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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 44 / Tuesday, March 9, 2021 / Rules and Regulations populations in the event of a catastrophic event greatly reduce the DPSs resiliency and redundancy the ability of a species to withstand normal environmental variation, periodic disturbances, stressors, and catastrophes currently and into the future. Based on threats currently affecting the Missouri DPS, we expect all populations to continue to decline in health Service 2018, Chapter 6. Additionally, under two out of three future scenarios, we expect an additional population to become extirpated within 10 years Service 2018, Chapter 6.
Population resiliency is low due to the unhealthy condition of the four remaining populations of the Missouri DPS of eastern hellbender. The functional loss of a population has decreased the overall redundancy of the DPS and the limited geographic extent 5 streams closely located to one another of the DPS leads to low overall redundancy as well.
The eastern hellbender SSA report Service 2018, entire contains a more detailed discussion of our evaluation of the biological status of the eastern hellbender in Missouri and the influences that may affect its continued existence. Our conclusions are based upon the best available scientific and commercial data, including the expert opinion of the species experts fishery biologists, aquatic ecologists, and geneticists from State and Federal agencies and academic institutions and the SSA team members. Please see the proposed listing rule and its supporting materials for a complete list of the species experts and peer reviewers and their affiliations 84 FR 13231, April 4, 2019; Docket No. FWSR3ES2018
0056.

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Summary of Comments and Recommendations In the April 4, 2019, proposed rule 84 FR 13223, we requested that all interested parties submit written comments on the proposal by June 3, 2019. We also contacted appropriate Federal and State agencies, scientific experts and organizations, and other interested parties and invited them to comment on the proposal. We did not receive any requests for a public hearing.
Peer Reviewer Comments In accordance with our peer review policy published on July 1, 1994 59 FR
34270, and our August 22, 2016, memorandum updating and clarifying the role of peer review actions under the Act 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., we solicited expert opinion from five knowledgeable individuals with scientific expertise that
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included familiarity with the eastern hellbender and its habitat, biological needs, and threats. We received responses from two peer reviewers.
We updated the SSA report based on the peer reviewers comments. The changes consisted of clarifications and corrections to the SSA report, including typographical edits, and incorporation of omitted references.
Public Comments We received eight public comments on the proposed rule and more than five thousand form letters expressing support for the listing of the eastern hellbender under the Act. One of the comments received during the public comment period did not address or provide any information concerning the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender.
The remaining commenters did not provide substantive comments or new information concerning the proposed listing of the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender. We note the SSA
report, a list of literature referenced, the public comments and the peer reviewer reports, all of which helped inform this listing decision, are available to the public on http www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWSR3ES2018
0056.
1 Comment: A commenter suggested that, when making a final determination, the Service should consider all feedback it receives at the 2019 Hellbender Symposium, a biennial gathering of researchers and species experts from across the country.
Our Response: We received no new information at the symposium pertaining to the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender.
Two public commenters expressed opposition to the Services proposed determination not to designate critical habitat for the eastern hellbender. These comments were generally centered on five main topics and are addressed individually below.
2 Comment: The commenters opined that information in the SSA report demonstrates that collection pressure is among the least influential of the primary factors impacting population health in Missouri; whereas sedimentation and water quality impairment are the two strongest and together make up 32 percent of the relative influence of all factors on population status. This information suggests that concerns about Federal activities that may degrade habitat and water quality dramatically outweigh concerns about collection pressure.
Our Response: The commenters stated that collection pressure was not ranked as a factor currently having a high
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influence on eastern hellbender population health in Missouri because various measures have been implemented to restrict the disclosure of specific locations of occupied sites. If the exact location of occupied sites were publically available, we expect the threat of illegal collection would be much higher. Collection, as a threat, is discussed further above in the Summary of Biological Status and Threats section and the SSA report Service 2018, pp.
4850
3 Comment: The commenters stated that designating critical habitat would not increase the risk of unlawful eastern hellbender collection because eastern hellbender locations are already widely available on the internet via articles published in scientific journals. These articles and other sources identify waterways where eastern hellbenders live and include maps, verbal descriptions, and capture techniques.
Our Response: Though the streams in which eastern hellbenders occur are readily available to the public, the identification of these streams does not provide sufficient detail to facilitate illegal collection. Disclosure of the exact location of occupied sites within these rivers, however, would facilitate illegal collection. Therefore, disclosure of this information to the public is limited. The exact location of some sites has been published in scientific journals, but these sites constitute only a small proportion of the total number of sites occupied by eastern hellbenders, and species experts now recommend that exact locations no longer be published due to the threat of illegal collection.
The designation of critical habitat would result in publishing of sitespecific information and maps in the Federal Register. The Service is already aware of instances in which the publication of locality information for Ozark hellbender Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi occupied sites resulted in the removal of almost all individuals from the location. Thus, we have concluded that publishing location information for eastern hellbender would further facilitate illegal collection and result in similar consequences.
4 Comment: The commenters stated that designating critical habitat would not increase the risk of unlawful eastern hellbender collection because the Service can designate critical habitat without revealing exact locations of eastern hellbenders.
Our Response: When designating critical habitat, the Service must determine the physical or biological features that are essential to the conservation of the species and which may require special management
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