EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

minimize or avoid adverse effects of a proposed action on ESA-listed species or critical habitat,
to help implement recovery plans, or to develop information.
The following conservation recommendations would provide information for future consultation
involving EPA’s issuance and implementation of VGPs:
1. Review more stringent ballast water, hull fouling, and hull husbandry requirements of
States and other nations to evaluate their practicability for incorporation in future
permits.
2. Begin information ESA Section 7 consultation (“preconsultation”) well in advance of
the publishing the draft permits in the Federal Register for public comment. This will
allow EPA to incorporate recommended actions designed to protect listed resources
into its permits at an early stage and receive public comment on these actions.
In order to keep NMFS’ Endangered Species Division informed of actions minimizing or
avoiding adverse effects, or benefiting ESA-listed species or their habitats, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency should notify the Endangered Species Division of any
conservation recommendations they implement in their final action.
Reinitiation Notice
This concludes formal consultation on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s issuance of
the Vessel General Permit and the Small Vessel General Permit. As provided in 50 CFR 402.16,
reinitiation of formal consultation is required where discretionary Federal agency involvement or
control over the action has been retained (or is authorized by law) and if: (1) New information
reveals effects of the agency action that may affect endangered or threatened species under
NMFS’ jurisdiction or to designated critical habitat in a manner or to an extent not considered in
this Opinion (e.g. if EPA were to fail to execute the monitoring and reporting or other
commitments it made during ESA Section 7 consultation which are cited in this Biological
Opinion as partial justification for NMFS’ determination that the proposed action would not
jeopardize any ESA-listed endangered or threatened species under NMFS’ jurisdiction or destroy
or adversely modify any critical habitat that has been designated for those species); (2) The
agency action is subsequently modified in a manner that causes an effect to the ESA-listed
species or critical habitat not considered in this Opinion; (3) A new species is listed or critical
habitat designated that may be affected by the action; or (4) The amount or extent of take
specified in the incidental take statement is exceeded. In instances where the amount or extent of
take specified in the incidental take statement is exceeded, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency must immediately request reinitiation of Section 7 consultation.
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