[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 249 (Thursday, December 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68050-68051]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32776]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
[I.D. 121796C]


Marine Mammals; Scientific Research Permit (P624)

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Receipt of application.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Dr. Michael Moore, Research 
Specialist (Co-investigator: Dr. John Stegeman, Senior Scientist), MS 
33 Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods 
Hole, MA 02543, has applied in due form for a permit to take marine 
mammals for purposes of scientific research.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before January 27, 1997.

ADDRESSES: The application and related documents are available for 
review upon written request or by appointment in the following 
office(s):
    Permits Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-
West

[[Page 68051]]

Highway, Room 13130, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301/713-2289);
    Regional Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS, One Blackburn 
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01903-2298 (508/281-9250);
    Regional Administrator, Southeast Region, NMFS, 9721 Executive 
Center Drive North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702-2532 (813/570-5301); and
    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Management Authority, 
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203.
    Written data or views, or requests for a public hearing on this 
request, should be submitted to the Director, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13130, Silver Spring, MD 
20910. Those individuals requesting a hearing should set forth the 
specific reasons why a hearing on this particular request would be 
appropriate.
    Concurrent with the publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register, NMFS is forwarding copies of this application to the Marine 
Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The subject permit is requested under the 
authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended (16 
U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), the Regulations Governing the Taking and 
Importing of Marine Mammals (50 CFR part 216), the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the regulations 
governing the taking, importing, and exporting of endangered fish and 
wildlife (50 CFR 222.23).
    The applicant requests a permit to conduct the following activities 
annually: Collect biopsy samples from up to 40, conduct blubber 
thickness assay on up to 40, and inadvertently harass up to 60 Northern 
right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) off the coast of Georgia, Great 
South Channel, Cape Cod Bay and the Gulf of Maine; specifically import 
samples from Canada, Arctic, Kazakhstan (Russia), Falklands/South 
Georgia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and opportunistically, 
import samples from all species of Cetacea and Pinnipedia worldwide; 
biopsy live stranded minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), finback 
whales (B. physalus), humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae), long-
finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), and white-sided dolphins 
(Lagenorhynchus acutus) on Cape Cod.

    Dated: December 17, 1996.
Ann D. Terbush,
Chief, Permits and Documentation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.

    Dated: December 17, 1996.
Margaret Tieger,
Chief, Branch of Permits, Office of Management Authority, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 96-32776 Filed 12-24-96; 8:45 am]
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