[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 2, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16002-16003]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-7962]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 030603A]


Endangered Species; File No. 1375

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

ACTION: Issuance of permit.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Dr. Thomas J. Kwak, U.S. 
Geological Survey, North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife 
Research Unit, Box 7617, 201 David Clark Labs, North Carolina State 
University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617 has been issued a permit to take 
shortnose sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum, 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; and,
    Southeast Region, NMFS, 9721 Executive Center Drive North, St. 
Petersburg, FL 33702-2432; phone (727) 570-5301; fax (727) 570-5320.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Jefferies or Gene Nitta, 
(301) 713-2289.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 18, 2002, notice was published in 
the Federal Register (67 FR 19166) that a request for a scientific 
research permit to take shortnose sturgeon, had been submitted by the 
above-named Dr. Thomas J. Kwak. The requested permit has been issued 
under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended 
(ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and the regulations governing the taking, 
importing, and exporting of endangered and threatened species (50 CFR 
parts 222-226).
    Restoring the shornose sturgeon population in the Roanoke/Albemarle 
River system in North Carolina is being considered; however, habitat 
suitability

[[Page 16003]]

with respect to water quality is not known. This research study will 
deploy 1,000 hatchery-reared juvenile shortnose sturgeon in cages at 10 
test sites within the Roanoke/Albemarle River system for 28 days. The 
fish will then be euthanized and their tissue analyzed for 
contaminants. The results of this study will provide needed information 
to determine if water quality is a limiting factor of the ecological 
success of shortnose sturgeon in this river system.
    Issuance of this permit, as required by the ESA, was based on a 
finding that such permit (1) was applied for in good faith, (2) will 
not operate to the disadvantage of the endangered species which is the 
subject of this permit, and (3) is consistent with the purposes and 
policies set forth in section 2 of the ESA.

    Dated: March 24, 2003.
Stephen L. Leathery,
Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-7962 Filed 4-1-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S