Draft Environmental Assessment on Permitting Translocation of Sturgeon for Scientific Research and Enhancement

NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources is requesting comment on a draft programmatic environmental assessment (PEA). This PEA analyzes the environmental impacts of translocating shortnose (Acipenser brevirostrum) and Atlantic (A. oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) sturgeon to achieve recovery objectives. Proposed translocation would be authorized as directed take under the sturgeon Endangered Species Act Section 10(a)(1)(A) permitting program.

For the purposes of the sturgeon permitting program, translocation is the intentional capture, holding, handling, transport, and release of individual fish:

• Within a river system (For example, moving fish across a dam or fish passage) or
• Between river systems from Maine to Florida, the U.S. historical range of Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon.

NOAA Fisheries is accepting comments on the document between December 27, 2023 and January 26, 2024.

Please send comments to NMFS.PR1Comments@noaa.gov with the subject line “Public Comment on Draft PEA Translocation in Sturgeon Permitting.”