[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 188 (Thursday, September 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49353-49354]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-24222]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 091801B]


Endangered Species; Permits

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

ACTION: Receipt of request to modify research permit 1245 and 1324.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the following actions regarding 
permits for takes of endangered and threatened species for the purposes 
of scientific research and/or enhancement under the Endangered Species 
Act (ESA): NMFS has received a request to modify permit (1245) from Mr. 
J. David Whitaker, of South Carolina Department of Natural Resources 
(SCDNR) and a request to modify permit (1324) from Dr. Nancy Thompson, 
of the NMFS-Southeast Fisheries Science Center.

DATES: Comments or requests for a public hearing on any of the new 
applications or modification requests must be received at the 
appropriate address or fax number no later than 5 p.m. eastern standard 
time on October 29, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on any of the new applications or 
modification requests should be sent to the appropriate office as 
indicated below. Comments may also be sent via fax to the number 
indicated for the application or modification request. Comments will 
not be accepted if submitted via e-mail or the Internet. The 
applications and related documents are available for review in the 
indicated office, by appointment:
    Endangered Species Division, F/PR3, 1315 East West Highway, Silver 
Spring, MD 20910 (phone:301-713-1401, fax: 301-713-0376).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terri Jordan, Silver Spring, MD 
(phone: 301-713-1401, fax: 301-713-0376, e-mail: 
[email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority

    Issuance of permits and permit modifications, as required by the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1543) (ESA), is based on 
a finding that such permits/modifications: (1) are applied for in good 
faith; (2) would not operate to the disadvantage of the listed species 
which are the subject of the permits; and (3) are consistent with the 
purposes and

[[Page 49354]]

policies set forth in section 2 of the ESA. Scientific research and/or 
enhancement permits are issued under Section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA. 
Authority to take listed species is subject to conditions set forth in 
the permits. Permits and modifications are issued in accordance with 
and are subject to the ESA and NMFS regulations governing listed fish 
and wildlife permits (50 CFR parts 222-226).
    Those individuals requesting a hearing on an application listed in 
this notice should set out the specific reasons why a hearing on that 
application would be appropriate (see ADDRESSES). The holding of such 
hearing is at the discretion of the Assistant Administrator for 
Fisheries, NOAA. All statements and opinions contained in the permit 
action summaries are those of the applicant and do not necessarily 
reflect the views of NMFS.

Species Covered in This Notice

    The following species are covered in this notice:

Sea turtles

    Threatened and endangered Green turtle (Chelonia mydas)
    Endangered Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
    Endangered Kemp's ridley turtle (Lepidochelys kempii)
    Endangered Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
    Threatened Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta)

Modification Requests Received

Permit 1245

    The applicant requests a modification to Permit 1245. Permit 1245 
authorizes the take, via capture, handling, tagging, sampling, and 
release of 250 loggerhead, 50 Kemp's ridley, 10 green, one leatherback, 
and 5 hawksbill turtles. Modification 3 would extend the 
expiration date to October 31, 2004 without an increase in the 
authorized annual take.
    The goal of the research is to establish a scientifically-valid 
indices of abundance for the northern sub-population of the threatened 
loggerhead turtle and the endangered Kemp's ridley, green and 
leatherback sea turtles which occur in the Atlantic Ocean off the 
southeastern United States. This study is intended to capture juveniles 
and adults, thereby providing a more comprehensive assessment of total 
population abundance and an assessment of the health of individual 
animals.

Permit 1324

    The applicant requests a modification to Permit 1324. Permit 1324 
authorizes the take of threatened and endangered species of sea turtles 
in the northeast distant statistical sampling area (NED) for the U.S. 
longline fishery. The purpose of the research is to develop and test 
methods to reduce bycatch of research that occurs incidental to 
commercial, pelagic longline fishing. The researchers propose to work 
cooperatively with U.S. pelagic longline fishermen in the NED area to 
conduct this fishery-dependent testing. The fishery dependent use of 
commercial fishing boats for this research is necessary because (1) a 
large level of fishing effort is necessary for the statistical power to 
complete this testing and fishery independent work would be cost-
prohibitive and (2) testing should be conducted aboard a mix of 
representative platforms so that the testing results are clearly 
applicable to the fleets that would ultimately adopt bycatch reduction 
measures through this research.
    Modification #1 would increase the authorized lethal take of 
leatherback turtle from one to two over the life of the permit and to 
increase the authorized lethal take of green, hawksbill, and Kemp's 
ridley turtles, in combination, from one to two. The permit holder has 
requested this modification to prevent the introduction of confounding 
of year and season effects that could result in a shutdown due to 
meeting lethal take limits authorized in the original permit.

    Dated: September 20, 2001.
Phil Williams,
Acting Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 01-24222 Filed 9-26-01; 8:45 am]
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