[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 98 (Tuesday, May 22, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28683-28685]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-9805]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XA35


Endangered and Threatened Species; Take of Anadromous Fish

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

ACTION:  Applications for five scientific research permits.

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SUMMARY:  Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received nine scientific 
research permit application requests relating to Pacific salmon. The 
proposed research is intended to increase knowledge of species listed 
under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to help guide management and 
conservation efforts.

DATES:  Comments or requests for a public hearing on the applications 
must be received at the appropriate address or fax number (see 
ADDRESSES) no later than 5 p.m. Pacific standard time on June 21, 2007.

ADDRESSES:  Written comments on the applications should be sent to the 
Protected Resources Division, NMFS, 1201 NE Lloyd Blvd., Suite 1100, 
Portland, OR 97232-1274. Comments may also be sent via fax to 503-230-
5441 or by e-mail to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Garth Griffin, Portland, OR (ph.: 
503-231-2005, Fax: 503-230-5441, e-mail: [email protected]). 
Permit application instructions are available from the address above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Species Covered in This Notice

    The following listed species are covered in this notice:
    Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha): endangered upper 
Columbia River (UCR), threatened Snake River (SR) spring/summer-run 
(spr/sum), threatened Puget Sound (PS).

[[Page 28684]]

    Steelhead (O. mykiss): threatened middle Columbia River (MCR), 
threatened Snake River (SR), threatened UCR, threatened PS.
    Sockeye salmon (O. nerka): endangered SR.

 Authority

    Scientific research permits are issued in accordance with section 
10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et. seq) and regulations 
governing listed fish and wildlife permits (50 CFR 222-226). NMFS 
issues permits based on findings that such permits: (1) Are applied for 
in good faith; (2) if granted and exercised, would not operate to the 
disadvantage of the listed species that are the subject of the permit; 
and (3) are consistent with the purposes and policy of section 2 of the 
ESA. The authority to take listed species is subject to conditions set 
forth in the permits.
    Anyone requesting a hearing on an application listed in this notice 
should set out the specific reasons why a hearing on that application 
would be appropriate (see ADDRESSES). Such hearings are held at the 
discretion of the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NMFS.

Applications Received

Permit 1341 - Renewal

    The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (Tribes) are seeking to renew and 
modify their permit to take SR sockeye salmon and SR spr/sum Chinook 
salmon while conducting research designed to estimate overwinter 
survival and downstream migration survival and timing with the goal of 
evaluating various release strategies and calculating smolt-to-adult 
return rates. SR steelhead may also be taken. This research would 
provide information on the relative success of the Pettit and Alturas 
Lakes sockeye salmon reintroduction programs and thereby benefit the 
listed fish by improving those programs. Juvenile SR sockeye salmon, 
spr/sum Chinook salmon, and steelhead would be collected at Pettit and 
Alturas Lakes, ID, using rotary screw traps and weirs. The fish would 
be sampled for biological information and released or tagged with 
passive integrated transponders and released. In addition, to determine 
trap efficiencies, a portion of the captured juvenile SR sockeye salmon 
would be marked with a small cut on their caudal fins, released 
upstream of the traps, captured at the traps a second time, and 
released. The Tribes do not intend to kill any of the fish being 
captured, but a small percentage may die as an unintended result of the 
research activities.

Permit 1345 - Renewal

    The WDFW is asking to renew its permit to take adult and juvenile 
MCR steelhead, UCR steelhead, UCR spring Chinook salmon, SR steelhead, 
SR spr/sum Chinook salmon, PS Chinook salmon, and PS steelhead during 
the course of Washington State's annual warmwater fish stock assessment 
surveys. They are also asking to add a study in the Cedar River that 
would increase the number of PS Chinook salmon they take. The purpose 
of the warmwater surveys is to gather data on the State's fish species 
and thereby allow the WDFW to manage them in the best way possible. The 
research would benefit listed fish by giving managers more information 
on their abundance, distribution, and health. The surveys would be 
conducted using boat electrofishing equipment in the backwater sloughs, 
oxbow lakes, and ponds associated with major river systems throughout 
Washington State. The purpose of the Cedar River study is to monitor 
predation by trout and other species on listed Chinook in the Cedar 
River. The research would benefit listed fish by helping managers set 
fishing regulations in a manner that would reduce predators and 
therefore predation on the local PS Chinook populations. This research, 
too, would employ boat electrofishing.
    Any juvenile listed salmonids captured during the research would be 
sampled for biological information and immediately released. If adult 
listed salmonids are seen, the electrofishing equipment would be turned 
off and the fish allowed to escape. The WDFW does not intend to kill 
any of the fish being captured, but a small percentage may die as an 
unintended result of the research activities.

Permit 1365 - Renewal

    The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) 
are seeking to modify and renew their permit to annually take MCR 
steelhead while conducting research designed to (1) monitor and 
evaluate the species' status and detect changes in salmonid abundance, 
productivity, spatial structure, and diversity; (2) determine if 
recovery strategies are helping improve natural production and 
viability in the Walla Walla subbasin, Washington; and (3) provide 
technical support for salmonid planning and modeling. The research 
would benefit MCR steelhead by helping continuously update and adapt 
subbasinwide recovery strategies for the listed fish. The researchers 
plan to capture the adult MCR steelhead using a variety of techniques: 
barbless hook-and-line angling, trapping, seining, and dip netting. 
Some of the fish would simply be measured and released, but some would 
also be fitted with radio tags before being released. These fish would 
then be tracked with both permanent and mobile tracking units to 
determine where in the subbasin they go. The CTUIR does not intend to 
kill any of the fish being captured, but a small percentage may die as 
an unintended result of the research activities.

Permit 1423 - Renewal

    The USFWS is seeking to renew and modify its permit to annually 
take UCR steelhead and UCR Chinook while conducting research designed 
to determine if there are any interactions between wild and hatchery 
fish in terms of disease transmission and to gather baseline 
information on pathogen presence in the local fish populations. The 
research would take place in the Methow and Entiat River subbasins, 
Washington. The research would benefit listed fish by increasing our 
knowledge of disease presence and transmission in the Upper Columbia 
River and thereby help managers reduce the risks associated with those 
diseases. The fish would be captured using a variety of methods: nets, 
traps, electrofishing, and hook-and-line angling. The captured fish 
would be killed and sampled for pathogens.

Permit 1601

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is requesting a 5-year 
research permit to take juvenile PS Chinook salmon and PS steelhead. 
The purpose of this research is to document the overall effectiveness 
of habitat restoration projects in Thornton, Piper's, and Venema 
Creeks, Seattle, WA. The goal is to help resource managers determine 
which types of restoration projects are most affective at mitigating 
the effects of urbanization. The information would be used to 
prioritize restoration projects. The USFWS proposes to capture fish in 
selected habitats using the three-pass electrofishing method. Block 
nets would be placed at the upper and lower end of a habitat site and 
three sequential passes wold be conducted using a backpack 
electrofishing unit. Listed fish would be captured, enumerated, placed 
in aerated containers, and held until the survey is complete. The USFWS 
does not intend to kill any of the fish being captured, but a small 
number may die as an unintended result of the activities.

[[Page 28685]]

Permit 1605

    Windward Environmental seeking a 5-year research permit to take 
juvenile PS Chinook salmon and steelhead. The purpose of the research 
is to characterize chemical concentrations in fish and crab tissues 
following activities designed to remediate contaminated sediments in 
the Lower Duwamish Waterway and East Waterway Operable Unit of the 
Harbor Island Superfund Sites. The long-term goal is to help determine 
if the remediation activities have successfully reduced the 
concentrations of chemical contaminants in animal tissues. An 
additional goal is to characterize the Lower Duwamish Waterway 
environment and determine if contaminated sediments continue to pose 
risks to the organisms living in it and humans using it. The applicant 
proposes to capture fish and crabs using trawl nets and traps. Listed 
fish would be captured, identified, enumerated, and released. The 
applicant does not intend to kill any listed species, but a small 
number may die as an unintended result of the activities.

Permit 1609

    R2 Resource Consultants, Inc. is requesting a 2-year research 
permit to take juvenile PS Chinook salmon and steelhead. The purpose of 
this study is to determine the relative abundance of juvenile salmonids 
and map their distribution in the Sultan River, Puget Sound, 
Washington. Information gathered by this study would be used to help 
develop the Henry M. Jackson Hydroelectric Project management plan. The 
study would thus help resource managers design water management 
strategies and habitat protection/restoration projects to benefit 
salmonids. The applicant proposes to conduct snorkeling and 
electrofishing surveys for juvenile salmonids. Supplemental sampling 
may also be conducted using minnow traps. The fish would be captured, 
anesthetized, measured, checked for hatchery marks, allowed to recover, 
and released. The applicant does not intend to kill any listed species, 
but a small number may die as an unintended result of the activities.

Permit 1611

    The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon 
(CTWSRO) are seeking a 5-year permit to annually capture MCR steelhead 
during the course of research directed at non-listed fall Chinook 
salmon in the lower Deschutes River, Oregon. The information gained 
from this action would be used to determine the status of the fall 
Chinook stocks in the Columbia River basin and that information, in 
turn, would be used to set appropriate harvest levels and inform other 
management actions relating to fall Chinook salmon both in the United 
States and Canada. The research would benefit listed steelhead by 
helping reduce the number of them being incidentally caught during 
Chinook harvest. The CTWSRO would capture the fish using an 8-inch 
(12.7 cm) stretch-mesh gillnet placed in the lower Deschutes River (Rkm 
32). Any captured MCR steelhead would be measured, assessed as to their 
condition, and released immediately. The CTWSRO does not intend to kill 
any of the fish being captured, but a small number may die as an 
unintended result of the activities.

Permit 1612

    Washington Trout is seeking a 5-year permit to capture juvenile UCR 
Chinook and steelhead during the course of research designed to 
generate data on (1) the relationships among physical and ecological 
processes governing aquatic food webs; (2) juvenile salmonid habitat 
use, growth, and survival; and (3) population structure and dynamics 
among resident salmonids reintroduced to the influence of anadromy. The 
research would take place in Icicle Creek, Chiwaukum Creek, and the 
Chiwiwa River, Washington. The research would benefit fish by 
increasing our knowledge about the ecology of native resident and 
migratory salmonids in the upper Columbia basin, and thereby help 
managers make better decisions regarding salmonid recovery. The fish 
would be captured using a variety of methods: traps, nets, 
electrofishing and angling. Some fish would be captured, measured, and 
released, others would be tagged with passive integrated transponders 
and tissue-sampled before being released. Washington Trout does not 
intend to kill any of the fish being captured, but a small number may 
die as an unintended result of the activities.
    This notice is provided pursuant to section 10(c) of the ESA. NMFS 
will evaluate the applications, associated documents, and comments 
submitted to determine whether the application meets the requirements 
of section 10(a) of the ESA and Federal regulations. The final permit 
decisions will not be made until after the end of the 30-day comment 
period. NMFS will publish notice of its final action in the Federal 
Register.

    Dated: May 16, 2007.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-9805 Filed 5-21-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S