Home   For the Media   Contact Us
Click here to learn more about ASBPA memberships.
Support ASBPA- Become a member!
ASBPAASBPAASBPAASBPA
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Chapters
      • California Shore & Beach Preservation Association
      • Central Gulf Coast Chapter, ASBPA
      • Great Lakes Shore & Beach Preservation Association
      • Hawaii Shore and Beach Preservation Association
      • Mid-Atlantic Chapter, ASBPA
      • Northeast Shore and Beach Preservation Association
      • Students & New Professionals
      • Texas Chapter of ASBPA
    • Leadership
    • Awards Programs
    • Partners
    • Committees
    • Support Us
  • Conferences
    • Upcoming Conference
    • Future Meetings
    • Past Meetings
  • Resources
    • Shore & Beach Journal
    • Coastal Voice E-Newsletter
    • American Beach News Service
    • White Papers/Fact Sheets
    • Coastal Universities Guide
    • National Beach Nourishment Database
    • ASBPA/CSO/USACE Sediment Placement Regulations Project
    • Southeast Coastal Communities Water Level Observation System
  • Members
    • Join or Renew
    • Our Members
  • Get Involved
    • Science and Technology
    • Policy
    • Funding
    • Committees
    • Support Us
    • Blue Flag USA

Comments on NMFS Regulatory Process

August 21, 2017Press Releasesasbpa_ed

Sea Turtle Nest on Sanibel Island, FL

On August 21st, ASBPA – together with our friends at Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association – submitted comments to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) on how to streamline National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) permitting and regulatory process.

As many of our members well know, coastal restoration and resilience projects, particularly those in the Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern United States, are often delayed and incur additional expenses due to backlogs and delays in NMFS regulatory and review processes. These extended delays and excessively long consultations are directly related to the federal government’s attempt to comply with Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). For several years, ASBPA has been working with NMFS Protected Resources Division (PRD) staff to identify the underlying causes of these delays and excessively long consultation time periods. We have found three primary causes: a) an underfunded agency; b) a culture of risk aversion that has led to too many individual consultations, and c) overly bureaucratic protocols.

Our comments address each of these causes, and make specific recommendations to address them. Our solutions range from allowing states to fund NMFS permit review staff to expedite reviews, to requiring regular updates to programmatic biological opinions (BOs), to removing layers of legal approvals, and more. Fixing NMFS regulatory does not have a silver bullet solution, but we believe combining many small solutions could significantly improve the process.

ASBPA Comments on Streamlining NMFS Regulatory Processes (PDF – 127kb)

Tags: Endangered Species Act, federal funding, NMFS, NOAA, Permitting, Regulatory

Related Articles

Congress passes Disaster Response bill

February 12, 2018asbpa_ed

NYC Office of Resilience on the Capitol Beach

March 13, 2020asbpa_ed

Podcast on the Digital Coast Act

December 31, 2020asbpa_ed

UPCOMING CONFERENCE: COASTAL SUMMIT

COASTAL UNIVERSITIES GUIDE:

Coastal Universities Guide

NEW ISSUE:

SHORE & BEACH

Latest Issue of Shore & Beach Magazine

NATIONAL BEACH NOURISHMENT DATABASE:

National Beach Nourishment Database

MEDIA PARTNERS:

BECOME A MEMBER!

Please consider joining the ASBPA.

CLICK TO LEARN MORE

 

QUICK LINKS

News

Next Conference

Members

About Us

Back to Top

CONTACT US

General Inquiries

For the Media

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Copyright ASBPA 2022 | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions View our latest 990