NEW ORLEANS, La. — About 685 miles of beaches and nearly 200,000 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico have been declared critical habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles.
It was the largest such federal designation in history, according to environmental groups that went to court to make the government designate habitat necessary for the turtles to recover.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed 88 nesting beaches in six states.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service listed marine areas including waters just off beaches, winter habitat in North Carolina, breeding areas in Florida and narrow migration corridors between the two. It also listed mats of Sargassum — also known as sea holly and Gulf weed — in the western Gulf of Mexico and in U.S. waters within the Atlantic Gulf Stream.
Two beaches totaling 37 miles of coast were deleted from the original proposal because officials already had plans in place to protect the turtles, agency spokesman Charles Underwood said.
A federal agency that names a critical habitat must be consulted before federal permits or contracts are issued there. The designation does not affect land ownership or create wildlife preserves or refuges.