Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of Designation of the Northern Sea Otter in the Aleutian Islands as a Candidate Species

Riepilogo

In this document, we present information on the recent addition of the northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) found in the Aleutian Islands to the list of candidates for listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Identification of candidate taxa can assist environmental planning efforts by providing advance notice of potential listings, allowing resource managers to alleviate threats and thereby possibly remove the need to list taxa as endangered or threatened. Even if we subsequently list this candidate species, the early notice provided here could result in fewer restrictions on activities by prompting candidate conservation measures to alleviate threats to this species. We also announce the availability of the candidate and listing priority assignment form for this candidate species. This document describes the status and threats that we evaluated to determine that the northern sea otter in the Aleutian Islands warrants consideration for listing, and to assign a listing priority to this species. We request additional status information that may be available for the northern sea otter. We will consider this information in evaluating, monitoring, and develo