[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 97 (Tuesday, May 20, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28899-28900]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-11604]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[File No. 16482-01]
RIN 0648-XA713


Endangered Species

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

ACTION: Issuance of a permit modification and termination of a permit.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Warnell School of Forest 
Resources, Fisheries Division, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 
30602 [Douglas Peterson: Responsible Party], has been issued a permit 
modification (Permit No. 16482-01) to take to take Atlantic sturgeon 
(Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) and shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser 
brevirostrum) for purposes of scientific research. Additionally, Permit 
No. 14394 issued to the same Permit Holder for study of shortnose 
sturgeon is hereby terminated.

ADDRESSES: The permit modification and related documents are available 
for review upon written request or by appointment in the following 
office:

[[Page 28900]]

    Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705, Silver Spring, MD 
20910; phone (301) 427-8401; fax (301) 713-0376.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 7, 2013, notice was published in 
the Federal Register (78 FR 66901) that a scientific research permit 
modification to take shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon had been submitted 
by the above-named organization. The respective requested permits have 
been issued and terminated 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 to capture all Atlantic sturgeon 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 of 
animals are anesthetized, fin ray sectioned, laparoscoped, and 
implanted with internal acoustic tags. The collection of early life 
stages in suspected spawning areas using egg mats is also permitted in 
each of these rivers. Incidental mortality of serious harm of up to 
five juvenile and sub-adults and one adult annually is also authorized.
    The permit modification (Permit No. 16482-01) consolidates the 
takes of shortnose sturgeon originally issued in Permit No 14394 in the 
Altamaha River (GA). Permit 14394 was terminated upon issuance of the 
modification. This modification transfers blood sampling from subsets 
of captured Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon to that permit, adds 
sampling of early life stage shortnose sturgeon, and adds takes of 
other shortnose sturgeon life stages using the same research 
activities, from the Savannah, Ogeechee, Satilla River (GA), Saint 
Marys Rivers (GA/FL) and Saint Johns and Nassau Rivers (FL), as well as 
Atlantic sturgeon from the Nassau and Saint Johns Rivers (FL). 
Incidental mortality of two juvenile or adult shortnose sturgeon is 
authorized annually from all river systems. The modification is valid 
through the expiration date of the original permit, April 5, 2017.
    Issuance of this permit modification, as required by the ESA, was 
based on a finding that such permit (1) was applied for in good faith; 
(2) will not operate to the disadvantage of such endangered or 
threatened species; and (3) is consistent with the purposes and 
policies set forth in section 2 of the ESA.

    Dated: May 15, 2014.
Tammy C. Adams,
Acting Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-11604 Filed 5-19-14; 8:45 am]
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