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Environmental Impact Statement for the Issuance of an Incidental Take Statement Under the Endangered Species Act for Salmon Fisheries in Southeast Alaska Subject to the Pacific Salmon Treaty and Funding to the State of Alaska

October 02, 2024

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzes impacts of alternatives related to the issuance of an incidental take statement for species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act that are incidentally taken in the salmon fisheries in Southeast Alaska and funding to the State of Alaska to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

NOAA Fisheries announces the publication of the Final EIS for the issuance of an incidental take statement for salmon fisheries in Southeast Alaska subject to the Pacific Salmon Treaty. The EIS also addresses the funding to the State of Alaska to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

The Pacific Salmon Treaty provides a management framework for salmon fisheries in the United States and Canada, including salmon fisheries that occur in the ocean and inland waters and rivers flowing into these waters. Fisheries in federal and state waters off Southeast Alaska are managed consistent with the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

Compliance with the incidental take statement exempts participants in the Southeast Alaska salmon fisheries from the Endangered Species Act’s prohibition on incidental take of threatened and endangered species.

Background

In 2019, NOAA issued an Endangered Species Act biological opinion on two federal actions related to the Southeast Alaska salmon fisheries:

  1. Delegation of management authority over salmon fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (federal waters) in Southeast Alaska to the State of Alaska under the Fishery Management Plan for the Salmon Fisheries in the EEZ off Alaska.
  2. Federal funding through grants to the State of Alaska for the State’s management of commercial and sport salmon fisheries and transboundary river enhancement necessary to implement the 2019 Pacific Salmon Treaty Agreement.

The 2019 biological opinion included issuance of an incidental take statement that exempted incidental take of listed species by Southeast Alaska salmon fisheries in compliance with the terms and conditions in the incidental take statement.

As the result of a lawsuit on the 2019 biological opinion, Wild Fish Conservancy v. Quan, the district court found that NOAA Fisheries failed to conduct a National Environmental Policy Act analysis for the issuance of the incidental take statement. The court also concluded the 2019 biological opinion violated the ESA.

NOAA Fisheries initiated this EIS, and consulted and prepared a new biological opinion and ITS, to address the court’s findings. A draft EIS was published in January 2024 inviting public comments on its contents. This Final EIS includes summaries of the substantive comments received on the draft EIS and NMFS’s responses to those comments. The comments, responses, and changes made to the document are detailed in Chapter 8 of the EIS.

The EIS analyzes the effects of a reasonable range of alternatives for the proposed issuance of a new incidental take statement. The alternatives also consider proposed funding to the State of Alaska for its management of commercial and sport salmon fisheries and transboundary river enhancement subject to the Pacific Salmon Treaty. 

This EIS analyzes impacts of three alternatives:

  1. Alternative 1: Status quo —  Maintain the 2019 biological opinion and ITS and NOAA Fisheries continues to disburse funds through grants to the State of Alaska
  2. Alternative 2: Preferred — NOAA Fisheries issues a new biological opinion and incidental take statement, and NOAA Fisheries continues to disburse funds through grants to the State of Alaska 
  3. Alternative 3: NOAA Fisheries would not issue a new incidental take statement  and would not disburse funding to the State of Alaska

The preferred alternative is Alternative 2, the issuance of a new biological opinion and incidental take statement, which is responsive to the court’s order, and funding to the State to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

NOAA Fisheries intends to issue a Record of Decision for this action no less than 30 days after the publication of the EIS. The Record of Decision will be posted on this page. We invite the public to review the EIS, including how we addressed public comments on the Draft EIS. The deadline for public review is November 4, 2024.

NOAA Fisheries conducted a new Section 7 consultation on the federal actions related to the Southeast Alaska salmon fisheries in order to address the deficiencies identified by the court. At the conclusion of that consultation, NOAA Fisheries issued a new biological opinion and incidental take statement that concludes that the actions, and any associated incidental take, are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any species listed under the Endangered Species Act and are not likely to destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat. See the More Information box for the link to the new 2024 biological opinion and incidental take statement.

The court also concluded that NOAA Fisheries violated the National Environmental Policy Act by funding the prey increase program without preparing a NEPA analysis. NOAA Fisheries prepared a final programmatic EIS to evaluate different alternatives for the use of funding to increase prey availability for Southern Resident Killer Whales. The Prey Increase Program for Southern Resident Killer Whales page has more information on that project.

Last updated by Alaska Regional Office on 11/22/2024