[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 161 (Monday, August 21, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48537-48538]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-13782]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 072606A]


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; 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, 2006, through August 15, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Navy's March 31, 2006, application, the LOAs, 
and the Navy's annual report are available by writing to Michael Payne, 
Chief, Permits, Conservation, and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West 
Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3225, by telephoning the contact 
listed here (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT), or online at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental.htm#applications. Documents 
cited in this notice may be viewed, by appointment, during regular 
business hours, at the aforementioned address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth Hollingshead, Office of 
Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 713-2289 (ext 128).

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.
    Authorization 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 LOA Request

    NMFS received an application from the U.S. Navy for two LOAs, one 
covering the R/V Cory Chouest and one the USNS IMPECCABLE, under the 
regulations issued on July 16, 2002 (67 FR 46712). The Navy requested 
that the LOAs become effective on August 16, 2006. The application 
requested authorization, for a period not to exceed 1 year, to take, by 
harassment, marine mammals incidental to employment of the SURTASS LFA 
sonar system for training, testing and routine military

[[Page 48538]]

operations on the aforementioned ships. The application's take 
estimates are based on 16 nominal 9-day active sonar missions (or 
equivalent shorter missions) between both vessels, regardless of which 
vessel is performing a specific mission, not to exceed a total of 432 
hours of LFA sonar 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 Western Pacific Warm Pool Province, and the North Pacific Tropical 
Gyre West Province, all within the Pacific Trade Wind Biome; the 
Kuroshio Current Province and the Northern Pacific Transition Zone 
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 
operational areas 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 2006.

Monitoring and Reporting

    In compliance with the two LOAs issued in 2005, on June 9, 2006, 
the Navy submitted an annual report on SURTASS LFA sonar operations and 
the mitigation and monitoring activities conducted under those LOAs. A 
copy of that report (Navy, 2006) can be downloaded at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental.htm#applications.

Authorization

    NMFS has issued two LOAs to the U.S. Navy, authorizing the 
incidental harassment of marine mammals incidental to operating the two 
SURTASS LFA sonar systems for training, testing and routine military 
operations. Issuance of these two LOAs is based on findings, described 
in the preamble to the final rule (67 FR 46712, July 16, 2002) and 
supported by information contained in the Navy's required annual report 
on SURTASS LFA sonar, that the activities described under these two 
LOAs 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.
    These LOAs remain valid through August 15, 2007, provided the Navy 
remains 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 15, 2006.
James H. Lecky,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. E6-13782 Filed 8-18-06; 8:45 am]
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