Green Sea Turtle Proposed Critical Habitat - East Pacific - NOAA [ds3122]

This proposed critical habitat designation is based on the best available data and includes only in-water areas containing the essential features. Please see the attribute data, which describe the essential features are contained in each unit of critical habitat. The essential features are defined as follows:

(1) Reproductive (North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Central North Pacific, Central South Pacific, and Central West Pacific DPSs). From the mean high water line to 20 m depth, sufficiently dark and unobstructed nearshore waters adjacent to nesting beaches designated as critical habitat by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), to allow for the transit, mating, and internesting of reproductive individuals and the transit of post-hatchlings.

(2) Migratory (North Atlantic and East Pacific DPSs). From the mean high water line to 20 m depth (North Atlantic DPS) or 10 km offshore (East Pacific DPS), sufficiently unobstructed waters that allow for unrestricted transit of reproductive individuals between benthic foraging/resting and reproductive areas.

(3) Benthic foraging/resting (North Atlantic, South Atlantic, East Pacific, Central North Pacific, Central South Pacific, and Central West Pacific DPSs). From the mean high water line to 20 m depth, underwater refugia and food resources (i.e., seagrasses, macroalgae, and/or invertebrates) of sufficient condition, distribution, diversity, abundance, and density necessary to support survival, development, growth, and/or reproduction.

(4) Surface-pelagic foraging/resting (North Atlantic DPS). Convergence zones, frontal zones, surface-water downwelling areas, the margins of major boundary currents, and other areas that result in concentrated components of the Sargassum-dominated drift community, as well as the currents which carry turtles to Sargassum-dominated drift communities, which provide sufficient food resources and refugia to support the survival, growth, and development of post-hatchlings and surface-pelagic juveniles, and which are located in sufficient water depth (at least 10 m) to ensure offshore transport via ocean currents to areas which meet forage and refugia requirements.

Disclaimer: the spatial data provided here display an approximation of the boundaries for the essential features described above. For example, in some areas critical habitat occurs from the mean high water line to 20 m depth, and the spatial data approximate this area. Use of these data do not replace the ESA section 7 consultation process; however, these data may be a first step in determining whether a proposed federal action overlaps with proposed critical habitat.

USE LIMITATIONS

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NOAA Fisheries Service. Endangered Species Act Critical Habitat Geodatabase. Silver Spring, MD: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Protected Resources (OPR).

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*** Shorelines/Bathymetry Layers *** The accuracy of this dataset is dependent upon the accuracy and resolution of the datasets (e.g. shoreline, hydrography, bathymetry, shared administrative boundaries) used in the creation process. Source datasets used are specified in the metadata. These data sources were selected for their suitability to a broad audience, and may not be suitable for specific uses requiring higher-resolution information. Coastlines and water body boundaries change. Unless otherwise noted, assume the boundary reaches the most current river, estuary, or coastal shoreline delineation available. It does not include land. For shorelines, we used NOAA's Continually Updated Shoreline Product (CUSP), where available. Where not available, we used Coastal Change Analysis Program C-CAP shoreline data. For bathymetry, we used the following datasets:

North Atlantic: USGS Bathymetric Contours for East Coast 2013

South Atlantic: Depths used for the proposed critical habitat designation of the lobe star coral.

East Pacific: California. Department of Fish and Game. Marine Resources Region 2001.

Central Pacific: University of Hawaii Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center and depths used for the proposed critical habitat designation of the Pacific coral, Acropora globiceps.

These spatial data are not the official legal definitions of critical habitat. Proposed rules, final rules, and the Code of Federal Regulations (50 CFR 226) are the official sources of critical habitat.

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