When a species is proposed for listing as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must consider whether there are areas of habitat believed to be essential to the species conservation. Those areas may be proposed for designation as - critical habitat. Critical habitat is a term defined and used in the Act. It is a specific geographic area(s) that contains features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management and protection. Critical habitat may include an area that is not currently occupied by the species but that will be needed for its recovery. An area is designated as - critical habitat - after the Service publishes a proposed Federal regulation in the Federal Register and receives and considers public comments on the proposal. The final boundaries of the critical habitat are also published in the Federal Register.

Critical habitat is habitat needed to support recovery of listed species. When a species is listed under the Endangered Species Act, NOAA Fisheries is required to determine whether there are areas that meet the definition of critical habitat. Once critical habitat is designated, other federal agencies consult with NOAA Fisheries to ensure actions they fund, authorize, or undertake are not likely to destroy or adversely modify the critical habitat. Critical habitat is defined as: Specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species at the time of listing that contain physical or biological features essential to conservation of the species and that may require special management considerations or protection; and Specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species if the agency determines that the area itself is essential for conservation.

This database identifies the universe of (permitted) vessels participating in open access commercial and recreational Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) fisheries, including fisheries for bluefin tuna, swordfish, billfish, sharks, and BAYS (bigeye, albacore, yellowfin, and skipjack) tunas. Open access commercial vessel permits include permits to fish for BAYS and bluefin tuna and swordfish, and include charter/headboat permits. The data elements collected include identifying owner information, vessel description, vessel permit number, and home port.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires the Federal government to designate critical habitat, areas of habitat essential to the species' conservation, for ESA listed species. This dataset is a compilation of the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated critical habitat in coastal areas of the United States. Critical habitat is defined as: (1) Specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species at the time of listing that contain physical or biological features essential to conservation, which may require special management considerations or protection; and (2) specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species if the agency determines that the area itself is essential for conservation. See metadata for online linkages to reference full listings of proposed and final critical habitat areas.

The goals of this project are to examine 1) the relative importance of multiple aquatic habitats (streams, estuaries, and nearshore areas, for example) used by salmon during their migration, 2) evaluate how different forms of density dependence influence the relative importance of these habitats, and 3) determine the influence of life history variation on extinction risk. Analyses of Skagit Chinook, OR coho, and Winter run Chinook are currently being examined. Results of GIS models of habitat capacity for Sacramento Winter run Chinook salmon.

Electronic dealer reporting for highly migratory species (HMS) dealers was instituted to expedite dealer reporting of federally-managed HMS, including swordfish, BAYS (bigeye, albacore, yellowfin and skipjack) tunas, and sharks. All purchases of HMS from a federally permitted dealer are reported electronically and fed to the eDealer database. Data are used for inseason monitoring of HMS quotas, provides collaboration of fishing vessel trips, information for international reporting for The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and domestic management of HMS.

Commercial fishermen interested in participating in the shark research fishery must submit an application and vessel/permit documentation for the Agency to consider. Annually, the Agency randomly selects participants from among applicants. The Atlantic shark research fishery is a program with 100% observer coverage that collects fishing and biological data on all sharks, including sandbar sharks (a species prohibited from being landed and sold), for stock assessments and other scientific purposes.

Critical habitat in bays and estuaries includes tidally influenced areas as defined by the elevation of mean higher high water (MHHW). The boundary between coastal marine areas and bays and estuaries is delineated by the COLREGS lines (33 CFR 80). Critical habitat in coastal marine areas is defined by the zone between the 60 fathom (fm) depth bathymetry line and the line on shore reached by mean lower low water (MLLW), or to the COLREGS lines.No areas were deemed ineligible for designation. No unoccupied areas were designated. 14 areas based on economic impacts and 5 areas based on national security impacts were excluded from this critical habitat designation and clipped out of the data. The following tribal lands were excluded from this designation, but were not clipped out of the data:(1) Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community, California(2) Cher-Ae Heights Trinidad Rancheria, California(3) Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw, Oregon(4) Coquille Indian Tribe, Oregon(5) Hoh Tribe, Washington(6) Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Washington(7) Lower Elwha Tribe, Washington(8) Makah Tribe, Washington(9) Quileute Tribe, Washington(10) Quinault Tribe, Washington(11) Shoalwater Bay Tribe, Washington(12) Wiyot Tribe, California(13) Yurok Tribe, California

Throughout the year the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Management Division issues permits to researchers and many aquariums and private collectors. The majority of these permits require reporting their catch history for each year. Both permit information and catch data is entered into an MS Access database designed for the program.