[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 91 (Monday, May 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26944-26946]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-10737]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XD284


Endangered and Threatened Species; Take of Anadromous Fish

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

ACTION: Issuance of a scientific research permit, and notice of 
availability for final environmental assessment and finding of no 
significant impact.

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SUMMARY: This notice is hereby given that NMFS has issued Permit 17781 
to Mr. Robert Clark, Fisheries Program Supervisor of the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service (USFWS), in accordance with the Endangered Species Act 
of 1973, as amended (ESA). In addition, the Final Environmental 
Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact associated with 
this permit are available to the public.

ADDRESSES: The approved application for the permit is available on the 
Applications and Permits for Protected Species (APPS), https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov Web site by searching the permit number within the 
Search Database page. The application, issued permit, Final 
Environmental Assessment, Finding of No Significant Impact and 
supporting documents are also available by appointment, or upon the 
following:
     Mail: Submit written requests to Elif Fehm-Sullivan, 
Fisheries Biologist, West Coast Region, California Central Valley Area 
Office, National Marine Fisheries Service, 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 5-
100, Sacramento, CA 95814.
     Fax: (916) 930-3629.
     Email: [email protected].
    You may access a copy of supporting documents including the final 
EA by one of the following:
     Visit the NMFS Reintroduction Web site at http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/central_valley/san_joaquin/san_joaquin_reint.html.
     Call (916) 930-3723 and request to have a CD or hard copy 
mailed to you.
     Obtain a CD or hard copy by visiting the NMFS Central 
Valley office at 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 5-100, Sacramento, CA 95814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elif Fehm-Sullivan, National Marine 
Fisheries Service, 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 5-100, Sacramento, CA 95814 
(916) 930-3723.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority

    The issuance of permits and permit modifications, as required by 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1543) (ESA), is 
based on a finding that such permits/modifications: (1) Are applied for 
in good faith; (2) would not operate to the disadvantage of the listed 
species which are the subject of the permits; and (3) are consistent 
with the purposes and policies set forth in section 2 of the ESA. 
Authority to take listed species is subject to conditions set forth in 
the permits. Permits and modifications are issued in accordance with 
and are subject to the ESA and NMFS regulations (50 CFR parts 222-226) 
governing listed fish and wildlife permits.

Species Covered in This Notice

    This notice is relevant to ESA listed species from the threatened 
Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) 
(spring-run Chinook salmon) evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) and 
threatened California Central Valley (CCV) steelhead (O. mykiss).

Permit 17781

    NMFS formally initiated a public review period for review of the 
permit application through publication of a Notice of Receipt (NOR) of 
the Permit application in the Federal Register on December 31, 2013, 
outlining the research and enhancement activities proposed by USFWS and 
take of ESA-listed spring-run Chinook salmon proposed under Permit 
17781 (28 FR 79675). The notice of receipt included a

[[Page 26945]]

30-day public comment period for this permit application, which closed 
on January 30, 2014. A combined total of 6 public comments on the 
permit application were submitted to NMFS by two entities.
    The public comments and NMFS' response are as follows:
    Comment 1: The permit should acknowledge the protections accorded 
by The Settlement Act requiring that the reintroduction of spring-run 
Chinook salmon to the San Joaquin River will have no adverse impacts to 
Central Valley Project (CVP) contract allocations.
    Response: The protections accorded by The Settlement Act, as 
referred to in the above comment and in this response (Pub. L. 11-111, 
Title X, Section 10011), have been addressed in the designation of an 
experimental population rule (50 CFR 223.301(b)) that went into effect 
January 31, 2014. That federal regulation states that an annual 
technical memorandum will be developed to ensure that the 
reintroduction of spring-run Chinook salmon will not result in more 
than de minimus water supply reductions, additional storage releases or 
bypass flows on unwilling persons or entities diverting or receiving 
water pursuant to applicable State and Federal laws. This also applies 
to the CVP and State Water Project (SWP) operations under any 
biological opinion or ESA section 10 permit that is in effect at the 
time for operations of the CVP and SWP. The actions of this permit will 
be considered in that annual process. Also note that this is directly 
addressed in the permit application project description. To address 
concerns of downstream water users and to assess take at the State and 
Federal pumping facilities in the Delta, an externally visible mark 
will be used by the Program.
    Comment 2: The permit application should include provisions for 
genetic monitoring to ensure the introduction of the experimental 
spring-run Chinook salmon population will not result in adverse impacts 
to CVP operations.
    Response: Please see the response to comment 1. Genetic material 
collection is part of this permit application. The need for genetic 
testing with respect to this concern will be addressed in the annual 
technical memorandum associated with 50 CFR 223.301(b).
    Comment 3: There is inadequate habitat in the San Joaquin river and 
as a result, the issuance of the 10(a)(1)(A) permit for the salmon 
reintroduction program with the goal of spring-run Chinook salmon 
reintroduction to the San Joaquin River in 2014 is far in advance of 
the necessary structural and channel improvements, which are critical 
to providing habitat conditions for the successful reintroduction of 
spring-run Chinook salmon to the San Joaquin River.
    Response: NMFS recognizes that the restoration of naturally self-
sustaining populations of Chinook salmon to the San Joaquin River will 
require completion of other channel and habitat improvements to be 
implemented by the San Joaquin River Restoration Program. However, 
suitable habitat for Chinook salmon presently exists seasonally and in 
places along the San Joaquin River as described in section 3 of the EA. 
Reintroduction is not one single event, but a series of several events 
that over time will lead to successful restoration of spring-run 
Chinook to the San Joaquin River. In order for the reintroduction to be 
successful, the initial step of this reintroduction process will have a 
testing phase, where the collection, transportation, holding, rearing, 
and release techniques can be tested to ensure that the program will 
not have an adverse effect on these listed fish. This permit authorizes 
the implementation of necessary initial actions and the scope of the 
permitted actions does consider existing habitat availability.
    Comment 4: There is inadequate funding for the San Joaquin River 
Restoration Program to achieve the program's goals of habitat 
restoration, channel improvements, and operate the salmon 
reintroduction program.
    Response: Please see response to comment 3. For the purposes of 
this permit, NMFS assumes that all channel and structural 
modifications, habitat improvements, and water releases, will be 
implemented as required by the Settlement. Implementing only some of 
these measures would not achieve the Restoration Goal, and thereby 
would not fulfill the terms and conditions of the Settlement. NMFS 
correctly makes assumptions that other related factors such as 
compliance with other laws, plans, and policies and adequate funding to 
carry out the proposal will occur. Funding sources are identified for 
the implementation of the SJRRP. Lack of implementation could result 
from a suite of potential factors including lack of funding or 
noncompliance with a related law. If funding issues prevent the 
completion of some SJRRP actions, there would be no impacts to third 
parties from the reintroduction of spring-run Chinook salmon due to the 
non-essential experimental population designation and take exemptions. 
However, throughout Settlement implementation, the Implementing 
Agencies will remain cognizant of funding availability and the need to 
prioritize individual actions in recognition of their anticipated costs 
and effectiveness. If the reintroduction program were halted because of 
a lack of funding, NMFS would then reevaluate the program and make 
necessary adjustments through its regulatory processes.
    Comment 5: The permit application anticipates the use of a trap and 
haul program to move spring-run Chinook salmon around major passage 
impediments in the early years of the reintroduction program, however 
it does not adequately address the impact on survival from such a trap 
and haul program.
    Response: The permit application calls out specific release 
criteria for juveniles, found in appendix J of the attached permit 
documents, which specify that fish will be released only from a point 
where there is connectivity with the ocean, and the potential impact on 
survival resulting from this handling and transport has been accounted 
for in the take tables found in the permit application and the permit 
itself. For returning adults, a trap and haul program would only be 
used if necessary, as outline in appendix K of the attached permit 
documents. The incidental mortality rate provided by USFWS for the 
adult trap and haul program is 3 percent. The number used is a doubling 
of the observed mortality rate of adult fall-run trap and haul program 
currently being used in the San Joaquin River and outlined in appendix 
K. This number was used as a conservative, surrogate estimate for take, 
as no spring-run Chinook trap and haul program has been performed in 
this area.
    Comment 6: The permit application proposes the use of in-river and 
streamside incubators for eggs and the use of in-river holding pens for 
juveniles, including unmarked juveniles that have not reached a 
sufficient size for marking, but does not adequately address the risks 
of releases of eggs or unmarked fish to the San Joaquin River either 
through accidental release or vandalism.
    Response: Eggs will be transported to stream side incubators. As 
they develop into juveniles they will be held in incubators until they 
can be tagged and adipose fin-clipped, and then moved to holding pens. 
No un-marked juveniles will be put into net pens. The stream side 
incubators will be placed on federal land and built in such a way as to 
deter vandalism to the best extent possible.
    Permit 17781 authorizes USFWS take of ESA-listed Central Valley 
spring-run Chinook salmon from the Feather River

[[Page 26946]]

Fish Hatchery (FRFH) for the following activities: (1) The collection 
of spring-run Chinook salmon juveniles and eggs from the FRFH and their 
transport to stream side incubators located alongside the San Joaquin 
River; (2) the transport of collected Chinook salmon to holding pens 
located in the San Joaquin River; (3) the tagging of FRFH collected 
spring-run Chinook salmon; (4) the release of tagged juvenile spring-
run Chinook salmon from FRFH, the salmon conservation and research 
facility (SCARF), and those juveniles that were raised in the stream 
side incubators; (5) the release of tagged adult salmon from SCARF in 
years 4-5 of the permit; (6) monitoring and evaluation associated with 
permitted activities; and (7) if required, quarantine and pathology 
testing on eggs and/or juveniles collected from FRFH.

    Dated: May 6, 2014.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-10737 Filed 5-9-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P