This report describes baseline economic and regulatory conditions, overall economic impacts, impacts on national security, and other relevant impacts associated with the designation of fourteen separate occupied critical habitat units for the Carolina and South Atlantic distinct population segments (DPSs) of Atlantic sturgeon and three unoccupied units of critical habitat. Many impacts of the designation have not been quantified or monetized and so are described qualitatively. Information about numbers and types of past consultations in each critical habitat unit and input from federal agencies provided a basis for estimating the likely numbers of future consultations and related costs in different areas. This report also includes a discretionary exclusion analysis pursuant to section 4(b)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)