[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 10, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21539-21540]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-8602]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XB094


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to Sturgeon Research in the Gulf of Mexico

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for letter of authorization; 
request for comments and information.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service (USFWS) for authorization to take small numbers of marine 
mammals incidental to conducting sturgeon research in the Gulf of 
Mexico, over the course of 5 years from the date of issuance. Pursuant 
to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), 
NMFS is announcing receipt of USFWS's request for the development and 
implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine 
mammals and inviting information, suggestions, and comments on USFWS's 
application and request.

DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than May 10, 
2012.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the application should be addressed to Tammy 
Adams, Acting Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West 
Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3225. The mailbox address for 
providing email comments is [email protected]. Comments sent via email, 
including all attachments, must not exceed a 10-megabyte file size.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben Laws, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Availability

    A copy of USFWS's application may be obtained by writing to the 
address specified above (see ADDRESSES), telephoning the contact listed 
above (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT), or visiting the internet 
at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental.htm#applications.

Background

    Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) 
direct the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to allow, upon request, 
the incidental, but not intentional taking of small numbers of marine 
mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than 
commercial fishing) if certain findings are made and regulations are 
issued or, if the taking is limited to harassment, notice of a proposed 
authorization is provided to the public for review.
    Authorization for incidental takings may be granted if NMFS finds 
that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or 
stock(s) and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the 
availability of the species or stock(s) for certain subsistence uses, 
and if the permissible methods of taking and requirements pertaining to 
the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of such taking are set forth.
    NMFS has defined `negligible impact' in 50 CFR 216.103 as ``an 
impact resulting from the specified activity that cannot be reasonably 
expected to, and is not reasonably likely to, adversely affect the 
species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or 
survival.'' Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent 
here, the MMPA defines `harassment' as: ``any act of pursuit, torment, 
or annoyance which (i) has the potential to injure a marine mammal or 
marine mammal stock in the wild [Level A harassment]; or (ii) has the 
potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild 
by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not 
limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or 
sheltering [Level B harassment].''

Summary of Request

    On January 27, 2012, NMFS received a complete application from 
USFWS requesting authorization for take of four species of marine 
mammals incidental to sturgeon research conducted by and in 
collaboration with USFWS. The requested regulations would be valid for 
5 years from the date of issuance. As a result of this research, it is 
possible that marine mammals may be entangled in gill nets, resulting 
in injury, serious injury, or mortality. Because the specified 
activities have the potential to take marine mammals present within the 
action area, USFWS requests authorization to take bottlenose dolphins 
(Tursiops truncatus), Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), 
pantropical spotted dolphins (S. attenuata), and striped dolphins (S. 
coeruleoalba).

Specified Activities

    The USFWS is working with NMFS, the U.S. Geological Survey, and 
other partners on several wide-ranging projects across inshore waters 
of the Gulf of Mexico in designated critical habitat areas for the Gulf 
sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi). The Gulf sturgeon was listed 
in 1991 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Sturgeon 
research projects include: (1) A Natural Resource Damage Assessment 
(NRDA) project entitled ``Mississippi Canyon 252 Assessment Plan for 
the Collection of Data to Determine Potential Exposure and Injuries of 
Threatened Gulf Sturgeon''; (2) an annual summer and fall census; and 
(3) fine-scale movement and habitat assessment within and nearby 
Choctawhatchee Bay, FL. Sampling locations will occur in Florida, 
Mississippi, and Louisiana, throughout the Pearl, Pascagoula, Escambia, 
Yellow, Blackwater, Choctawhatchee, Apalachicola, and Suwannee rivers 
and their associated bays near the river mouths.
    These research projects involve the use of gill nets to capture 
sturgeon in order to assess physical condition, implant telemetry 
transmitters, and collect census information, among other objectives. 
The USFWS recorded two deaths of bottlenose dolphins in 2011 as a 
result of entanglement and subsequent asphyxiation in gill nets 
deployed for sturgeon research--the only two records of interactions 
with marine mammals in 26 years of USFWS survey effort. Since that 
incident, USFWS has begun implementing avoidance measures designed in 
consultation with NMFS. Although entanglement of marine mammals in gill 
nets deployed for sturgeon research is extremely rare, and the 
likelihood of such an event is further reduced by the use of avoidance 
measures, the possibility remains that USFWS could incidentally take 
marine mammals in the course of conducting future sturgeon research.
    A more detailed description of the sturgeon research conducted by 
USFWS may be found in USFWS' application, which is available at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental.htm.

Information Solicited

    Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and 
comments concerning USFWS's request (see ADDRESSES). All information, 
suggestions, and comments related to USFWS's request and NMFS' 
potential

[[Page 21540]]

development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental 
taking of marine mammals by USFWS will be considered by NMFS in 
developing, if appropriate, regulations governing the issuance of 
letters of authorization.

    Dated: April 4, 2012.
Helen M. Golde,
Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-8602 Filed 4-9-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P