11 
In April 2003, EPA published the final Regional Criteria Guidance document. At 
that time, EPA indicated that it had not made any irreversible or irretrievable 
commitment of resources that would foreclose the formulation or implementation of 
any reasonable and prudent alternatives to avoiding jeopardizing endangered or 
threatened species. 
On April 25, 2003, EPA submitted a final Biological Evaluation to NOAA Fisheries 
along with the published Regional Criteria Guidance and a letter requesting that 
NOAA Fisheries initiate formal consultation on the effects of the issuance of the 
dissolved oxygen criteria on shortnose sturgeon. The date April 25, 2003, serves as 
the initiation of formal consultation on the shortnose sturgeon for the issuance of the 
Regional Criteria Guidance. 
During the formal consultation process, EPA and NOAA Fisheries staff continued to 
hold discussions regarding the evaluation of the effects of EPA’s regional criteria on 
the shortnose sturgeon. On October 30, 2003, EPA management and staff traveled to 
NOAA Fisheries offices in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to provide technical informa¬ 
tion and background information on the Chesapeake Bay Program’s ambient water 
quality criteria, designated uses, monitoring program and predictive modeling 
assessments of water quality conditions of the Bay. Subsequently, communication 
between the respective staffs continued, through which EPA provided NOAA Fish¬ 
eries with requested data necessary to complete a determination analysis for the 
biological opinion. NOAA Fisheries communicated informally to the EPA that it 
concurred with EPA’s determination that the issuance of the Chesapeake Bay 
specific criteria would not affect endangered and threatened whales and that the 
issuance of the criteria for water clarity and chlorophyll a likely would beneficially 
affect federally listed sea turtles and the endangered shortnose sturgeon. However, 
NOAA Fisheries indicated that the issuance of the dissolved oxygen criteria may 
affect shortnose sturgeon and sea turtles. The effect of EPA’s issuance of the ambient 
water quality criteria on shortnose sturgeon and sea turtles was the subject of the 
consultation. 
BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION FINDINGS 
The EPA determined through consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
and the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service that the only endangered or threat¬ 
ened species under the NOAA Fisheries jurisdiction in the evaluation area that would 
potentially be affected was the endangered shortnose sturgeon ( Acipenser brevi- 
rostrum). All the other federally-listed species within the Chesapeake Bay and its 
tidal tributaries would either not be affected or would be beneficially affected by the 
issuance of the Regional Criteria Guidance. 
The EPA determined that the recommended water clarity criteria would not likely 
adversely effect the listed species evaluated. Furthermore, the EPA determined that 
chapter iii 
Key Findings Published in the EPA ESA Shortnose Sturgeon Biological Evaluation 
