19825]]

that would suggest some degree of reproductive isolation.
    After analyzing the best available scientific and commercial 
information, we conclude that Lynn Canal Pacific herring are not 
markedly discrete from other Pacific herring populations. The following 
evidence suggests that Lynn Canal Pacific herring are not markedly 
discrete: (1) there are no known genetic differences between the Lynn 
Canal stock and other stocks in Southeast Alaska; (2) spawn timing in 
Lynn Canal does not differ significantly from the timing of other 
Southeast Alaska stocks, but instead appears to follow a natural 
gradient based on climatic conditions; (3) growth rates, length-at-age, 
and weight-at-age of Lynn Canal Pacific herring are not significantly 
different from stocks elsewhere in Southeast Alaska; (4) tagging data 
are too limited to determine the extent of migration or degree of 
spawning site fidelity for individual southeast Alaska stocks; and (5) 
habitat conditions in Lynn Canal are not markedly different from those 
elsewhere in southeast Alaska. Therefore, we find that the best 
available scientific and commercial information does not support a 
finding that the Lynn Canal population is discrete from other nearby 
herring populations in Icy Strait, Seymour Canal, Sitka Sound, or other 
parts of southeast Alaska.
    Furthermore, we conclude that, even if the evidence indicated that 
the Lynn Canal population is discrete, it is not significant with 
respect to the taxon. Lynn Canal does not provide a markedly unusual or 
unique ecological setting for herring; the population exists in a 
relatively small geographic area in close proximity to other herring 
populations, such that the loss of the population segment would not 
result in a significant gap in the range of a taxon; the population is 
not the only surviving natural occurrence of the taxon, but rather is 
one small part of an abundant, widely distributed taxon; and no 
evidence indicates that the population segment differs markedly from 
other populations of Pacific herring in its genetic characteristics. 
Because the Lynn Canal population does not meet the primary criteria 
required for recognition as a DPS, we conclude that the Pacific herring 
population in Lynn Canal does not constitute a DPS as defined under the 
ESA.

Description of Southeast Alaska DPS

    Through the Status Review process, we have determined that the Lynn 
Canal Pacific herring stock is part of a larger, regional Southeast 
Alaska DPS. The Southeast Alaska DPS of Pacific herring extends from 
Dixon Entrance northward to Cape Fairweather and Icy Point and includes 
all Pacific herring stocks in Southeast Alaska.

Discreteness

    The delineation of the southern boundary is based on genetic 
differences between herring in Southeast Alaska and those in British 
Columbia, as well as differences in recruitment and average weight-at-
age, parasitism, spawn timing and locations, and the results of tagging 
studies conducted in British Columbia. The northern boundary is defined 
by physical and ecological features that create migratory barriers, as 
well as large stretches of exposed ocean beaches that are devoid of 
spawning and rearing habitats.

Significance

    Given the large scope of this geographic area and the large number 
of stocks found throughout Southeast Alaska, we have determined that 
the Southeast Alaska Pacific herring population is significant to the 
taxon as a whole. Specifically, the Southeast population persists in a 
unique ecological setting, and the extirpation of this population of 
Pacific herring would result in a significant gap in the range of the 
taxon.

DPS Conclusion

    Because the Southeast Alaska population of Pacific herring meets 
the discreteness and significance criteria of the joint USFWS-NMFS DPS 
policy, this regional population constitutes a DPS under the ESA.

Next Steps

    In order to determine whether this Southeast Alaska DPS of Pacific 
herring warrants protection under the ESA, we will proceed with a 
status review of the Southeast Alaska DPS described above. Because we 
have formally announced the initiation of a status review for the 
Southeast Alaska DPS of Pacific herring, we consider this DPS to be a 
candidate species under the ESA. The status review for this candidate 
species will include an analysis of extinction risk, an assessment of 
the factors listed under section 4(a)(1) of the ESA, and an evaluation 
of conservation efforts for the DPS as a whole. The results of the 
expanded status review and our determination on the status of the 
Southeast Alaska DPS of Pacific herring will be published in a 
subsequent Federal Register notice.

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

    Dated: April 7, 2008.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-7797 Filed 4-10-08; 8:45 am]
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