This document represents the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) Biological Opinion (Opinion) based on our review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed national registration of malathion and its effects on endangered and threatened species and designated critical habitat in accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). On January 18, 2017, EPA submitted a section 7 consultation initiation package, which requested initiation of formal consultation.
This Opinion is based on information provided in the final Biological Evaluation (BE) for malathion, many interagency meetings, workshops and conference calls, and other sources of information as described herein. A complete record of this consultation is on file at the Services’ Headquarters office in Falls Church, Virginia.
Due to the complexity and duration of consultation and the Action, and ongoing consideration of listing decisions anticipated during and immediately following the consultation period, EPA and the Service (the Agencies) agreed to evaluate effects to proposed species and critical habitat and candidate species via conferencing, using similar methods for their analyses of listed species and designated critical habitats in both the BE and Opinion.