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[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 23, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83901-83903]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28417]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XA717]

Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to Northeast Fisheries Science Center Fisheries and 
Ecosystem Research, Atlantic Ocean

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for Letter of Authorization; 
request for comments and information.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the Northeast Fisheries 
Science Center (NEFSC) for regulations and associated Letter of 
Authorization (LOA) to take small numbers of marine mammals incidental 
to fishery and ecosystem research in the Atlantic Ocean over the course 
of five years from the date of issuance. Pursuant to regulations 
implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is 
announcing receipt of the NEFSC's request for the development and 
implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine 
mammals. NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, 
and comments on the NEFSC's application and request.

DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than January 
22, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the applications should be addressed to Jolie 
Harrison, Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. Electronic comments 
should be sent to [email protected].
    Instructions: NMFS is not responsible for comments sent by any 
other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the 
end of the comment period. Comments received electronically, including 
all attachments, must not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. Attachments 
to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word or Excel or 
Adobe PDF file formats only. All comments

[[Page 83902]]

received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted 
online at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act without change. All 
personal identifying information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily 
submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit 
confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected 
information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jaclyn Daly, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. An electronic copy of the NEFSC's 
application may be obtained online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-research-and-other-activities. In case of problems accessing these 
documents, please call the contact listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) 
direct the Secretary of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon 
request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers 
of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity 
(other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographical region 
if certain findings are made and either regulations are issued or, if 
the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed 
authorization is provided to the public for review.
    An incidental take authorization shall be granted if NMFS finds 
that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or 
stock(s), will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the 
availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses (where 
relevant), and if the permissible methods of taking and requirements 
pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of such takings 
are set forth.
    NMFS has defined ``negligible impact'' in 50 CFR 216.103 as an 
impact resulting from the specified activity that cannot be reasonably 
expected to, and is not reasonably likely to, adversely affect the 
species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or 
survival.
    The MMPA states that the term ``take'' means to harass, hunt, 
capture, kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine 
mammal.
    Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent here, the 
MMPA defines ``harassment'' as: Any act of pursuit, torment, or 
annoyance, which (i) has the potential to injure a marine mammal or 
marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has the 
potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild 
by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not 
limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or 
sheltering (Level B harassment).

Summary of Request

    On September 2, 2020, NMFS received application from the NEFSC 
requesting authorization to take marine mammals incidental to fisheries 
and ecosystem research in the Atlantic Ocean. The NEFSC submitted 
revised applications on November 19, 2020, and December 3, 2020. We 
determined the application was adequate and complete on December 9, 
2020. The requested regulations and LOA would be valid for five years, 
from September 10, 2021 through September 9, 2026.
    The NEFSC plans to conduct fisheries and ecosystem research surveys 
in the Atlantic Ocean from Greenland to Florida with the majority of 
research occurring in the Northern Living Marine Ecosystem (NLME). It 
is possible that marine mammals may interact with fishing gear (e.g., 
trawl nets, longlines) used in NEFSC's research, resulting in serious 
injury or mortality. In addition, the NEFSC operates active acoustic 
devices that have the potential to disturb marine mammals (Level B 
harassment). Because the specified activities have the potential to 
take marine mammals present within the Atlantic Ocean, NEFSC requests 
regulations and a LOA authorizing take by mortality, serious injury, 
and Level B harassment.
    The requested incidental take regulations and LOA would be the 
second issued to NEFSC, following regulations and a LOA valid from 
2016-2021. To date, NEFSC has complied with all requirements of the 
previously issued LOA (effective September 10, 2016 through September 
9, 2021) and has not exceeded the authorized take numbers. Monitoring 
reports submitted by NEFSC are available online at: 
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-noaa-fisheries-nefsc-fisheries-and-ecosystem-research.

Specified Activities

    The Federal Government has a responsibility to conserve and protect 
living marine resources in U.S. Federal waters and has also entered 
into a number of international agreements and treaties related to the 
management of living marine resources in international waters outside 
the United States. NOAA has the primary responsibility for managing 
marine fin and shellfish species and their habitats, with that 
responsibility delegated within NOAA to NMFS.
    In order to direct and coordinate the collection of scientific 
information needed to make informed management decisions, Congress 
created six Regional Fisheries Science Centers, each a distinct 
organizational entity and the scientific focal point within NMFS for 
region-based Federal fisheries-related research. This research is aimed 
at monitoring fish stock recruitment, abundance, survival and 
biological rates, geographic distribution of species and stocks, 
ecosystem process changes, and marine ecological research. The NEFSC is 
the research arm of NMFS in the Northeast Region. The NEFSC conducts 
research and provides scientific advice to manage fisheries and 
conserve protected species in the Atlantic Ocean, primarily from Maine 
through North Carolina. However, some limited fisheries research is 
conducted in more southern estuaries and Atlantic Ocean. The NEFSC 
provides scientific information to support the North Atlantic and Mid-
Atlantic Fishery Management Council and numerous other domestic and 
international fisheries management organizations.
    The NEFSC collects a wide array of information necessary to 
evaluate the status of exploited fishery resources and the marine 
environment. NEFSC scientists and their partners conduct fishery-
independent research onboard NOAA-owned and operated vessels or on 
chartered vessels. The gear types used fall into several categories: 
trawl gear used at various levels in the water column, longlines with 
multiple hooks, gillnets, and other gear. Of research gear used by 
NEFSC, only trawl, hook and line gear (including longline gears), fyke 
nets, and gillnets are likely to interact with marine mammals resulting 
in serious injury or mortality. Fisheries and ecosystem surveys 
conducted by the NEFSC also use active acoustic devices which may 
result in Level B harassment of marine mammals.

Information Solicited

    Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and 
comments concerning the NEFSC's request (see ADDRESSES). NMFS will 
consider all information, suggestions, and comments related to the 
request during the development of proposed regulations governing the 
incidental taking of marine mammals by the NEFSC, if appropriate.

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    Dated: December 18, 2020.
Donna Wieting,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-28417 Filed 12-22-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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