20221392 Ver 1_USFWS Comments_20230118

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE
Southeast Regional Office
263 13th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5505
https://www.fisheries.noaa.goviregion/southeast
January 10, 2023 F/SER47:FR/pw
(Sent via Electronic Mail)
Colonel Benjamin A. Bennett, Commander
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District
69 Darlington Avenue
Wilmington, North Carolina 28403-1398
Attention: Sarah Hair
Dear Colonel Bennett:
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) reviewed the public notice for Action ID
No. SAW-2022-02209, dated December 8, 2022. The applicant, Mr. Bryan Hanson, proposes to
construct a private, single -slip docking facility in waters of Harlowe Creek, adjacent to 221
Settlement Lane, in the Mill Creek subdivision, Carteret County. The Wilmington District's
initial determination is the proposed project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect,
essential fish habitat (EFH) or associated fisheries managed by the South Atlantic Fishery
Management Council (SAFMC), Mid -Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), or the
NMFS. As the nation's federal trustee for the conservation and management of marine,
estuarine, and diadromous fishery resources, the NMFS provides the following comments
pursuant to authorities of the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act and the Magnuson -Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson -Stevens Act).
The applicant proposes to construct a fixed pier, fixed platform, floating platform, and a boat lift.
The proposed pier would be six feet wide and 760 feet long. The proposed pier would originate
at the high ground on the property and traverse salt marsh into Harlowe Creek. At the pier's
waterward terminus, the applicant proposes a, 160-square-foot, fixed "L" platform. On the
northern side of the proposed fixed platform, the applicant proposes a boat lift (13 feet by 13
feet). On the southern terminus of the platform, the applicant proposes an aluminum gangway
(three feet by 12 feet) connecting to a 120-square-foot floating platform. The water depth within
the area of the proposed boat lift is -2.0 feet NLW, based on an amendment to the application we
received from the NC Division of Coastal Management on January 10, 2023. The dock would
shade and incorporate 3,300 square feet of coastal wetlands and usurp 2,360 square feet of
shallow -water habitat.
The SAFMC identifies salt marsh and sub -tidal bottom in estuarine waters as EFH for penaeid
shrimp and estuarine species within the snapper/grouper complex. SAFMC identifies these areas
as EFH because shrimp and fish concentrate in these habitats for feeding and refuge and
experience high growth and survival rates when located in these habitats. The SAFMC provides
detailed information on the EFH requirements of managed species in a comprehensive
amendment to its fishery management plans and in Fishery Ecosystem Plan of the South Atlantic
Region. The MAFMC designates tidal creeks and the estuarine waters as EFH for summer
PEA

flounder and bluefish. Detailed information about the EFH requirements of species managed by
MAFMC are included in separate amendments to individual fishery management plans. Other
species of commercial or recreational importance found in the project area include red drum,
Atlantic croaker, spot, Atlantic menhaden, bay anchovy, striped mullet, weakfish, blue crab, and
eastern oyster. A number of these species serve as prey for fish the SAFMC, MAFMC, or
NMFS manage. Finally, the NC Division of Marine Fisheries designates waters at the site as a
Primary Nursery Area. The SAFMC identifies state -identified nursery areas as a Habitat Area of
Particular Concern (HAPC) for shrimp and estuarine fishes in the snapper/grouper complex.
HAPCs are a subset of EFH that are rare, particularly susceptible to human -induced degradation,
especially important ecologically, or located in an environmentally stressed area.
As proposed, the dock does not reflect all practicable avoidance and minimization of impacts to
EFH from shading and physical disturbances to salt marsh and shallow -water habitat. NMFS
recommends decreasing the walkway width to 4.0 feet, placing stops on the boat lift at least 1.5
feet above the mudline to prevent impacts during low tide, and abiding by the moratorium the
state identifies in the North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan (i.e., no in -water
construction from April 1 to September 30).
Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments. Please direct related questions or
comments to the attention of Mr. Fritz Rohde at our Beaufort Field Office, 101 Pivers Island
Road, Beaufort, North Carolina 28516-9722 or at [e-mail].
cc: COE, [e-mail]
USFWS, [e-mail]
NCDCM, [e-mail]
NCDWR, [e-mail]
NCDMF, [e-mail]
EPA, [e-mail]
F/SER47, [e-mail]
/for
Sincerely,
WILBER.THOMAS.
PAYSON.1365820
186
Digitally signed by
W I LBER.THOMAS.PAYSON.1365
820186
Date: 2023.01.10 17:52:00
-05'00'
Virginia M. Fay
Assistant Regional Administrator
Habitat Conservation Division
2