Feds Declare Critical Habitat For Black Abalone

On November 28, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) designated 360 square kilometers of California coast up to a depth of six meters as critical habitat for the black abalone.

This is great news for not only black abalone, a species whose numbers have declined rapidly in the last few decades and is listed under the Endangered Species Act, but also for the entire Californian nearshore ecosystem. Designating habitat as critical goes beyond the normal protections afforded an individual species listed under the Endangered Species Act. By protecting the species’s habitat and designating it as critical, the NMFS is protecting not just habitat currently occupied by black abalone but also potential habitat into which the species can expand and recover.

Once a habitat is listed as critical, any federal project (or project that receives federal assistance or requires federal permits) that affects the habitat must be identified, assessed, and its impacts mitigated if possible. For example, if an agricultural operation uses pesticides requiring a federal permit, they must prove that their operations will not negatively affect black abalone or the designated critical habitat into which they may expand. This is a huge step toward safeguarding the marine ecosystem for not only black abalone but for other wildlife that call the nearshore ecosystem their home as well, such as sea otters.