The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated approximately 39,000 square miles of critical habitat for the spectacled eider in Alaska in four different locations: in the Bering Sea between St. Lawrence and St. Matthew islands; in Norton Sound east of Nome; in Ledyard Bay between Cape Lisburne and Icy Cape; and on the coastal fringe of parts of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
More than 97 percent of spectacled eider critical habitat is in marine waters seldom used by commercial fishermen. Of the portion on land, more than 95 percent is within areas managed by the Federal government. Less than 1 percent of the designation falls on Native lands. The remaining 4 percent are along shorelines where the water is managed by the State of Alaska.
"The designation will help focus attention on the habitat needs of this threatened sea duck," said David B. Allen, the Service
