[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 90 (Friday, May 9, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24928-24929]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-11616]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 032003A]


Endangered Species; File No. 1189

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

ACTION: Issuance of permit modification.

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

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Dr. James P. Kirk, USAE Waterways 
Experiment Station, CEWES-ER-A, 3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, 
Mississippi 39180-6199 has been issued a modification to scientific 
research Permit No.1189.

ADDRESSES: The amendment 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 February 25, 2002, and on July 18, 2002, 
notices were published in the Federal Register [(67 FR 8526) and (67 FR 
47351), respectively] that modifications of Permit No. 1189, issued 
April 22, 1999 (64 FR 23281), had been requested by the above-named 
individual. The requested modifications have been granted under the 
authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as

[[Page 24929]]

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 222-226).
    Permit No. 1189 authorizes the permit holder to capture 300 
shortnose sturgeon annually by gill net or trot lines in the Ogeechee 
River, Georgia, then measure, tag, weigh, and release them. Twenty of 
these may be surgically implanted with radio/sonic tags and tracked. 
Accidental mortalities are not to exceed one shortnose sturgeon per 
year. The issuance of this modification extends the permit's expiration 
date to December 31, 2004 and adds trawling as a sampling method for 
the purpose of capturing shortnose sturgeon less than eight years of 
age.
    Issuance of this modification, 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: May 2, 2003.
Stephen L. Leathery,
Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-11616 Filed 5-8-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S