NOAA holding ringed seal public hearings

The NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service has announced a schedule of public hearings to gather public comments on the proposed critical habitat for the Arctic ringed seal. In 2012 the Fisheries Service listed the seals as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, because of projected future reductions in the extent of the Arctic sea ice on which the seals live. In December the agency published a proposed critical habitat for the seals. The area encompassing the critical habitat includes the entirety of the U.S. Beaufort and Chukchi seas, and the northern part of the Bering Sea.

The Fisheries Service has now scheduled five public hearings in Alaska, as part of the public comment process for the critical habitat designation. The meetings are on Jan. 28 in Nome, on Feb. 2 in Anchorage, on Feb. 17 in Kotzebue, on Feb. 23 in Barrow, and on Feb. 26 in Bethel.

Members of the public may also submit comments on the habitat designation to the Fisheries Service electronically or by mail.

Comments must be filed by March 9, the Fisheries Service says.

- ALAN BAILEY