[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 74 (Wednesday, April 18, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 19469]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-7378]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 041107B]


Endangered Species; File No. 1595

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

ACTION: Notice; issuance of permit.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Michael M. Hastings, University of 
Maine, 5717 Corbett Hall, Orono, Maine 04469, 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 offices:
    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)427-2521; and
    Northeast Region, NMFS, One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-
2298; phone (978)281-9300; fax (978)281-9394.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brandy Hutnak or Malcolm Mohead, 
(301)713-2289.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 16, 2007, notice was published in 
the Federal Register (72 FR 1706) that a request for a scientific 
research permit to take shortnose sturgeon had been submitted by the 
above-named individual. 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).
    This permit authorizes Michael Hastings to annually capture, 
anesthetize, measure, weigh, sex (borescope), tissue sample, scan (for 
tags), Carlin tag, PIT tag, recover, and release up to 70 sub-adult and 
adult shortnose sturgeon annually. Additionally, up to 30 sub-adult and 
adult shortnose sturgeon, annually, would be fitted/implanted with an 
external/internal transmitter. This project also includes the annual 
lethal take of up to 50 shortnose sturgeon eggs. Up to 2 incidental 
mortalities of shortnose sturgeon each year is also being authorized. 
This research will help assess the distribution, abundance, and 
movements, as well as document spawning, of shortnose sturgeon in the 
Penobscot River System, Maine.
    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 such endangered or threatened 
species, and (3) is consistent with the purposes and policies set forth 
in section 2 of the ESA.

    Dated: April 11, 2007.
P. Michael Payne,
Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-7378 Filed 4-17-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S