Nearly 70 laws and five executive orders have been enacted by the U.S. Congress and the President to protect the environment particularly as it relates to fishery species.  These laws arose during the past 100 years to protect and conserve our national wildlife and fishery resources which were being depleted, and to protect the environment which was being altered and even poisoned with pollutants.  Many of these laws were directed at resolving specific problems, while others helped organize the movement towards a healthy environment. A few laws aimed at conservation and restoration of resources.  Summaries of all these acts and executive orders have been prepared by several agencies and can be viewed at the following linked sites.  A few of the major acts pertaining to EFH are very briefly summarized below; click a title on the list to jump to a brief.  

Also available are a primer to EFH, the entire text of the Essential Fishery Habitat Amendment, and a paper presenting a model for determining EFH for nekton species.

URL's :

NOTE!  When you click on any of the following links you will be leaving the Galveston Laboratory Web Site.  You may wish to review the privacy notice on those sites since their information collection practices may differ from ours.

Federal Wildlife and Related Laws Handbook, Chapter 4. Statute Summaries, provided by the U. of New Mexico Digest of Federal Resource Laws of Interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provided by the USFWS Source for the full written law and interpretations, provided by the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School Summaries of major laws implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service, provided by the National Council for Science and the Environment

Briefs, listed in chronological order of enactment:

Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, 1934 Rivers and Harbors Act, 1938 Anadromous Fish Conservation Act, 1965 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 1970 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act), 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act, 1972 Endangered Species Act, 1973 Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 1976 Floodplain Management:  Executive Order No. 11988, 1977 Protection of Wetlands: Executive Order No. 11990, 1977 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 1980 Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA), 1990

pdf Download a "primer" to the EFH amendment pdf Download the EFH Amendment pdf Download the final rule on the EFH