The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is partnering with the National Marine Fisheries Service as they commit to improve and strengthen the Endangered Species Act (ESA) after releasing a plan of action in June.
The commitment to implement the ESA comes after the Biden-Harris Administration ordered federal agencies to review and address agency actions during the last four years that may conflict with the Administration's objectives like the need to address climate change.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is committed to working with diverse federal, Tribal, state and industry partners to not only protect and recover America’s imperiled wildlife but to ensure cornerstone laws like the Endangered Species Act are helping us meet 21st-century challenges,” Fish and Wildlife Service Principal Deputy Director Martha Williams said in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release. “We look forward to continuing these conservation collaborations and to ensuring our efforts are fully transparent and inclusive.”
After the Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed their policies, they discovered five ESA regulations from the prior administration that they will revise, rescind, or reinstate. These include; rescind regulations that revised Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS’) process for considering exclusions from critical habitat designations, rescind regulatory definition of habitat, revise regulations for listing species and designating critical habitat, revise regulations for interagency cooperation and reinstate protections for species listed as threatened under ESA, according to the press release.
“NOAA Fisheries is committed to the protection, conservation, and recovery of endangered and threatened marine species,” Paul Doremus, Acting Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries said in the press release. “We are proud to work with a range of federal, Tribal, state and community partners to achieve conservation successes, and look forward to continuing these shared efforts through clear and transparent Endangered Species Act regulations.”
