Federal fisheries managers have agreed to consider designating critical habitat for endangered leatherback sea turtles in the Pacific ocean off Oregon and California.
NOAA Fisheries officials said Thursday, Oct 8, they will make a decision whether to go forward by Dec. 4 under terms of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by conservation groups.
The groups had sued the government for failing to follow through on their petition to designate critical habitat.
Pacific leatherbacks migrate each year from nesting areas in Indonesia to feed on jellyfish in the California current between Lincoln City, Ore., and Point Conception, Calif.
Conservation groups have proposed designating that broad swath of ocean as critical habitat to encompass feeding areas as well as migration routes, said Ben Enticknap of the group Oceana.
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