[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 218 (Friday, November 13, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 58607]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-27315]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XS82


Endangered Species; File No. 14634

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 Douglas Peterson, Ph.D., Warnell 
School of Forest Resources (Fisheries Division), University of Georgia, 
Athens, GA 30602, 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 office(s):
    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)713-0376; and
    Southeast Region, NMFS, 263 13th Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 
33701; phone (727)824-5312; fax (727)824-5309.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 8, 2009, notice was published in 
the Federal Register (74 FR 51836) 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).
    The purpose of the proposed research is to maintain and conduct 
research on 95 hatchery-reared shortnose sturgeon at the University of 
Georgia to meet the following objectives: (1) quantify differences in 
the environmental tolerances of northern versus southern range 
shortnose sturgeon, and (2) evaluate ontogenetic changes in the 
environmental tolerances of juvenile shortnose sturgeon. The fish will 
be obtained from the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery and Regional 
Fisheries Center (USFWS), Warm Springs, Georgia 31830, under NMFS 
Permit 1604. Using a series of replicated laboratory (lethal and non-
lethal) experiments, the researcher will evaluate the individual, 
additive, and interactive effects of the three habitat variables most 
critical in determining summer habitat quality for both juveniles and 
adult shortnose sturgeon: maximum water temperature, maximum salinity, 
and minimum concentration of dissolved oxygen. Researchers will also 
examine how environmental tolerances of shortnose sturgeon change with 
age and conditioning (chronic exposure). Future scientific research 
with these fish will involve studies of nutrition, tagging, physiology, 
environmental tolerance, contaminants, fish health, behavioral, 
tagging, genetics, and fish culture techniques. The permit does not 
authorize any takes from the wild, nor does it authorize any release of 
captive sturgeon into the wild.
    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: November 6, 2009.
P. Michael Payne,
Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E9-27315 Filed 11-12-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S