[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 23 (Monday, February 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1520-1521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-00879]


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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.

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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 in 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 March 6, 2019. This 
application 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, 45 CFR 670), 
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.

Application Details

    1. Applicant: Permit Application: 2019-017. Robert Sanders, 
Department of Biology, Temple University, 1900 N 12th Street, 
Philadelphia, PA 19122.
    Activity for Which Permit is Requested: Introduce Non-indigenous 
Species into Antarctica. The applicant would use cultures of the 
bacteria as a food source during a study of Antarctic mixotrophic 
phytoplankton aboard the research vessel Laurence M. Gould. The 
bacterial culture is a non-pathogenic marine species (Photobacterium 
angustum) obtained from American Type Culture Collection. This 
bacterial

[[Page 1521]]

species would be used as it has been shown to have the ability to 
incorporate a thymidine substitute that can be used to identify which 
phytoplankton have ingested the bacteria. The feeding experiments would 
be conducted in sealed plastic containers kept isolated from the 
environment. At the conclusion of the experiments, any sample or 
culture remaining, including filtered seawater, would be destroyed by 
autoclaving on the ship. Supplies and equipment would be sterilized at 
the end of each experiment by autoclaving or using ethanol. The 
applicant and permit agents are experienced in using sterile techniques 
and in maintaining safe practices with microbial cultures.
    Location: West Antarctic Peninsula region.
    Dates of Permitted Activities: April 10-May 31, 2019.
    2. Applicant: Permit Application: 2019-018. Daniel P. Zitterbart, 
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, 
MA 02543-1050.
    Activity for Which Permit is Requested: Take. The permit applicant 
proposes to place short-term deployment tags on humpback whales 
(Megaptera novaeangliae) for the purposes of studying their foraging 
ecology. The applicant would deploy digital acoustic recording tags 
(DTAGs) onto humpback whales to record the three-dimensional movement 
of the animals, and the presence of feeding lunges. DTAGs contain a 3-
axis accelerometer and magnetometer that record the pitch, yaw, and 
heading of the whale at a high sampling rate (> 50 Hz), as well as a 
pressure sensor that records the depth of the animal. A FastLoc[supreg] 
(Wildtrack Telemetry Systems Ltd) GPS tag will also be attached to the 
DTAG, allowing the position of the whale to be recorded throughout the 
deployment. To deploy the tag, a zodiac will be used to approach the 
whale, with the tag lowered onto the back of the whale using a carbon-
fibre pole. Effort will be made to tag animals that are determined to 
be in transit or resting, and not currently feeding. The tags would be 
released from the whales after several hours and would be retrieved by 
the researchers. The applicant proposes to tag up to five adult or sub-
adult humpack whales during the permit period (no calves would be 
tagged). Up to 70 additional whales, all ages, would potentially be 
approached and disturbed during the tagging efforts. The applicant and 
agents would also conduct water and oceanographic sampling, as well as 
deploy an echosounder and hydrophone, in order to study the 
availability of prey and oceanographic conditions during whale 
foraging. The study would be conducted during an expedition aboard a 
tour vessel operated by Polar Latitudes, Inc.
    Location: West Antarctic Peninsula region.
    Dates of Permitted Activities: March 1-20, 2019.

Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2019-00879 Filed 2-1-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7555-01-P