Reinitiated Biological and Conference Opinion Consultation on the United States Coast Guard Federal Aids to Navigation Program

The USCG’s ATON program includes the establishment, operation,
maintenance, and discontinuance of approximately 31,000 federal navigation aids, such as
buoys and beacons, in navigable waters of the United States to promote the safety of
maritime traffic. The USCG has operated and maintained ATON since the late 1930s, and most
existing ATON have been in place for decades.

ESA section 7 consultations have been done previously on the ATON program activities. In
2018, NMFS completed a formal ESA section 7 programmatic consultation on the USCG’s
implementation of the ATON program which establishes, maintains, and discontinues
advertised signals in the water and on land visible to mariners.

The 2018 programmatic biological opinion1 evaluated the effects of the ATON program
activities on ESA-listed species and critical habitat throughout the action area and concluded
the USCG was able to insure the implementation of this program was not likely to jeopardize
the continued existence of any listed species or adversely modify any critical habitat (NMFS
2018). The 2018 programmatic biological opinion established standard project design criteria
to be implemented during the establishment, maintenance, and discontinuance of ATON, as
well as annual reporting requirements describing ATON activities.