NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that it is seeking comments by Wednesday, Feb. 28 on its proposed designation of 16 island units comprising 97 square miles of critical habitat for five Indo-Pacific coral species.
In doing so, NMFS announced its withdrawal of a 2020 proposal to designate 17 island units of critical habitat for seven Indo-Pacific coral species. In announcing the withdrawal, NFMS cited public comments and new information on the interpretation of the records of the listed corals and application to critical habitat in explaining its decision to withdraw and revise the proposed critical habitat designation.
