The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today a proposal to designate approximately 10,003 acres of critical habitat for the federally endangered tidewater goby, a small California fish. The critical habitat includes land in portions of Del Norte, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Ventura counties in California.
Critical habitat is a term defined in the Endangered Species Act. It identifies geographic areas containing features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and may require special management considerations or protections.
The tidewater goby inhabits areas that include persistent, shallow, still-to-slow-moving aquatic habitat; sand, silt, or mud that is suitable for the construction of burrows; submerged aquatic vegetation; and the presence of one or more sandbars across the mouth of a lagoon or estuary. In the proposed critical habitat designation, approximately 72 percent of such areas are on state lands. Of the remaining designated lands, 15 percent are privately held, 11 percent are federally-managed, and 2 percent are administered by local agencies.
The Service is excluding the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County and Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County from the proposal because these bases have completed Integrated Natural Resource Management Plans that provide conservation benefits to the tidewater goby.
The tidewater goby is a small, grey-brown fish rarely exceeding two inches in length. Male tidewater gobies are nearly transparent with a mottled brownish upper surface. Female tidewater gobies develop darker colors, often black, on the body and dorsal and anal fins. The fish lives approximately one year and occurs in lagoons, estuaries, marshes, and freshwater tributaries along the west coast of California. They are occasionally found in freshwater streams that are up-gradient and tributary to brackish habitats.
The Service is preparing a draft economic analysis of the proposed critical habitat, which will be released for public review and comment at a later date. Copies of the rule can be obtained by downloading the document from the Federal Register Web site or from http://ventura.fws.gov under "News Room," by writing to the address above, or by calling 805/644-1766.
Public comments on the proposed rule will be accepted for 60 days?until Jan. 29, 2007. Comments may be mailed to: Field Supervisor, Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, CA 93003, or they can be submitted electronically to: fw8gobypch@fws.gov">.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 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 97-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 546 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 Fish and Wildlife Management 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.
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