[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 138 (Friday, July 18, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 42689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-18338]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 063003B]


Marine Mammals; File No. 881-1709

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 Jo-Ann Mellish, Ph.D., University 
of Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska SeaLife Center, 301 Railway Avenue, P.O. 
Box 1329, Seward, Alaska 99664, has been issued a permit take tissue 
samples from harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) and northern fur seals 
(Callorhinus ursinus) 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
    Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-1668; phone 
(907)586-7221; fax (907)586-7249.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 1, 2003, notice was published in the 
Federal Register (84 FR 23286) that a request for a scientific research 
permit to take the species identified above had been submitted by the 
above-named individual. 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.), the Regulations Governing the Taking and 
Importing of Marine Mammals (50 CFR part 216), and the Fur Seal Act of 
1966, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.).
    The permit authorizes the collection and receipt of an unlimited 
number of tissue samples (including, but not limited to, teeth/bone, 
blubber, muscle, blood, skin, vibrissae, placenta, fetus, reproductive 
tracts, stomach and intestinal tracts, heart, liver, lungs, kidney and 
other vital organs) taken from carcasses of harbor seals and northern 
fur seals that were killed during legal subsistence hunts in Alaska. 
The purposes of the research are to determine contaminant loads in 
tissues to study whether exposure to contaminants may be a contributing 
factor to poor survival and reproduction of these species, and to 
determine steroid hormone levels in the tissues of these species to 
develop methods to study the reproductive rate and population structure 
of marine mammals. Tissues collected from subsistence hunts and from 
stranded animals may be exported (and re-imported) to Canada for 
analyses and to other countries world-wide for future opportunistic 
research is also authorized. The permit has been issued for a five-year 
period.

    Dated: July 11, 2003.
Stephen L. Leathery,
Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-18338 Filed 7-17-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S