On September 26, 2023 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced a 12-month determination on a petition to revise the critical habitat designation for the North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) under the Endangered Species Act. The NMFS intends to revise critical habitat after receipt of a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity and Save the North Pacific Right Whale requesting revision to the critical habitat designation in March 2022. The petitioners proposed that the critical habitat be revised to connect the two existing critical habitat areas by extending the Bering Sea area boundary west and south to the Fox Islands, through Unimak Pass to the edge of the continental slope, and east to the Kodiak Island critical habitat area.
Map: Current North Pacific Right Whale Critical Habitat
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