U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The U.S.F.W.S. in coordination with the Countrywide Marine Fisheries Service has completed its evaluation of the petition to list the American eel as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act and determined that substantial biological information exists to warrant a more in-depth examination of its status . This finding will commence with a status review of the species, and once the review is complete, the Services will determine whether to propose listing the species.
?During the review, a review period will serve as an invitation to provide biological information so we will have all the best accessible scientific information on which to base decisions,? the U.S.F.W.S.?s Northeast Regional Director Marvin Moriarty said.
The American eel lives from Greenland south along the North American coast to Brazil in South America. In the U.S. it lives inland to the Great Lakes and in the Mississippi River drainage.
Today?s decision, commonly known as a 90-Day Finding, is based on scientific information about the species provided in the petition requesting listing of the species under the Act. The finding is published in today?s Federal Register. The finding on the petition does not mean that the Services have decided it is appropriate to list the American eel. Rather, this finding is the 1st step in a long process that triggers a more thorough review of all the biological information available. This process, which includes a request for input from the public, should be completed within twelve months of receiving the petition. This status review will determine whether the American eel warrants protection.
To ensure this status review is comprehensive, the Services are soliciting information from State and Federal natural resource agencies, tribes, other countries, and interested parties regarding the American eel.
Based on the status review, the Services jointly will decide if listing is warranted. If listing is not warranted, no further action will be taken.
If listing is warranted, one of the Services will publish a suggestion to list, solicit independent scientific peer review of the proposal, seek input from the public, and consider the input before a final decision is made about listing the species. Generally, there is a one-year period between the time a species is suggested and the final decision.
The only freshwater eel in the Western hemisphere, American eels begin their lives in the mid-Atlantic Sargasso Sea. About a year later, they migrate to freshwater rivers and lakes and coastal areas where they live for 7 to 30 years. At maturity, eels return to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die. Because the eel spends a portion of its life in the marine environment and a portion of its life in freshwater, it falls under the responsibilities of both agencies, so they work together on the issue.
Douglas Harold Watts of Augusta, Maine, and Timothy Allan Watts of South Middleborough, Mass., petitioned the 2 Services to extend ESA protection to the American eel. Prior to receiving the petition, the Services had already agreed to review the American eel status at the request of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (representing 15 states from Maine to Florida) in light of an apparent decline in commercial eel harvest.
Anyone wishing to submit information regarding the American eel may do so by writing to: Martin Miller, Chief, Endangered Species, Northeast Regional Office, U.S.F.W.S., 300 Westgate Center Drive, Hadley, Massachusetts 01035 or by electronic mail to: AmericanEel@fws.gov. Comments must be received by Sept. 4, 2005.
For more information about the American eel and this finding, please visit the U.S.F.W.S.?s Web location at http://northeast.fws.gov/ameel/.
The U.S.F.W.S. is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 National wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 Countrywide fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
NOAA?s Countrywide Marine Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation?s living marine resources and their habitat through scientific research, management and enforcement. N.O.A.A. Fisheries Service provides effective stewardship of these resources for the
benefit of the nation, supporting coastal communities that depend upon them, and helping to provide safe and healthy seafood to consumers and recreational opportunities for the American public.
