Reissuance of the Pesticide General Permit for Discharge of Pesticide Pollutants Into Waters of the United States
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NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT SECTION 7 BIOLOGICAL AND CONFERENCE OPINION Title: Reissuance of the Pesticide General Permit for Discharge of Pesticide Pollutants into Waters of the United States Consultation Conducted By: Endangered Species Act Interagency Cooperation Division of the Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service Action Agency: United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water Publisher: Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce Approved: Director, Office of Protected Resources Date: ________________ Consultation Tracking number: OPR-2021-00534 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.25923/6t26-q959 This page left blank intentionally Tracking No. OPR-2021-00534 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 7 1.1.1 The ESA Eligibility Requirement for Coverage Under an EPA General Permit 7 1.1.2 Prior ESA Section 7 Consultations ........................................................................... 8 1.1.3 NPDES Compliance................................................................................................ 10 1.1.4 Consultation History ............................................................................................... 10 2 The Assessment Framework .............................................................................................. 11 2.1 Information Used in this Assessment ............................................................................. 16 3 Description of the Action .................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Anticipated Number of Dischargers ............................................................................... 18 3.2 Conservation Measures to Avoid Exposure ................................................................... 18 4 Action Area .......................................................................................................................... 18 5 Species and Designated and Proposed Critical Habitat Considered in this Opinion ... 19 5.1 Recent Listings and Listing Updates, Designated and Proposed Critical Habitat ......... 23 5.1.1 Gulf of Mexico Bryde’s Whale............................................................................... 23 5.1.2 Chambered Nautilus................................................................................................ 24 5.1.3 Oceanic Whitetip Shark .......................................................................................... 25 5.1.4 Giant Manta Ray ..................................................................................................... 25 5.1.5 Updated Green Turtle Listing ................................................................................. 26 5.1.6 Critical Habitat Designated for the Atlantic Sturgeon ............................................ 27 5.1.7 Critical Habitat Proposed for Indo-Pacific and Caribbean ESA-Listed Corals 28 5.1.8 Revision to Critical Habitat Proposed for Southern Resident Killer Whale ........... 28 5.2 Updates to the 2016 PGP Status of Species ................................................................... 29 5.2.1 The 2017–2020 North Atlantic Right Whale Unusual Mortality Event ................. 30 5.2.2 Southern Resident Killer Whale ............................................................................. 30 5.2.3 Pre-spawn Mortality of Coho Salmon .................................................................... 31 i Tracking No. OPR-2021-00534 5.2.4 Atlantic Salmon, Gulf of Maine DPS ..................................................................... 31 5.2.5 Loggerhead Turtle, North Pacific DPS ................................................................... 32 5.2.6 Disease and Hurricane Impacts on Caribbean Corals ............................................. 32 6 Updates to the Environmental Baseline ............................................................................ 34 6.1 East Coast ....................................................................................................................... 34 6.2 Puerto Rico ..................................................................................................................... 37 6.2.1 Hurricanes in 2017 .................................................................................................. 37 6.3 Texas .............................................................................................................................. 38 6.4 West Coast...................................................................................................................... 39 6.5 Pacific Territories ........................................................................................................... 40 6.6 Climate Change .............................................................................................................. 41 7 Effects of the Action ............................................................................................................ 42 7.1 Updates to Effects of the Action Under the 2021 PGP .................................................. 43 7.1.1 Effects Caused by Changes to the Action Area ...................................................... 43 7.1.2 Changes in Effects of the 2021 PGP Due to Recently Designated or Proposed Critical Habitat ...................................................................................................... 44 7.1.3 Influence of Recent Toxicity Data on the Effects of the 2021 PGP ....................... 44 7.1.4 Influence of Changes in Permit Implementation on the Effects of the 2021 PGP 44 7.2 Summary: Effects of the Action under the 2021 PGP ................................................... 45 8 Cumulative Effects .............................................................................................................. 46 8.1 United States Population Growth ................................................................................... 47 8.2 Climate Change .............................................................................................................. 49 9 Integration and Synthesis of Effects .................................................................................. 53 10 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 57 11 Reasonable and Prudent Alternative ................................................................................ 58 11.1 RPA Element One .......................................................................................................... 58 11.2 RPA Element Two ......................................................................................................... 59 11.3 RPA Element Three ....................................................................................................... 61 11.4 RPA Element Four ......................................................................................................... 63 ii Tracking No. OPR-2021-00534 12 Incidental Take Statement ................................................................................................. 64 12.1 Amount of Take ............................................................................................................. 65 12.2 Reasonable and Prudent Measures ................................................................................. 67 12.2.1 Terms and Conditions ............................................................................................. 67 13 Conservation Recommendations ....................................................................................... 69 14 Reinitiation Notice .............................................................................................................. 70 15 Literature Cited .................................................................................................................. 71 iii Tracking No. OPR-2021-00534 LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 1. NMFS’ determinations for pesticide re-registrations consulted upon for West Coast species and the frequency those pesticides occurred in PGP annual reports over the 2016-2021 PGP permit term. ................................................................................ 9 Table 2. Endangered and threatened species evaluated in this opinion ........................................ 20 LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1. Preparation, submittal, and approval sequence for documents required under the ESA Eligibility Certification process of the PGP ........................................................... 8 Figure 2. Map of Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whale core distribution area as of June 2019............................................................................................................................................... 24 Figure 3. Distance from shore where ocean depths are greater than 150 meters (Bathymetry - TNC raster derived 50 meter contours medium resolution NAD83). ................... 25 Figure 4. Map depicting DPS boundaries for green turtles .........................................................