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April 8-9, 2003

Silver Spring, Maryland (NOAA Headquarters - Science Center)

RECOVERY CRITERIA

Presented by Jack Musick

Determining recovery criteria is a statutory requirement of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for recovery plans. The ESA states that each recovery plan shall incorporate, to the maximum extent practicable, "objective, measurable criteria which, when met, would result in a determination…that the species be removed from the list." Thus, the recovery criteria comprise the standards upon which the judgment or decision to reclassify or delist a species should be based.

Recovery criteria can also be viewed as targets, or values, by which progress toward achievement of recovery objectives can be measured. Recovery criteria may include such things as population numbers and sizes, management or elimination of threats by specific mechanisms, and specific habitat conditions. Evaluating a species for potential delisting requires an analysis of the five standard factors considered in the listing of the species. As a result, there is a need to frame recovery criteria in terms of both population parameters and in terms of the five listing factors. By doing this, the recovery program for a species is more likely to ensure that the underlying causes of a species decline have been addressed prior to considering a species for delisting or reclassification.

The Recovery Criteria in the 1991 recovery plan for the loggerhead states that the southeastern United States population of the loggerhead can be considered for delisting if, over a period of 25 years, the following conditions are met:

1. The adult female population in Florida is increasing and in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, it has returned to pre-listing nesting levels (NC = 800 nests/season; SC = 10,000 nests/season; GA = 2,000 nests/season).
2. At least 25 percent (560 km) of all available nesting beaches (2240 km) is in public ownership, is distributed over the entire nesting range and encompasses greater than 50 percent of the nesting activity.
3. All priority one tasks have been successfully implemented.

The current Recovery Team is charged with developing new Recovery Criteria for the second revision of the Atlantic loggerhead recovery plan. Below are a few broad examples of Recovery Criteria (for each of the five listing factors) that will be considered by the Recovery Team.

1. Present or Threatened Destruction, Modification, or Curtailment of Habitat or Range

Terrestrial

• Protection of nesting habitat
• Light management plans
• Shoreline armoring management
• Beach nourishment management
• Coastal development management

Marine (estuarine, neritic, and oceanic)

• Protection of foraging, internesting, and migratory habitats

2. Overutilization for Commercial, Recreational, Scientific, or Educational Purposes

• Protect population from directed legal harvest in other countries

3. Disease or Predation

• Control nest predation
• Identify and evaluate disease relative to loggerhead recovery

4. The Inadequacy of Existing Regulatory Mechanisms

• Appropriate Federal, state, and local legislation is maintained and/or developed and in place to adequately protect the specific needs of sea turtles (terrestrial and marine)
• Appropriate international legislation/multi-lateral instruments are in place to ensure protection of sea turtles when on the high seas and in foreign waters

5. Other Natural or Manmade Factors Affecting Its Continued Existence

• Reduce mortality associated with commercial fisheries
• Reduce non-fisheries mortality associated with identified threats (e.g., boat strikes, entanglements, pollution)

• Meeting Overview
• Agenda
• Participant List - PDF 152KB