Description: Essential Fish Habitat are those areas that have been identified and described by species and lifestage. Fish require healthy surroundings to survive and reproduce. Essential fish haitat includes all types of aquatic habitat - wetlands, coral reefs, sea-grasses, rivers - where fish spawn, breed, feed, or growh to maturity. EFH Mapper Data is a combination of three existing data layers: Essential Fish Habitat (EFH), Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC) and EFH Areas Protected from Fishing (EFHA).
Description: The EFH designation for Atlantic salmon includes the rivers, estuaries, and bays which exhibit the environmental conditions defined in the text description. There are two parts of the text description, one for fresh water spawning and rearing habitats and one for habitats used during migrations to and from the ocean, each with information specific to certain life history stages. Smaller tributaries not shown on the map would also be EFH for one or more life stage as long as they conform to the proposed habitat descriptions. All river systems proposed for designation form a direct connection to the sea, but EFH would not include portions of rivers above naturally occurring barriers to upstream migration or land-locked lakes and ponds. The oceanic component of EFH is limited to a distance of three miles from the mouth of each river.
Copyright Text: Greater Atlantic Region / NOAA Fisheries / Office of Habitat Conservation / Habitat Protection Division