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WCR Marine Salmon Essential Fish Habitat

Published by West Coast Regional Office | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 12:36 AM | Dataset Last Updated: July 21, 2026 at 07:40 PM
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requires that regional management councils describe EFH in their fishery management plans (FMPs), that they minimize to the extent practicable adverse effects on EFH from fishing activities, and that federal agencies consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service on activities that may adversely affect EFH, among other things. Actions that occur outside of EFH, but that may adversely affect EFH, also warrant an EFH consultation. EFH means those waters and substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity (50 CFR 600.10). FMPs must describe and identify EFH in text that clearly states the habitats or habitat types determined to be EFH for each life stage of the managed species, if possible. The text descriptions are ultimately determinative of the limits of EFH. Those text descriptions of marine salmon EFH can be found in the Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP) available on the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) website: https://www.pcouncil.org/. In addition, FMPs must include maps that display, within the constraints of available information, the geographic locations of EFH or the geographic boundaries within which EFH for each species and life stage is found (50 CFR 600.815(a)(1)(v)(A)). This Geographic Information System (GIS) data which depicts the EFH of marine salmon within the EEZ off the U.S. West Coast, was developed to meet that requirement.This geodatabase (GDB) contains three feature classes, providing marine EFH data for the following species:Chinook salmonCoho salmonPuget Sound Pink salmon Naming Convention: The names of the GDB and its feature classes include the date (YYYYMMDD) that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approved Amendment 18 to the FMP, updating the marine salmon EFH components.Citation details for 79 FR 75450Fisheries Off West Coast States; West Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 18 to the Salmon Fishery Management PlanA Rule by the Commerce Department, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationPublication date: December 18, 2014Effective date: January 20, 2015

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