The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Habitat Committee on June 15 briefed the full council on emerging habitat issues including a new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) five‑year Outer Continental Shelf leasing process for 2025–2030, and a presidential memorandum that disrupted planned environmental review for the Columbia River System.

The committee’s chair, Dr. Scott Hapel, told the council the Habitat Committee met virtually June 2 and “the habitat committee met virtually 06/02/2025 to discuss current habitat related issues.” He said BOEM has issued a request for information on the new leasing program and that “the 45‑day public comment period closes 06/16/2025.”

Why it matters: the BOEM request outlines planned areas across the Pacific, Alaska and Gulf regions and asks about uses of the seabed including fisheries and marine productivity. The committee signaled the council should track the process closely because state comment letters from California, Oregon and Washington may be forthcoming and future federal environmental reviews could raise fisheries concerns.

Committee report details — Columbia River and NEPA: Hapel reported the presidential memorandum issued June 12, 2025, and stated that it “removes the federal government from the Columbia Basin agreement” and rescinded earlier memoranda and an existing notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement for Columbia River System operations (CRSO). He said the Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation — the co‑lead agencies on CRSO — have extended the public comment period for the supplemental EIS to Aug. 15, 2025, and that the agencies will reissue a notice of intent on a new schedule. The committee therefore will not prepare the draft council comment letter it had planned for this summer.

Other federal and regional items: the committee reported FERC has revised the schedule for the Hells Canyon hydropower relicensing supplemental EIS, and noted a formalized Yuba River Resilience Initiative agreement among Yuba Water Agency, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. Hapel summarized the Yuba agreement as including construction of a new fishway around Daguerre Point Dam, a modernized diversion to protect downstream migrating fish, and a reintroduction program for spring‑run Chinook above New Bullards Bar.

Research note — marine heat waves and black rockfish: Hapel presented new work (Rosemond et al., in press) on how the 2014–16 marine heat wave affected black rockfish. He said the study found “age at maturity increased by 1 to 2 years and size of maturity increased by approximately 3 centimeters” during intense heat‑wave years, and that a higher fraction of females showed “abortive maturation.” The committee said these changes imply reduced reproductive output and could lower productivity if ocean warming continues.

Personnel: the committee acknowledged that Dr. Corey Green has left NOAA Fisheries and thanked him for 13 years of Habitat Committee service.

Next steps: the Habitat Committee will track BOEM rulemaking and the Columbia River NEPA schedule and report developments to the council; the committee will not prepare the previously planned CRSO comment letter until federal agencies reissue a notice of intent and schedule.