[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 147 (Monday, August 1, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50565-50566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18141]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Notice of Permit Applications Received Under the Antarctic 
Conservation Act of 1978

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice of permit applications received under the Antarctic 
Conservation Act of 1978, Public Law 95-541.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is required to publish a 
notice of permit applications received to conduct activities regulated 
under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. NSF has published 
regulations under the Antarctic Conservation Act at Title 45 part 670 
of the Code of Federal Regulations. This is the required notice of 
permit applications received.

DATES: Interested parties are invited to submit written data, comments, 
or views with respect to this permit application by August 31, 2016. 
This application may be inspected by interested parties at the Permit 
Office, address below.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Permit Office, Room 755, 
Division of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson 
Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nature McGinn, ACA Permit Officer, at 
the above address or [email protected] or (703) 292-7149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Science Foundation, as directed 
by the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-541), as amended 
by the Antarctic Science, Tourism and Conservation Act of 1996, has 
developed regulations for the establishment of a permit system for 
various activities in Antarctica and

[[Page 50566]]

designation of certain animals and certain geographic areas a requiring 
special protection. The regulations establish such a permit system to 
designate Antarctic Specially Protected Areas.

Application Details

Permit Application: 2017-006

1. Applicant: Joseph Wilson, Penguin Films Ltd, 1 St Augustine's Lane, 
Bristol BS1 5DE United Kingdom.

    Activity for Which Permit is Requested: ASPA entry. The applicant 
requests entry to Cape Crozier, ASPA 124, and Cape Royds, ASPA 121, in 
order to film an Adelie penguin documentary film for Disney. The 
applicant and team would use long lens filming techniques, which allows 
the camera person to be at a distance from the animals to capture 
natural behaviors. The work would be observational and would not 
involve interactions with penguins. The team would be working with 
penguin scientists who conduct work in Cape Crozier and Cape Royds.
    Location: Cape Crozier, ASPA 124; Cape Royds, ASPA 121.
    Dates: October 14, 2016-February 10, 2017.

Permit Application: 2017-010

2. Applicant: Brent S. Stewart, Ph.D., J.D., Hubbs-Seaworld Research 
Institute, 2595 Ingraham Street, San Diego, CA 92109.

    Activity for Which Permit is Requested: Take. The applicant is 
planning to make photographs at terrestrial continental and island 
locations on the east and west sides of the Antarctic Peninsula, where 
seabirds roost and breed, to document and observe changes in the 
physical characteristics of those habitats and the distribution and 
abundance of seabirds that use them relative to local and regional 
changes in environmental conditions. The applicant states that brief, 
minor, incidental disturbance to behaviors of seabirds might be 
possible, though unlikely, owing to auditory or visual detection by the 
seabirds of a camera-equipped (e.g., GoPro) aerial telerobot as it 
passes quickly overhead while making photographs. The remotely 
operated, battery powered, multi-rotor model aerial telerobot (e.g., 
DJI Phantom 3 Pro) will be operated from a Zodiac offshore, or from 
locations on beaches. The aerial telerobot will be operated within line 
of sight distances (<400 m) and altitudes of 30 to 100 m and for 10 to 
20 minutes during each flight. One flight will be made at each location 
visited and each location will be visited one to three times each year 
during the Austral summer (October to March). The applicant has applied 
for a permit to take the following species and numbers of birds: Less 
than 30 per year of gentoo penguin (Pygocelis papua), rockhopper 
penguin (Eudyptes crestatus), chinstrap penguin (Pygocelis antarctica), 
and Adelie penguin (Pygocelis adeliae); and less than 20 per year of 
brown skua (Catharacta lonnbergi), south polar skua (Catharacta 
mccormicki), sheathbill (Chionis alba), blue-eyed shag (Phalacrocorax 
atriceps), southern black-backed (kelp) gull (Larus dominicanus), and 
Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata).
    Location: Aitcho Islands; Alcock Island; Ardley Island; Argentine 
Islands; Astrolabe Island; Baily Head, Deception Island; Barcroft 
Islands, Biscoe Islands; Bennett Islands, Hanusse Bay; Berthelot 
Islands; Blaiklock Islands; Bongrain Point, west side of Pourquoi Pas 
Island; Brown Bluff, Tabarin Peninsula; Camp Point, Eastern Marguerite 
Bay; Challenger Island, Gerlache Strait; Port Charcot, Booth Island; 
Christiania Islands; Comb Ridge, Northern James Ross Island; Cormorant 
Island; Crystal Hill, Prince Gustav Channel; Cuverville Island; Damoy 
Point, Wiencke Island; Danco Island; Danger Islands; Detaille Island; 
Devil Island; Cape Dubouzet; Cape Dundas, Eastern Laurie Island; 
Duthiers Point; Enterprise Island, Gerlache Strait; Cape Evensen; 
Fildes Peninsula; Fish Islands; Cape Gage, Eastern James Ross Island; 
Gaston Islands, Gerlache Strait; Georges Point, Nothern Ronge Island; 
Gin Cove, Western James Ross Island; Gosling Islands; Gourdin Island; 
Half Moon Island; Hannah Point; Heroina Island; Horseshoe Island; 
Hovgaard Island; Huemel Island; Jonassen Island; Cape Kinnes, Joinville 
Island; Cape Kjellman; Melchior Islands; Metchnikoff Point, Northern 
Brabant Island; Murray Island; Orne Islands; Palaver Point; Paulet 
Island; Pendulum Cove, Deception Island; Penguin Island; Penguin Point, 
Seymour Island; Petermann Island; Pitt islands; Pleneau Island; Portal 
Point; Prospect Point, Holtedahl Bay; Ronge Island; Rosamel Island; Rum 
Cove, James Ross Island; Seymour Island; Shingle Cove, Coronation 
Island; Skontorp, Cove, Paradise Harbor; Small Island; Snow Hill 
Island; Spring Point, Hughes Bay; Stonington Island; Torgersen Island, 
Anvers Island; View Point, Duse Bay, Trinity Peninsula; Whalers Bay, 
Deception Island; Yalour Islands, Penola Strait; Yankee Harbor, 
Greenwich Island.
    Dates: October 1, 2016-September 30, 2021.

Nadene G. Kennedy,
Polar Coordination Specialist, Division of Polar Programs.
[FR Doc. 2016-18141 Filed 7-29-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7555-01-P