National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration May 11, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, NMFS, have completed comprehensive status reviews under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for two foreign marine species in response to a petition to list those species. These species are the undulate ray (Raja undulata) and the greenback parrotfish (Scarus trispinosus). We have determined that, based on the best scientific and commercial data available, listing the undulate ray under the ESA is not warranted and listing the greenback parrotfish under the ESA is not warranted. We conclude that the undulate ray and the greenback parrotfish are not currently in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of their respective ranges and are not likely to become so within the foreseeable future.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, the Services), are amending the incidental take statement provisions of the implementing regulations for section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The two primary purposes of the amendments are to address the use of surrogates to express the amount or extent of anticipated incidental take and to refine the basis for development of incidental take statements for programmatic actions. These changes are intended to improve the clarity and effectiveness of incidental take statements. The Services believe these regulatory changes are a reasonable exercise of their discretion in interpreting particularly challenging aspects of section 7 of the ESA related to incidental take statements.