[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 216 (Thursday, November 7, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66901-66902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-26727]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XA713


Endangered Species; File No. 16482-01

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for permit modification.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Warnell School of Forest 
Resources, Fisheries Division, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 
30602 [Douglas Peterson: Responsible Party], has applied in due form 
for a permit modification to take Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser 
oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) and shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) 
for purposes of scientific research.

DATES: Written, telefaxed, or email comments must be received on or 
before December 9, 2013.

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 
(APPS) home page, https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov, and then selecting File 
No. 16482-01 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
     Southeast Region, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, Saint 
Petersburg, Florida 33701; phone (727) 824-5312; fax (727) 824-5309.
    Written comments on either application should be submitted to the 
Chief, Permits and Conservation Division
     By email to [email protected] (include the File 
No. in the subject line of the email);
     By facsimile to (301) 713-0376; or
     At the address listed above.
    Those individuals requesting a public hearing should submit a 
written request to the Chief, Permits and Conservation Division at the 
address listed above. The request should set forth the specific reasons 
why a hearing on the application would be appropriate.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Malcolm Mohead at (301) 427-8401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The subject permit modification is requested 
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).
    Permit No. 16482 was issued April 6, 2012 (77 FR 21754) to the 
Permit Holder listed above to capture Atlantic sturgeon

[[Page 66902]]

life stages in the Savannah (SC/GA), Ogeechee (GA), Altamaha (GA), 
Satilla (GA), and Saint Marys (GA/FL) Rivers using gill nets and 
trammel nets to measure, weigh, photograph, PIT and Floy tag, and 
tissue sample. Subsets are anesthetized, fin ray sectioned, 
laparoscoped, and implanted with an internal acoustic tag. Incidental 
mortality of serious harm to five juvenile and sub-adults or one adult 
annually is authorized. The Permit Holder is also authorized to sample 
Atlantic sturgeon early life stages (ELS) in suspected spawning areas 
using egg mats. The Permit Holder now requests consolidating the 
existing takes of shortnose sturgeon authorized in a separate Permit No 
14394 in the Altamaha River (GA) into the current modification, and 
subsequently terminating Permit No. 14394. Additionally, the Permit 
Holder proposes new takes of shortnose sturgeon from the Savannah, 
Ogeechee, Satilla River (GA), Saint Marys Rivers (GA/FL) and Saint 
Johns and Nassau Rivers (FL); and new takes of Atlantic sturgeon from 
the Nassau and Saint Johns Rivers (FL) using identical methods 
described for Atlantic sturgeon. One additional procedure is requested 
not permitted in prior permits: the Permit Holder requests sampling 
blood from subsets of captured Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon from the 
Altamaha River (GA). Incidental mortality of two juvenile or adult 
shortnose sturgeon would be authorized annually from all river systems, 
as well sampling of shortnose sturgeon ELS in suspected spawning areas. 
The modification would be valid through the expiration date of the 
original permit on April 5, 2017.

    Dated: November 4, 2013.
P. Michael Payne,
Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-26727 Filed 11-6-13; 8:45 am]
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