[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 237 (Friday, December 9, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76949-76950]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31564]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[File No. 14534]
RIN 0648-XR52


Marine Mammals

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for permit amendment.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that NOAA's Office of Science and 
Technology, Silver Spring, MD, (Brandon Southall, Ph.D.--Principal 
Investigator) has applied for an amendment to Scientific Research 
Permit No. 14534-01.

DATES: Written, telefaxed, or email comments must be received on or 
before January 9, 2012.

ADDRESSES: The application and related documents are available for 
review by selecting ``Records Open for Public Comment'' from the 
Features box on the Applications and Permits for Protected Species home 
page, https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov, and then selecting File No. 14534 
from the list of available applications.
    These documents are also available upon written request or by 
appointment in the following offices:
    Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910; 
phone (301) 427-8401; fax (301) 713-0376; and
    Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long 
Beach, CA 90802-4213; phone (562) 980-4001; fax (562) 980-4018.
    Written comments on this application should be submitted to the 
Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, at the address 
listed above. Comments may also be submitted by facsimile to (301) 713-
0376, or by email to [email protected]. Please include File No. 
14534 in the subject line of the email comment.
    Those individuals requesting a public hearing should submit a 
written request to the Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education 
Division at the address listed above. The request should set forth the 
specific reasons why a hearing on this application would be 
appropriate.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tammy Adams or Carrie Hubard, (301) 
427-8401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The subject amendment to Permit No. 14534 is 
requested under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 
1972, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), the regulations governing 
the taking and importing of marine mammals (50 CFR part 216), the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), 
and the regulations governing the taking, importing, and exporting of 
endangered and threatened species (50 CFR 222-226).
    Permit No. 14534, issued on July 2, 2010 (75 FR 39665), authorizes 
the permit holder to harass marine mammals during studies of sound 
production, diving, responses to sound, and other behavior. The 
research is focused in the waters within the U.S. Navy's Southern 
California Range Complex, and primarily near the vicinity of San 
Clemente Island. The experimental design involves temporarily attaching 
individual recording tags to measure vocalization, behavior, and 
physiological parameters as well as sound exposure. Behavior is 
measured before, during, and after carefully controlled exposures of 
sound in conventional playback experiments. Target species include 
beaked whales and other odontocetes, key baleen whales, and pinniped 
species for which such data have not been previously obtained; other 
marine species may be incidentally impacted. Please refer to the tables 
in the issued permit for the numbers of marine mammals covered, by 
species and stock. The permit is valid through July 31, 2015.
    A minor amendment, Permit No. 14534-01, was issued August 30, 2010, 
to combine the permitted takes of 60 long-beaked common dolphins 
(Delphinus capensis) and 3,540 short-beaked common dolphins (D. 
delphis) into a single ``unidentified common dolphin'' category for 
harassment

[[Page 76950]]

incidental to the playbacks because these species can co-occur and are 
difficult to distinguish from each other in the field and at the 
distances at which they are counted. The minor amendment did not change 
the expiration date.
    The permit holder is requesting the permit be amended to include 
harassment takes of an additional 172 humpback whales (Megaptera 
novaengliae), 172 minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), and 902 
killer whales (Orcinus orca). These three species are currently only 
taken incidental to activities directed at target species. The 
amendment would convert them to additional focal species subject to 
tagging and intentional exposure to sound playbacks with associated 
observations.
    A draft environmental assessment (EA) has been prepared in 
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), to examine whether significant environmental 
impacts could result from issuance of the proposed scientific research 
permit. The draft EA is available for review and comment simultaneous 
with the scientific research permit application.
    Concurrent with the publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register, NMFS is forwarding copies of this application to the Marine 
Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors.

    Dated: December 2, 2011.
Tammy C. Adams,
Acting Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-31564 Filed 12-8-11; 8:45 am]
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