[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 147 (Wednesday, July 30, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 44225]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-17469]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XI89


Endangered Species; File No. 1551

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 the Southeast Fisheries Science 
Center (SEFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), 75 Virginia 
Beach Drive Miami, Florida 33149, has been issued a permit to take 
green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), hawksbill 
(Eretmochelys imbricata), olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), 
leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), and Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys 
kempii) sea turtles for purposes of scientific research.

ADDRESSES:  The permits 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
    Southeast Region, NMFS, 263 13th Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 
33701; phone (727)824-5312; fax (727)824-5309.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Patrick Opay or Amy Hapeman, 
(301)713-2289.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 7, 2006, notice was published in 
the Federal Register (71 FR 6272) that a request for scientific 
research permit to take sea turtles had been submitted by the above-
named institution. 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).
    The research will be conducted each year over the course of a five-
year permit in coastal and inshore waters of the North Atlantic, Gulf 
of Mexico and Caribbean Sea (including embayments and tributaries). 
Turtles will be taken by harassment (e.g., aerial surveys) and direct 
capture (pound nets, entanglement/strike nets, seine nets, hoop nets, 
dipnets, cast nets, and by hand). Researchers will also access animals 
legally captured incidental to fishing activities where covered by the 
incidental take statement (ITS) of an ESA section 7 biological opinion 
or by an ESA incidental take permit. Animals used in this research 
could also be obtained from other Section 10 permitted research 
activities. Researchers will conduct a variety sampling and tagging 
activities in order to collect biological and ecological information on 
these species that will help efforts to conserve them.
    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: July 25, 2008.
P. Michael Payne,
Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-17469 Filed 7-29-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S