[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 203 (Monday, October 20, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62257-62258]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24921]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XK57


Endangered and Threatened Species; Recovery Plan for White 
Abalone

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

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces the 
availability of a final recovery plan for the white abalone (Haliotis 
sorenseni). This endangered gastropod is a long-lived, slow moving 
bottom dweller and is a member of the California Haliotids. Currently, 
isolated survivors have been identified along the mainland coast in 
Santa Barbara County and at some of the offshore islands and banks 
along the central California coast. NMFS' ultimate goal is to increase 
white abalone abundance to viable and self-sustaining levels such that 
the species can be downlisted to threatened status and eventually 
removed from the Endangered Species List.

ADDRESSES: The final Plan can be obtained via the Internet at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov or by submitting a request to the Assistant Regional 
Administrator, Protected Resources Division, Southwest Region, NMFS, 
501 West Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802-4213. You may 
also contact NMFS by e-mail at: [email protected]; by 
facsimile at: 562-980-4027, Attention: Melissa Neuman.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melissa Neuman, NMFS, Southwest Region 
at 562-980-4115.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Recovery of endangered or threatened animals or plants is a primary 
goal of the endangered species program. A species is considered 
recovered once the species' ecosystem is restored and/or threats to the 
species are removed so that self-sustaining and self-regulating 
populations can be supported as persistent members of native biotic 
communities. Recovery plans describe actions considered necessary for 
the conservation of the species, establish criteria for downlisting or 
delisting listed species, and estimate the time and cost for 
implementing the measures needed for recovery.
    White abalone (Haliotis sorenseni) was listed as the first 
federally endangered marine invertebrate under the United States 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA) in May 
2001. The ESA requires that NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service 
(NMFS) develop and implement recovery plans for the conservation and 
survival of threatened and endangered species under its jurisdiction, 
unless it is determined that such plans would not promote the 
conservation of the species. Accordingly, during the summer of 2002, 
NMFS appointed a recovery team comprised of experts in the fields of 
abalone biology and ecology, conservation biology, genetics, population 
dynamics and modeling, pathology, aquaculture, and marine policy to 
develop a recovery plan (Plan) as mandated by the ESA.
    NMFS sought a scientific review of the draft Plan by 12 experts in 
October 2005. NMFS requested that the scientific reviewers consider: 
(1) issues and assumptions relating to the biological and ecological 
information of the draft Plan, and (2) scientific data relating to the 
tasks in the proposed recovery program. Four reviewers responded to 
NMFS' request. The recovery team reconvened in June 2006 to consider 
the reviewer's comments and incorporate changes to the draft Plan 
accordingly. On November 2, 2006 (71 FR 64512) the draft Plan was made 
available for public comment. NMFS considered all substantive comments 
and information presented during the public comment period in the 
course of finalizing this Plan. We will forward

[[Page 62258]]

substantive comments regarding recovery plan implementation to 
appropriate Federal or other entities so that they can take these 
comments into account during the course of implementing recovery 
actions.
    The purposes of the Plan are to: (1) delineate those aspects of 
white abalone biology, life history, and threats that are pertinent to 
its endangerment and recovery; (2) outline and justify a strategy to 
achieve recovery; (3) identify the site-specific management actions 
necessary to achieve recovery; (4) identify goals and criteria by which 
to measure the achievement of recovery; (5) serve as an outreach tool 
by articulating the reasons for white abalone's endangerment, and by 
explaining why the particular suite of recovery actions described is 
the most effective and efficient approach to achieving recovery; (6) 
help potential cooperators and partners understand the rationale behind 
the recovery actions identified, and assist them in identifying how 
they can facilitate recovery; (7) serve as a tool for monitoring 
recovery activities; and (8) be used to obtain funding for NMFS and its 
partners by identifying necessary recovery actions and their relative 
priority in the recovery process.
    The objective of this Plan is to provide a framework for the 
recovery of white abalone so that protection under the ESA is no longer 
necessary. As recovery criteria are met, the status of the white 
abalone will be reviewed and considered for reclassification to 
threatened status or for removal from the Federal List of Endangered 
and Threatened Wildlife and Plants (50 CFR part 17). The white abalone 
will be considered for delisting when: (1) the density of emergent 
(detectable by human observation without substrate disturbance) animals 
(short term) is greater than 2, 000 per hectare for 75 percent of the 
geographic localities; (2) a total of 380,000 animals are maintained in 
the wild, distributed among all geographic localities in the USA and 
Mexico; (3) the proportion of size of emergent animals in 75 percent of 
geographic localities includes at least 85 percent intermediate-size 
animals (90 to 130 mm); (4) proportion of size of emergent animals in 
75 percent of geographic localities includes no more than 15 percent 
large animals (>130 mm); (5) there is a stable or increasing estimate 
of geometric population growth (lambda [gteqt]1) for >75 percent of the 
geographic localities over a ten year period; and (6) there is 
reoccupation of white abalone over a spatial scale that encompasses 
their historic range such that 75 percent of the geographic localities 
in the USA and Mexico are reoccupied and meet the recovery criteria.

    Dated: October 14, 2008.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-24921 Filed 10-17-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S