NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service seeks comments on its proposal to establish definitions and procedures for establishing and/or designating certain populations of species otherwise listed as endangered or threatened as experimental populations, determining whether experimental populations are essential or non-essential, and issuing protective measures for experimental populations.
Under Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act, populations of listed species that would benefit from being translocated to unoccupied portions of its range can be designated as “experimental” (treated as threatened).
Comments on this proposed rule must be received no later than October 2, 2015. To submit, see the announcement here.