[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 161 (Thursday, August 20, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50607-50610]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20616]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XE098


Endangered and Threatened Species; Take of Anadromous Fish

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

ACTION: Issuance of one permit and receipt of four permit modification 
requests for scientific research and enhancement.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that NMFS has issued Endangered Species 
Act (ESA) scientific research Permit 18251 to the Marine Science 
Institute. Additionally, NMFS has received four scientific research and 
enhancement permit modification requests relating to anadromous species 
listed under the ESA. The proposed research activities are intended to 
increase knowledge of the species and to help guide management and 
conservation efforts. The application for each 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 applications for each permit modification 
request may be viewed online at: https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov/preview/preview_open_for_comment.cfm.

DATES: Comments or requests for a public hearing on the applications 
must be received at the appropriate address or fax number (see 
ADDRESSES) no later than 5 p.m. Pacific standard time on September 21, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the applications should be submitted to 
the California Central Valley Office, NMFS, 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 5-
100, Sacramento, CA 95814. Comments may also be submitted via fax to 
916-930-3629 or by email to [email protected] (include the permit 
number in the subject line of the fax or email).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Cranford, Sacramento, CA (ph.: 
916-930-3706), Fax: 916-930-3629, email: [email protected]). 
Permit application instructions are available from the address above, 
or online at https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Species Covered in This Notice

    The following listed species are covered in this notice:
    Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha): threatened Central 
Valley spring-run (CVSR); endangered Sacramento River winter-run 
(SRWR).
    Steelhead (O. mykiss): threatened California Central Valley (CCV);
    North American green sturgeon (Acipenser medisrostris): threatened 
southern distinct population segment (SDPS).

Authority

    Scientific research permits are issued in accordance with section 
10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et. seq) and regulations 
governing listed fish and wildlife permits (50 CFR parts 222-227). NMFS 
issues permits based on findings that such permits: (1) Are applied for 
in good faith; (2) if granted and exercised, would not operate to the 
disadvantage of the listed species that are the subject of the permit; 
and (3) are consistent with the purposes and policy of section 2 of the 
ESA. The authority to take listed species is subject to conditions set 
forth in the permits.
    Anyone requesting a hearing on an application listed in this notice 
should set out the specific reasons why a hearing on that application 
would be appropriate (see ADDRESSES). Such hearings are held at the 
discretion of the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NMFS.

Permits Issued

Permit 18251

    A notice of the receipt of an application for a scientific research 
and enhancement permit (18251) was published in the Federal Register on 
March 10, 2014 (79 FR 13279). Permit 18251 was issued to the Marine 
Science Institute on June 30, 2014 and expires on December 31, 2018. 
Permit 18251 authorizes take of SRWR Chinook salmon smolts, CVSR 
Chinook salmon smolts, CCV steelhead smolts, and juvenile SDPS green 
sturgeon associated with monitoring and research activities conducted 
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Central Valley, California. The 
purpose of the research is to educate local 6th graders and their 
parents about the Delta ecosystem and to teach them how to be better 
stewards of the watershed. The students will go on a 3.5 hour voyage. 
During the voyage

[[Page 50608]]

they will rotate through four stations: Hydrology (discussion based), 
Benthic (mud grab and invertebrate study), Plankton (plankton tow and 
identification), and Ichthyology (Otter trawl and fish identification). 
During the Ichthyology station a five minute mid-water trawl using an 
Otter trawl will be deployed to collect fish for the students to study. 
The net will be emptied by instructional staff into a tank that is 
constantly refilled with water from the Delta. Any species of concern 
are then identified and immediately released back into the Delta. Fish 
are transferred from the tank back into Delta by buckets filled with 
water from the Delta to minimize stress.

Modification Requests Received

Permit 18181--2M

    The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is requesting 
to modify Permit 18181. Permit 18181 was issued to CDFW on January 14, 
2014 for take of CVSR Chinook salmon, SRWR Chinook salmon, CCV 
steelhead, and SDPS green sturgeon associated with research and rescue 
activities in the Upper Sacramento River and associated tributaries in 
Shasta and Tehama counties, the Colusa Basin Drainage Canal (CBDC), 
Wallace and Fremont weirs in the Yolo Bypass, and Tisdale Weir in the 
Sutter Bypass. CDFW is requesting to modify Permit 18181 to include 
additional rescue and monitoring efforts that routinely occur 
throughout the Central Valley. Further, after conducting capture and 
relocation activities within the CBDC and at Wallace Weir, the project 
description, sampling methodologies and take estimates can be refined 
to better reflect the current rescue operations. The primary purpose of 
the proposed monitoring will be to assess entrainment of ESA-listed 
salmonids and SDPS green sturgeon resulting from extreme environmental 
conditions and complex water operations within California's Central 
Valley. CDFW will assess the conditions leading to entrainment and 
determine whether rescue and relocation activities are warranted. The 
rescue and relocation efforts proposed are: (1) The CBDC Trapping and 
Relocation Operation, which aims to trap and relocate adult Chinook 
salmon and other species of management concern before they enter and 
become entrained within the CDBC; (2) Monitoring of Sacramento River 
Flood Control Project Weirs and Flood Relief Structures, bypasses are 
surveyed after high flow events to determine the level of entrainment 
and if warranted rescues will be conducted, with a specific focus on 
Tisdale and Fremont weirs in the Sacramento River; and (3) Upper 
Sacramento River Redd Dewatering Surveys and Rescue of Stranded 
Juvenile Winter-run Chinook Salmon, which allows CDFW biologists to 
predict the flow at which redds will be dewatered on a redd-by-redd 
basis and conduct rescues if necessary. Rescue and relocation of ESA-
listed fish will be carried out using fyke traps, Alaskan-style 
resistance board weirs, block nets, hoop nets, fyke nets, and beach 
seines. Observational surveys using dual identification sonar (DIDSON) 
imagery may also be conducted if necessary. The majority of captured 
fish would be identified to species, enumerated, measured for standard 
length, sampled for tissues and released. Juvenile SRWR and CVSR 
Chinook salmon would be identified using the Length-at-Date-of-Capture 
Table. ESA-listed species would be processed first and released. Adult 
salmonids that are trapped during rescue and relocation activities will 
be sampled for tissues (genetics), tagged with two individually 
numbered Floy tags, and relocated to the nearest, accessible location 
on the Sacramento River. If SDPS green sturgeon are encountered during 
rescue activities, acoustic tags will be surgically implanted by 
trained staff and data will be recorded on fish size, condition, and 
time of release. To reduce handling mortality, investigators will 
conduct water to water transfers, use fish-friendly nets, avoid 
handling when possible, and release fish will at the nearest suitable 
location to reduce handling and transport times.

Permit 14808-2M

    Permit 14808 was issued to CDFW on September 26, 2012 for take of 
juvenile CVSR Chinook salmon, SRWR Chinook salmon, and CCV steelhead 
while conducting juvenile emigration monitoring at Knights Landing in 
the Lower Sacramento River, Yolo County, California. The permit 
modification is being requested in order to refine sampling methods, 
increase take levels and address changes to the proposed procedures. 
Additionally, CDFW requested that all ongoing research and monitoring 
be consolidated into a single section 10(a)(1)(A) Permit to improve 
efficiencies associated with reporting. In addition to the juvenile 
emigration monitoring at Knights Landing, which aims to compile 
information on timing, composition (species/race), and relative 
abundance of juvenile Chinook salmon and steelhead emigrating from the 
Upper Sacramento River system into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, 
CDFW is requesting that the following research and monitoring efforts 
be added to Permit 14808: (1) The Central Valley Steelhead Monitoring 
Program, that includes studies targeting CCV steelhead throughout the 
Sacramento River and San Joaquin River basins in order to examine the 
distribution, abundance, and population trends of CCV steelhead and 
provide the data necessary to help assess progress towards restoration 
and recovery goals; and (2) Upper Sacramento River Restoration Site 
Monitoring, which will establish baseline use at proposed restoration 
sites to help determine the success once restoration projects are 
implemented through juvenile presence/absence surveys at a variety of 
sites on the Upper Sacramento River. CDFW will conduct juvenile 
emigration monitoring through the use of paired 8-foot rotary screw 
traps (RSTs) on the Sacramento River beginning in October and 
continuing through June of the following year. Traps will be fished 
continuously and checked once every 24 hours unless conditions such as 
high flows or excessive debris warrant more frequent sampling. Captured 
salmonids will be handled (including measurements), allowed to recover 
in fresh aerated water and released back into the Sacramento River. A 
small subsample of adipose fin-clipped (hatchery-origin) Chinook salmon 
will be sacrificed (directed mortality) daily for coded wire tag 
extraction and analysis. The Steelhead Monitoring Program will utilize 
wire fyke traps to capture, mark, and recapture upstream migrating 
adult steelhead in order to estimate adult steelhead escapement from 
the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Fyke trapping will occur 
annually from August through May. A DIDSON camera or device of similar 
capabilities will be placed at the entrance to the fyke traps to 
monitor salmonid movements and assist in adjusting trap placement to 
maximize capture rates. Traps will be fished 24 hours a day with all 
traps being inspected, cleaned, and emptied at least once every 24 
hours to minimize the period of time steelhead are detained. All 
captured steelhead (hatchery and wild) will be enumerated, weighed, 
measured, sexed (if possible), photographed for body condition, checked 
for previous tags, and sampled for scales. Healthy steelhead captured 
in good condition will receive a passive integrated transponder (PIT) 
tag. Hatchery-origin steelhead will receive a two inch, individually 
numbered, bicolor Floy tag posterior to the dorsal fin. A randomly 
selected subset of captured steelhead will receive an acoustic tag in 
addition to PIT and Floy

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tags to determine migration and survival behavior. Individuals selected 
for acoustic tagging will be surgically tagged with a VEMCO acoustic 
transmitter tag or similarly compatible device in the abdomen posterior 
to the pelvic fins. Tag recapture monitoring in Sacramento River 
tributaries will be performed using in-stream PIT tag detection 
antennas. Current angler harvest surveys and hatchery broodstock 
collection programs combined with advances in tag detection technology 
will allow biologists to estimate the number of tag recaptures to 
Sacramento River tributaries. All Upper Sacramento River Restoration 
Site Monitoring will be observational and no handling of juvenile 
salmonids will occur. Sampling methods will include snorkel surveys, 
video surveys and DIDSON surveys. The survey results will help 
Restoration Ecologists design better projects in the future. 
Information collected will also help to determine locations where 
juvenile Chinook salmon are rearing upstream of Red Bluff Diversion 
Dam.

Permit 1415-2M

    Permit 1415 was issued to the USFWS, Red Bluff Fish and Wildlife 
Office on February 6, 2014. The overall purpose of the project is to 
provide monitoring data for various evaluations, including restoration 
actions, stream flow assessments, management actions, and life-history 
investigations. Species under investigation include CVSR Chinook 
salmon, SRWR Chinook salmon, CCV steelhead, and SDPS green sturgeon 
while conducting research studies in Battle Creek, Clear Creek, and the 
Upper Sacramento River Basin (i.e., Upper River and surrounding 
watersheds). The permit modification requested by USFWS is specific to 
Study 6--Sacramento River Juvenile Fish Monitoring at the Red Bluff 
Diversion Dam. All other studies authorized under Permit 1415 will 
remain unchanged at this time. Take resulting from the research and 
monitoring activities carried out by USFWS will involve observations 
(snorkel surveys, redd counts and escapement/stream surveys) or capture 
(by trawl, seine, fyke-net trap, benthic D-net, substrate samplers, 
hook and line, backpack electrofishing, weir trap, trammel or gill net, 
rotary screw trap, egg mats, or by dip net), handling (sedation, fin 
clipping, tissue sampling, coded-wire tag extraction, otolith 
extraction), marking (Bismark brown Y stain), tagging (acoustic, PIT), 
and release of fish once adequately recovered. A majority of the ESA-
listed fish that are captured will be immediately collected from the 
sampling gears, placed in containers filled with river water collected 
at the location being sampled, processed, held in a recovery container 
filled with aerated river water, and subsequently released at the 
sampled location. One exception includes the proposed intentional 
directed mortality of up to 80 SRWR Chinook salmon juveniles associated 
with Study 6. The purpose of the directed intentional mortality of SRWR 
Chinook salmon is to determine potential mechanisms for reduced 
survival in collaboration with the USWFS California-Nevada Fish Health 
Center. Extreme drought conditions and poor in-river conditions appear 
to be having adverse effects on emigrating juvenile salmonids. Elevated 
water temperatures are likely increasing the prevalence of some 
bacteria and parasite infections. USFWS will obtain up to 10 live 
juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon per week (for approximately 8 weeks) 
from RST monitoring carried out at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam (Study 
6), from early September through October. The subsample of juveniles 
collected from the traps will be sacrificed in order to identify 
microbial (e.g. parasite and bacteria) and non-infectious (e.g. 
coagulative yolk, gill hyperplasia) disease in the out-migrant juvenile 
SRWR Chinook salmon population passing the RSTs during the typical peak 
period. The low sample number proposed would likely limit detection to 
high prevalence pathogens. The histological approach will provide 
information on the severity of any given condition and is logistically 
prudent for the RST monitoring.

Permit 17299-2M

    Permit 17299 was issued to the NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science 
Center (SWFSC), Fishery Ecology Division (FED), on April 4, 2013 for 
research to be conducted at various sites and hatcheries within 
California's Central Valley. The main purpose of the research conducted 
by the SWFSC is to carry out comparative studies on salmonid ecology 
across all Central Valley habitats (streams, rivers and Delta) to 
increase knowledge of California's Chinook salmon and steelhead life 
histories. The modification request relates to the life stages sampled 
and the total take associated with Studies 1 and 3 authorized by Permit 
17299. These studies include investigations into outmigration survival 
based upon telemetry technology and investigations of the physiological 
response (as measured by aerobic scope) to varying temperature and flow 
regimes. Given the current threats posed to SRWR Chinook salmon 
including anthropogenic alterations of natural flow regimes and climate 
change, these studies quantitatively measures the capacity for 
adaptation of SRWR Chinook salmon juveniles to these conditions. The 
unprecedented conditions associated with the California drought have 
exacerbated these challenges, such that more detailed and finer 
resolution studies are needed to evaluate the potential consequences of 
a range of water management options including management of cold water 
storage pools behind large dams and pulse flows. The permit 
modification request aims to address these needs by increasing the 
sample sizes and associated take, and by broadening the scope of 
studies to include additional life stages. Study 1 is a large scale 
telemetry project to assess habitat use, behavior and survival of 
hatchery- and natural-origin SRWR and CVSR Chinook salmon and CCV 
steelhead. Additional take associated with increased sample sizes will 
allow for better estimates of survival and identification of conditions 
that may be affecting juvenile salmonid emigration. Study 3 will 
measure the physiological capacity (aerobic scope and other 
cardiovascular capabilities) of hatchery-origin salmonids to deal with 
potential seasonal and geographic temperature challenges, by 
identifying their combined threshold tolerance to abiotic factors such 
as temperature, dissolved oxygen and flow. The SWFSC will use this data 
to determine sites where these factors may be limiting migration, 
survival and growth. This study requires that all fish tested be 
euthanized in order to collect the appropriate information and assess 
the aerobic scope. All euthanized fish will also be sampled for 
otoliths (age/growth), and organ tissue (isotope, biochemical and 
genomic expression assays), examined for parasite infections, and will 
contribute to tag effects/retention studies. The SWFSC proposes to 
broaden the scope of Study 3 through increased sample sizes and the 
addition of take for other life stages (eggs, fry, alevin, and parr). 
This additional take is in response to an urgent data gap on the 
temperature tolerance of these life stages. The proposed research will 
benefit ESA-listed fish by supporting conservation and management of 
anadromous salmonids and green sturgeon in California by directly 
addressing information needs identified by NMFS and other agencies.
    This notice is provided pursuant to section 10(c) of the ESA. NMFS 
will

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evaluate the applications, associated documents, and comments submitted 
to determine whether the applications meet the requirements of section 
10(a) of the ESA and Federal regulations. The final permit decisions 
will not be made until after the end of the 30-day comment period. NMFS 
will publish notice of its final action in the Federal Register.

    Dated: August 14, 2015.
Cathryn E. Tortorici,
Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-20616 Filed 8-19-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P