Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Threatened Species Status With Section 4(d) Rule for Clear Lake Hitch

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the Clear Lake hitch (Lavinia exilicauda chi), a freshwater fish subspecies in the North American minnow family that is restricted to the Clear Lake watershed in Lake County, California, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list the Clear Lake hitch. After a review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the Clear Lake hitch is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the Clear Lake hitch as a threatened species with protective regulations issued under section 4(d) of the Act ("4(d) rule"). If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add the Clear Lake hitch to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to this subspecies.