660.412—EFH identifications and descriptions for Pacific salmon.

Pacific salmon essential fish habitat (EFH) includes all those water bodies occupied or historically accessible in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California in hydrologic units identified in Table 1 of this subpart H. Exceptions include cases in which man-made barriers (dams) identified in Table 1 of this subpart H represent the upstream extent of Pacific salmon access. EFH also includes the marine and estuarine areas shoreward of state boundaries and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington State. To clearly identify watersheds that contain EFH, NMFS uses fourth field hydrologic unit codes (HUCs) developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (defined in the Department of the Interior, USGS publication; Hydrologic Unit Maps, Water Supply Paper 2294, 1987). The geographic extent of HUCs range from first field (largest geographic extent) to sixth field (smallest geographic extent). Fourth field HUCs divide the landscape into distinct geographic areas that are identified by eight numbers unique to that hydrologic unit.

(a) Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) EFH includes all streams, estuaries, marine waters, and other water bodies occupied or historically accessible to Chinook salmon in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California, in hydrologic units identified in Table 1 of this subpart H. Exceptions include cases in which man-made barriers (dams) identified in Table 1 of this subpart H represent the upstream extent of Pacific salmon access. EFH also includes the marine and estuarine areas shoreward of state boundaries and the EEZ off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California north or Point Conception.

(b) Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) EFH includes all streams, estuaries, marine waters, and other water bodies occupied or historically accessible to coho in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California, in hydrologic units identified in Table 1 of this subpart H. Exceptions include cases in which man-made barriers (dams) identified in Table 1 of this subpart H represent the upstream extent of Pacific salmon access. EFH also includes the marine and estuarine areas shoreward of state boundaries and the EEZ off the coasts Washington, Oregon, and California north of Point Conception.

(c) Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) EFH includes all streams, estuaries, marine waters, and other water bodies occupied or historically accessible to pink salmon within Washington State, in hydrologic units identified in Table 1 of this subpart H. Exceptions include cases in which man-made barriers (dams) identified in Table 1 of this subpart H represent the upstream extent of Pacific salmon access. EFH also includes waters north and east of Cape Flattery, Washington, including Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Strait of Georgia.

[73 FR 60988, Oct. 15, 2008]

CFR

660.412—EFH identifications and descriptions for Pacific salmon.