[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 90 (Tuesday, May 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27017-27019]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-11449]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XA419


Endangered and Threatened Species; Take of Anadromous Fish

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

ACTION: Applications for one new scientific research permit and four 
research permit renewals.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received five scientific 
research permit application requests relating to Pacific salmon, the 
southern Distinct Population Segment of eulachon, and Puget Sound/
Georgia Basin rockfish. 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 9, 2011.

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-

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5441 or by e-mail to [email protected]. The applications may be 
viewed online at: https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov/preview/preview_open_for_comment.cfm. Permit application instructions are available from 
the address above, or online at https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Garth Griffin, Portland, OR, ph.: 503-
231-2005, Fax: 503-230-5441, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Species Covered in This Notice

    The following listed species are covered in this notice:
    Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha): threatened Puget Sound 
(PS).
    Steelhead (O. mykiss): threatened PS.
    Chum salmon (O. nerka): Hood Canal (HC) summer-run.
    Rockfish: Puget Sound/Georgia Basin (PS/GB) bocaccio (Sebastes 
paucispinis); PS/GB canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger), and PS/GB 
yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus).
    Eulachon: the southern Distinct Populations Segment (DPS) of 
pacific eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus).

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 1564-4R

    The University of Washington (UW) is seeking to renew for five 
years a research permit that currently allows them to take juvenile PS 
Chinook salmon and PS steelhead. The research is designed to monitor 
the success of habitat restoration projects in the Duwamish River 
estuary, the Snohomish River estuary, and Shilshole Bay, Washington. 
The goal of these projects is to understand changes in population 
characteristics among Chinook salmon in response to estuarine habitat 
restoration actions. The habitat restoration work would be conducted by 
several entities, but primarily by the Port of Seattle and the City of 
Seattle. The habitat restoration projects are designed to improve 
habitats that Chinook salmon use for rearing and migration. Monitoring 
the restoration sites will help determine the projects' effectiveness 
and thereby guide future restoration projects for the benefit of listed 
salmonids in the area. The UW proposes to capture fish using enclosure 
nets and beach seines. The captured fish would be held in buckets with 
aerators and juvenile Chinook salmon would be checked for external 
marks and internal coded-wire tags, measured, and released. Some 
individuals would have their stomach contents sampled via non-lethal 
gastric lavage. The UW does not propose to kill any fish being captured 
but some may die as an unintentional result of the activities.

Permit 1585-3R

    The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is 
seeking to renew for five years a research permit that currently allows 
them to take juvenile PS Chinook salmon, HC summer-run chum salmon, and 
PS steelhead. The work would be carried out in the central Puget Sound 
Basin and would include surveys in many tributaries to the Sound from 
the Olympic and Cascade Mountain Ranges in Mason, Kitsap, King, Pierce, 
Thurston, Snohomish, and Lewis Counties, Washington. The purpose of the 
research is to determine fish presence or absence in streams greater 
than two feet in width between ordinary high water marks and with 
gradients of less than 20 percent. The information gathered would be 
used to determine salmonid presence and distribution and thereby inform 
land management decisions on DNR holdings. The DNR would use the 
information on fish-bearing streams to benefit the species by removing 
existing human-made fish barriers or possibly replacing them with 
structures that fish can pass over or through. They would annually use 
backpack electrofishing equipment to capture fish from several streams 
in the counties listed above. The captured fish would be identified and 
released back to the pools from which they came. In some cases, the 
researchers may not actually capture any fish, but merely to note their 
presence instead. The DNR does not propose to kill any of the fish 
being captured, but a small number may die as an unintended result of 
the activities.

Permit 1586-3R

    The Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) is seeking to renew 
for five years a research permit that currently allows them to take PS 
Chinook salmon, HC summer-run chum salmon, PS steelhead, and PS/GB 
bocaccio. The NWFSC research may also cause them to take the following 
species for which there are currently no ESA take prohibitions: The 
southern Distinct Population Segment of Pacific eulachon (Thaleichthys 
pacificus), PS/GB canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger), and PS/GB 
yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus). The research is designed to 
determine how wild, juvenile PS Chinook salmon use nearshore habitats 
in the various oceanographic basins of Puget Sound, the Straits of Juan 
de Fuca, and the San Juan Islands. The study's additional goals are to 
define what life history strategies are present in these areas and 
identify their residence time, distribution, movement, timing, diet, 
health, age, and origin. This research would benefit the listed species 
by helping managers develop protection and restoration strategies and 
monitor the effects of recovery actions. The NMFSC would capture fish 
on a monthly basis using a variety of sampling gear (primarily beach 
seines and surface trawls), temporarily hold fish in live-wells, mesh 
pens, aerated buckets (or in the bag of the net). The captured fish 
would be anesthetized, measured, weighed, checked for tags, marks, and 
fin clips, allowed to recover from anesthesia, and released. A small 
portion of the captured juvenile PS Chinook would be killed for whole 
body analysis, but most are not intended to be sacrificed. Any fish 
unintentionally killed during the research would be used in place of a 
fish that would otherwise be sacrificed.

Permit 1587-4R

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is seeking to renew for five 
years a research permit that currently allows them to take juvenile PS 
Chinook salmon and PS steelhead. The work would take place in the 
northern Puget Sound (San Juan Island and Samish Bay), the Whidbey 
Basin (Skagit Bay), the southern Puget Sound (Nisqually Delta), 
Admiralty Inlet (including Foulweather Bluff), and the Strait of San 
Juan de Fuca. The research would be divided into two projects: (1) 
Restoration of Puget Sound deltas and (2) effects of urbanization on 
nearshore ecosystems. The studies' goals are to

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understand large river delta ecosystems and the physio-chemical 
processes associated with altering nearshore habitats, e.g., trophic 
web effects, plant and animal community dynamics, and forage fish 
population fluctuations. The USGS would sample once per month in each 
area from April through September, but extra sampling (1-8 days per 
quarter) may sometimes be needed. Lampara nets would be the primary 
capture method, but beach seines, dip nets, gill nets, and angling may 
also be used. The researchers would identify, weigh, and measure any 
captured fish. All captured salmonids would immediately be processed 
and released near their capture location. Forage fish would be counted, 
measured, weighed, and some may be sacrificed for otoliths, genetics, 
and fish health assays. All sampling plans would be reviewed and 
approved by the USGS Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee before 
being implemented. The researchers do not propose to kill any of the 
listed salmonids being captured, but a small number may die as an 
unintended result of the activities.

Permit 16302

    The UW is seeking a 3-year research permit to annually take 
juvenile PS Chinook salmon and PS steelhead. The UW would conduct fish 
surveys along the Elliott Bay seawall between piers 48 and 70, with 
reference sites in other parts of Elliott Bay. The purpose of the 
survey is to determine fish presence, use, and behavior in the Elliot 
Bay seawall reconstruction project area. It would also help establish 
pre-construction baseline conditions for the Elliott Bay seawall 
project and support the development of the project's environmental 
impact statement and other supporting environmental documentation. The 
fieldwork would continue for at least 18 months, with sampling every 
month. The work would benefit the fish by helping managers minimize or 
mitigate any impact the seawall project may have on them as it goes 
forward. The UW would capture fish using purse seines and beach seines. 
The majority (75%) of the juvenile Chinook salmon and steelhead would 
be counted, checked for external marks and internal coded-wire tags, 
measured, and released. The other 25% of the captured juvenile Chinook 
and steelhead would have their stomach contents sampled before being 
released. The UW does not propose to kill any fish being captured but 
some may die as an unintentional 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 applications meet 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 5, 2011.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-11449 Filed 5-9-11; 8:45 am]
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