[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 178 (Friday, September 13, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 58023]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-23399]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 090602A]


Marine Mammals; File No. 779-1681

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

ACTION: Issuance of permit.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that NMFS, Southeast Fisheries Science 
Center, 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, FL 33149 (Principal 
Investigator: Dr. Aleta A. Hohn) has been issued a permit to take 
Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) for purposes of 
scientific research.

ADDRESSES: The permit and related documents are available for review 
upon written request or by appointment in the following office(s):
    Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705, Silver Spring, MD 
20910; phone (301)713-2289; fax (301)713-0376;
    Northeast Region, NMFS, Protected Resources Division, One Blackburn 
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-2298; phone (978) 281-9346; fax (978) 281-
9371;
    Southeast Region, NMFS, Protected Resources Division, 9721 
Executive Center Drive North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702-2432; phone 
(813) 570-5312; fax (813) 570-5517.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrie Hubard or Ruth Johnson, 
(301)713-2289.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 22, 2002, notice was published in 
the Federal Register (67 FR 47775) that a request for a scientific 
research permit to take bottlenose dolphins had been submitted by the 
above-named organization. The requested permit has been issued under 
the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended 
(16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), and the Regulations Governing the Taking and 
Importing of Marine Mammals (50 CFR part 216).
    The permit authorizes a maximum of 500 individual dolphins to be 
captured, examined, sampled, marked, and released during the 5 year 
period of the permit. Captures will take place in inshore and nearshore 
waters from New York to the Texas/Mexico border. As part of the 
research, the captured bottlenose dolphins will be sampled for genetic 
and isotope analyses, photographed for photo-identification and will 
have transmitters attached. The impetus for the research is the need to 
define the stock structure of western North Atlantic bottlenose 
dolphins. The project is a continuation of research begun in 1997 to 
elucidate stock structure using multiple methods and to test the 
hypothesis of one coastal migratory stock of bottlenose dolphins along 
the Atlantic coast of the U.S.

    Dated: September 9, 2002.
Eugene T. Nitta,
Acting Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 02-23399 Filed 9-12-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S