Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) =

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• Essential Fish Habitat (EFH)
• those waters and substrates necessary to fish
  for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to
  maturity

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Recovery and Subsequent Maintenance of Fisheries

• Based, in part, on the quality and quantity of
  habitat
• especially for the early life history stages
  (larvae and juveniles)

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Problems

• Degradation, alteration and destruction of
  habitat is ongoing
• Lack sufficient information to effectively
  identify the most important habitats to conserve
  and restore

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Recommendations

• Habitat issues are central to the future health
  of our estuarine and oceanic fisheries, thus the
  organizational structure and monies necessary to
  address/refine Essential Fish Habitat are
  critical
• Need for collaborative programs between federal,
  state and academic scientists
• Research and monitoring programs for fish and
  shellfish populations need to be long-term in
  order to comprehend the effects of changes in the
  ocean, whether natural or human-induced

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Recommendations (cont.)

• Habitat research on finfishes and shellfishes
  should be conducted with high frequency because
  of the dynamic use of habitats due to
  movements/migrations on a variety of temporal
  scales (tidal, diel, seasonal, annual)
• Research and monitoring programs necessary to
  address the role of habitat, as it influences
  population fluctuations, have to be conducted at
  landscape/ecosystem scales especially important
  across the freshwater/estuary/ocean continuum
• Based on the above, habitat conservation and
  restoration should receive enhanced support at
  all levels of government

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• Essential Fish Habitat (EFH)
• those waters and substrates necessary to fish
  for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to
  maturity
• EFH (revised)
• those waters and substrates necessary to fish
  for spawning and growth to maturity

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