[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 132 (Monday, July 12, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37511-37512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-17624]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 061199A]


Incidental Take of Marine Mammals; Taking of Marine Mammals 
Incidental to Power Plant Operations

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

ACTION: Notice of issuance of a letter of authorization.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act

[[Page 37512]]

(MMPA), as amended, and implementing regulations, notification is 
hereby given that a 1-year letter of authorization to take harbor, 
gray, harp and hooded seals incidental to intake cooling water 
operations at Seabrook Station nuclear power plant, Seabrook, NH, was 
issued to the North Atlantic Energy Service Corporation on July 2, 
1999.

ADDRESSES: The application and letter are available for review in the 
following offices: Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West 
Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, and the Northeast Region, NMFS, One 
Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth R. Hollingshead, Office of 
Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 713-2055 or Scott Sandorf, Northeast 
Region (978) 281-9388.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 
1361 et seq.) directs NMFS to allow, on request, the incidental, but 
not intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. 
citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial 
fishing) within a specified geographical region, if certain findings 
are made and regulations are issued. Under the MMPA, the term 
``taking'' means to harass, hunt, capture, or kill or to attempt to 
harass, hunt, capture or kill marine mammals.
    Permission may be granted for periods up to 5 years if NMFS finds, 
after notification and opportunity for public comment, that the taking 
will have a negligible impact on the species or stock(s) of marine 
mammals and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the 
availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses. In 
addition, NMFS must prescribe regulations that include permissible 
methods of taking and other means effecting the least practicable 
adverse impact on the species and its habitat, and on the availability 
of the species for subsistence uses, paying particular attention to 
rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance. The 
regulations must include requirements pertaining to the monitoring and 
reporting of such taking. Regulations governing the taking of several 
species of seals incidental to intake cooling water operations at 
Seabrook Station nuclear power plant, Seabrook, NH, were published on 
May 25, 1999 (64 FR 28114), and remain in effect until June 30, 2004.
    Issuance of this letter of authorization is based on a finding that 
the total takings will have a negligible impact on the marine mammal 
species of the Western North Atlantic.

    Dated: July 2, 1999.
Art Jeffers,
Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-17624 Filed 7-9-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F