[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 161 (Wednesday, August 20, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50123-50124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-21369]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 081203C]


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to Navy Operations of Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System 
Low Frequency Active Sonar

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

ACTION: Notice of issuance of two Letters of Authorization.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as 
amended, and implementing regulations, notification is hereby given 
that NMFS has issued two 1-year Letters of Authorization (LOAs) to take 
marine mammals by harassment incidental to the U.S. Navy's operation of 
Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS 
LFA) sonar operations to the Chief of Naval Operations, Department of 
the Navy, 2000 Navy Pentagon, Washington, D.C., and persons operating 
under his authority.

DATES: Effective from August 16, 2003, through August 15, 2004.

ADDRESSES: A copy of the June 27, 2003, application is available by 
writing to Chris E. Yates, Acting Chief, Marine

[[Page 50124]]

Mammal Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 
East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or by telephoning the 
contact listed here.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberly Skrupky, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 713-2322, ext 163.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) directs 
the Secretary of Commerce to allow, upon request, the incidental, but 
not intentional taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. 
citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial 
fishing) within a specified geographical region if certain findings are 
made and regulations are issued.
    Permission may be granted for periods of 5 years or less if NMFS 
finds that the taking will have no more than a negligible impact on the 
species or stock(s), and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on 
the availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses. In 
addition, NMFS must prescribe regulations that include permissible 
methods of taking and other means effecting the least practicable 
adverse impact on the species and its habitat, and on the availability 
of the species for subsistence uses, paying particular attention to 
rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance. The 
regulations must include requirements pertaining to the monitoring and 
reporting of such taking.
    Regulations governing the taking of marine mammals incidental to 
the U.S. Navy's operation of SURTASS LFA sonar were published on July 
16, 2002 (67 FR 46712), and remain in effect until August 15, 2007. For 
detailed information on this action, please refer to that document. 
These regulations include mitigation, monitoring, and reporting 
requirements for the incidental taking of marine mammals by the SURTASS 
LFA sonar system.

Summary of Request

    On June 27, 2003, NMFS received an application from the U.S. Navy 
for two LOAs, each LOA covering one ship, under the regulations issued 
on July 16, 2002 (67 FR 46712). The Navy requested that the LOAs become 
effective on August 16, 2003. This application updated the information 
contained in the original application for an LOA dated August 12, 1999, 
and the revised application submitted on April 6, 2000, for takings of 
marine mammals by harassment incidental to deploying the SURTASS LFA 
sonar system for training, testing and routine military operations. The 
June 27, 2003, application requested authorization to take, by 
harassment, small numbers of marine mammals incidental to operation of 
the SURTASS LFA sonar system using the Research Vessel Cory Chouest and 
the USNS Impeccable, for a period not to exceed 1 year. The 
application's take estimates are based on 12 nominal 9-day active sonar 
missions (or equivalent shorter missions) among both vessels, 
regardless of which vessel is performing a specific mission, not to 
exceed a total of 432 hours of transmission time combined for both 
vessels.
    The specified geographic regions identified in the application are 
the following oceanographic provinces described in Longhurst (1998) and 
identified in 50 CFR 216.180(a): the Archipelagic Deep Basins Province, 
the North Pacific Tropical Gyre (West) Province, and the North Pacific 
Tropical Gyre (East) Province, and the Western Pacific Warm Pool 
Province, all within the Pacific Trade Wind Biome; the Kuroshio Current 
Province, within the Pacific Westerly Winds Biome; the North Pacific 
Epicontinental Sea Province, within the Pacific Polar Biome; and the 
China Sea Coastal Province, within the North Pacific Coastal Biome. The 
Navy's operating areas, as identified in the application, are portions 
of the provinces but do not encompass the entire area of the provinces. 
Due to critical naval warfare requirements, the U.S. Navy has 
identified the necessity for both SURTASS LFA sonar vessels to be 
stationed in the North Pacific Ocean during fiscal year 2004.

    Authority: Authorization
    Accordingly, NMFS issued two LOAs to the U.S. Navy on August 14, 
2003 authorizing the taking, by harassment only, of small numbers of 
marine mammals incidental to operating the SURTASS LFA sonar system for 
training, testing and routine military operations. Issuance of these 
LOAs is based on findings, described in the preamble to the final rule 
(67 FR 46712, July 16, 2002), that the activities described in the two 
LOAs will result in the taking of no more than small numbers of marine 
mammals, and the total taking will have no more than a negligible 
impact on marine mammal stocks, and will not have an unmitigable 
adverse impact on the availability of the affected marine mammal stocks 
for subsistence uses. A copy of the LOAs and other cited documents are 
available at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot--res/PR2/Acoustics--
Program/Sound.htm[numsign]Sonar
    These LOAs remain valid until August 15, 2004, provided the Navy is 
in conformance with the conditions of the regulations and the LOAs, and 
the mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements described in 50 
CFR 216.184-216.186 (67 FR 46712, July 16, 2002) and in the LOAs are 
undertaken.

    Dated: August 14, 2003.
Laurie K. Allen,
Acting Office Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-21369 Filed 8-19-03; 8:45 am]
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