![]() The expanded habitats wouldn’t be considered a natural refuge or preserve and the public would not be kept from enjoying the outdoors, officials said. The land areas being set aside under the Endangered Species Act are not expected to affect private landowners “unless they implement an action involving federal funds, permits or other activities,” NOAA officials said. In all, NOAA officials said the areas proposed for protection include about 8,850 acres of beaches and nearly 428,000 square miles of coastal waters. In addition to the protections in waters off Southern California, NOAA is also proposing the extension of critical habitats to include shorelines in Florida, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, the U.S. The groups argued in their lawsuit that although the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries, which share jurisdiction over sea turtles, previously determined that climate change and threats from sea level rise meant the turtles still needed Endangered Species Act protection, the agencies had failed to protect the turtle’s habitats. The proposed action follows a settlement agreement reached after three environmental groups, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sea Turtle Oversight Protection and the Turtle Island Restoration Network, filed a lawsuit in 2020 requesting greater protections for the endangered species. ![]() ![]() Some of the more significant habitats to be protected include eel grass and other plants critical to the turtles’ survival that are found at San Diego Bay and Mission Bay in San Diego County, Seal Beach, Anaheim Bay, the San Gabriel River, Long Beach and between Palos Verdes up to Santa Monica. ![]()
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