[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 12, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46193-46194]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19822]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


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

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice of Permit Modification Request.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is required to publish a 
notice of requests to modify permits issued to conduct activities 
regulated under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. This is the 
required notice of a requested permit modification.

DATES: Interested parties are invited to submit written data, comments, 
or views with respect to this permit application by October 12, 2018. 
Permit applications may be inspected by interested parties at the 
Permit Office, address below.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Permit Office, Office of 
Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, 
Alexandria, Virginia 22314.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nature McGinn, ACA Permit Officer, at 
the above address, 703-292-8030, or [email protected].

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 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.
    1. Description of Permit Modification Requested: NSF issued a 
permit (ACA 2018-012) to Jay J. Rotella on October 16, 2017. The issued 
permit allows the permit holder to continue long-term studies of 
Weddell seal populations in Erebus Bay and the McMurdo Sound region to 
evaluate how temporal variation in the marine environment affects 
individual life histories and population dynamics of a long-lived 
mammal. These studies may require the permit holder and agents to enter 
into six ASPAs in the area. Research involves capture and release of up 
to 675 Weddell seal pups at one to four days after birth for flipper 
tagging per year. A recent modification to this permit, dated November 
22, 2017, permitted the permit holder to increase the total take of 
Weddell seal pups for flipper tagging from 675 to 1000.
    Now the permit holder proposes a modification to the permit to 
increase the number of takes allocated to certain permitted activities 
to reflect the same increases authorized earlier this year in NMFS 
Permit No. 21158-02. The take increases from those allowed under the 
ACA permit, as originally issued, would be as follows: Increase from 
515 to 800 pups, flipper tagged once; increase from 10 to 20 pups, 
flipper tagged twice; increase from 285 to 385 adults, flipper tagged 
once; increase from 1325 to 1800 adults, harassment takes (4 per 
animal); increase from 675 to 910 pups, harassment takes (4 per 
animal); increase from 10 to 35 adults, salvage parts and vibrissae 
samples (3 per animal). These proposed changes would set the total 
number of takes of Weddell seal pups for flipper tagging to 970. The 
permit holder has also requested that a documentary film crew be 
allowed to accompany and film the permit holder and agents as they 
conduct the permitted activities this season.
    Location: Erebus Bay, McMurdo Sound; ASPA 137, North-West White 
Island, McMurdo Sound; ASPA 155, Cape Evans; ASPA 121, Cape Royds; ASPA 
157, Backdoor Bay, Cape Royds, Ross Island; ASPA 158, Hut Point, Ross 
Island; ASPA 161, Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea.
    Dates of Permitted Activities: October 1, 2018--September 30, 2022.
    2. Description of Permit Modification Requested: The Foundation 
issued a permit (ACA 2018-013) to Linnea Pearson on October 16, 2017. 
The issued permit allows the permit holder to handle Weddell seal pups 
per year for the purposes of studying the thermoregulatory strategies 
by which the pups maintain euthermia in air and in water and examine 
the development of diving capability as the animals prepare for 
independent foraging. Each of the ten seal pups, separated into two 
cohorts of five each, were to be handled at four time points between 
one and eight weeks of age. Flipper-mounted ime/depth recorder tags 
were to be attached to 1-week-old seal pups and removed from the pups 
at 7-8 weeks of age. At the 3-week time point, accelerometer tags were 
to be attached to the dorsal pelage of the pups and then removed at 7-8 
weeks of age. VHF radio transmitters were allowed to be attached to the 
seal pups dorsal, caudal pelage after molting. The collection of a 
single whisker by plucking from each seal pup was allowed at 7-8 weeks 
of age. Protocols not requiring sedation (mass, morphometrics, core and 
surface temperatures, metabolic rates) and protocols requiring 
anesthesia (body composition, biopsies, blood volume analysis) were to 
be conducted on the first cohort of five pups at all four time points. 
The sedative midazolam was to be used alone on 1-week-old pups in the 
first cohort, while a combination of

[[Page 46194]]

midazolam and butorphanol was allowed for use in the first cohort at 3, 
5, and 7-8 weeks of age time points. A combination of midazolam and 
ketamine could have been used on 7-8-week-old pups, if deemed 
necessary. Metabolic and morphometric measurements were to be conducted 
on a second, separate cohort of five pups at each of the four time 
points. Sedation of seal pups in the second cohort, with a combination 
of midazolam and butorphanol, was only allowed for study animals at 3 
weeks of age for the purposes of attaching an accelerometer tag. The 
permit holder was also allowed to conduct behavioral observations, 
imaging, and may disturb up to 350 Weddell seals. An additional seven 
Weddell seal pups, 15 Weddell seal adult females, and 20 crabeater 
seals were allowed to be disturbed during procedures on study animals. 
Up to two pup mortalities were requested per year, not to exceed three 
over the course of two field seasons. The permit holder was also 
allowed to collect tissues from Weddell seals (any age or gender) found 
dead from natural causes.
    Now the applicant proposes a modification to the permit to allow 
the following: Sedation of all seal pups at all time points using 
midazolam with or without butorphanol (and continue to have the option 
of using midazolam in combination with ketamine at 7-8 weeks of age); 
collection of blood samples from seal pups in the second cohort, at all 
four time points, while the pups are under sedation; use of a 
cannulated biopsy needle for muscle tissue sampling of seal pups in the 
first cohort (rather than a dermal biopsy punch), at all four time 
points; attachment of a flipper-mounted VHF transmitter tag to seal 
pups in both cohorts at 3 weeks of age, on the flipper opposite the one 
with the time/depth tag attached, with removal at the final time point; 
attachment of accelerometer tags to the dorsal pelage of 1-week-old 
pups in both cohorts with removal of the tags at 3 weeks of age; 
administration of antibiotics to treat local or systemic infections in 
seal pups involved in the study; and increased takes of seal pups and 
adult females such that a total of 12 pups would be handled for study 
purposes compared with 10 in the original permit (six pups in each 
cohort compared with five in the original permit) and a total of 12 
adult females, the mothers of the pups, would be disturbed during the 
handling of the pups (10 in the original permit). The permit holder has 
also requested a modification of NMFS Permit No. 21006.
    Location: Erebus Bay, McMurdo Sound; ASPA 121, Cape Royds.
    Dates of Permitted Activities: October 1, 2018--September 30, 2020.
    3. Description of Permit Modification Requested: The Foundation 
issued a permit (ACA 2017-005) to David Ainley on July 27, 2016. The 
issued permit allows the permit holder and agents to enter three 
Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs); observe Adelie penguins; 
mark and measure penguin nests; attach tags, flipper bands, and special 
instruments to penguins; take small feather samples; and weigh and 
measure penguin chicks and adults. The permitted activities also 
include maintaining a webcam just inside the boundary of the Cape Royds 
ASPA.
    Now the permit holder proposes a modification to the permit to 
attach a miniature video camera to adult Adelie penguins (n=40) to 
document activities during diving. The permit holder also proposes to 
engage the services of experienced pilots to operate remotely piloted 
aircraft systems (RPAS) to capture video imagery of penguin colonies 
for the purposes of census and quantifying habitat characteristics. The 
RPAS operations would occur within the boundaries of ASPA 121, Cape 
Royds, and ASPA 124, Cape Crozier.
    Location: ASPA 121, Cape Royds; ASPA 124, Cape Crozier; ASPA 105, 
Beaufort Island; Cape Bird (outside ASPA boundary).
    Dates of Permitted Activities: October 1, 2018--February 5, 2020.

Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2018-19822 Filed 9-11-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7555-01-P