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ESA Section 7: Interagency Consultation in the Southeast United States

Section 7 requires federal agencies to ensure actions they authorize do not jeopardize the existence of any species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

This information provides federal action agencies, or their representatives, with information and materials needed to consult with NOAA Fisheries on federal actions that may affect Endangered Species Act-listed marine species and their designated critical habitat within the Southeast Region (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands). 

First, action agencies need to know which listed species or designated critical habitat occur in their project areas. 

Species and critical habitat found in the Southeast Region  

Next, action agencies need to determine if ESA consultation is required. Consultation is not required if the action agency determines that the proposed project will have “no effect” to listed species or designated critical habitat. This means that a listed species or designated critical habitat will not be affected (adversely or beneficially), either because it will not be present or because the project does not have any elements with the potential to affect the species or critical habitat. If listed species or critical habitat may be affected, then consultation is required.  

All informal Section 7 consultation requests must be submitted in the expedited consultation format as of February 1, 2022.

The following sections are provided to help you determine whether consultation is necessary and how to develop a consultation request:

Submitting a Request

To submit a consultation request, the action agency should follow these steps

For Additional Help

We strongly encourage action agency staff or non-federal representatives who may need to do ESA consultations to contact us:

     Phone: (727) 824-5312

     Email: nmfs.ser.esa.consultations@noaa.gov
 

We are happy to provide you with assistance and guidance—before you begin the official ESA consultation process—to make the process easier, quicker, and more efficient.

To report incidental take, please fill out the Endangered Species Take Report Form

Last updated by Southeast Regional Office on December 06, 2023