Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 188 / Monday, September 29, 1997 / Notices 50907

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. No. 092497B]

Marine Mammals; Permits (758–1431

and 1024)

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Receipt of application for permit

and amendment to permit.

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Dr.

Kimberlee Beckmen, Institute of Arctic

Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks,

P.O. Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK 99775–

7000, has applied for a permit to take

Northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus),

and the Southwest Fisheries Science

Center, NMFS, P.O. Box 271, La Jolla,

CA 92038–0271, has applied for

amendment to Permit No. 1024 to take

Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus

gazella) for purposes of scientific

research.

DATES: Written or telefaxed comments

must be received on or before October

29, 1997.

ADDRESSES: The application and related

documents are available for review

upon written request or by appointment

(see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION):

Written comments or requests for a

public hearing on these applications

should be mailed to the Chief, Permits

and Documentation Division, F/PR1,

Office of Protected Resources, NMFS,

1315 East-West Highway, Room 13130,

Silver Spring, MD 20910. Those

individuals requesting a hearing should

set forth the specific reasons why a

hearing on these particular requests

would be appropriate.

Comments may also be submitted by

facsimile at (301) 713–0376, provided

the facsimile is confirmed by hard copy

submitted by mail and postmarked no

later than the closing date of the

comment period. Please note that

comments will not be accepted by email

or other electronic media.

Concurrent with the publication of

this notice in the Federal Register,

NMFS is forwarding copies of these

applications to the Marine Mammal

Commission and its Committee of

Scientific Advisors.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

subject permits are requested under the

authority of the Marine Mammal

Protection Act of 1972, as amended

(MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), the

Regulations Governing the Taking and

Importing of Marine Mammals (50 CFR

part 216), and the Fur Seal Act of 1966,

as amended (16 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.).

In compliance with the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), an initial

determination has been made that the

activity proposed is categorically

excluded from the requirement to

prepare an environmental assessment or

environmental impact statement.

(758–1431) - Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen

requests a permit to vaccinate two

captive female Northern fur seals with

a benign antigen, Fort Dodge tetanus

toxoid, in order to elicit an antibody

response (produce immunoglobulin).

The immunoglobulin will be purified

from the serum and used to validate an

enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

(ELISA). The ELISA will then be used

to determine the antibody levels in

frozen fur seal serum samples

previously collected from free-ranging

pups vaccinated with the same benign

antigen. The research will provide a

determination of the effects of

environmental contaminants.

P772#69 - The Southwest Fisheries

Science Center requests to amend

section A.3. of Permit No. 1024 and to

increase the number of animals taken

annually. Permit No. 1024 authorizes:

Level B harassment on southern

elephant seals (Mirounga leonina),

Antarctic fur seals

(Arctocephalus gazella), crabeater seals

(Hydrurga leptonyx), Weddell seals

(Leptonychotes weddellii), and Ross

seals (Ommatophoca rossii) annually

during census surveys on Sea Island and

Cape Shirreff; capture, handle and mark

up to 105 A. gazella pups annually at

Cape Shirreff, of which 100 would also

be tagged with monel tags; section A.3.

authorizes capture up to 50 perinatal

female A. gazella and their pups. The

females may be tagged and

instrumented with TDRs and/or

transmitters and recaptured to remove

instruments, and the pups are

authorized to be bleach marked and

handled. Further, up to 110 pups may

be collected on Seal Island and marked,

handled and released; and samples,

parts or whole specimens obtained from

dead animals may be imported. The

permit also authorizes the accidental

mortality of one animal annually. The

permittee now requests to amend A.3 by

collecting one milk sample from 40 of

the 50 perinatal females, and tagging

and handling 40 of the 50 pups.

The permittee also wishes to increase

the number animals to be taken in three

additional studies. These studies are:

Adult female foraging location and

energetics, 40 female/pup pairs; pup

energetics, 100 pups; and long-term

tagging, 1000 pups.

For the adult female foraging location

and energetics study, up to 40 adult

females will be captured per year and

tagged, instrumented with transmitters,

anesthetized with diazepam and milksampled (up to 3 times, which includes

injection of 5 I.U. oxytocin), given an

enema, injected with tritiated water and

oxygen–18 (90g isotopes), injected with

Evan’s Blue (1.5cc), and blood sampled

(up to 4 times). Up to 40 pups will be

captured per year and: tagged, bleach

marked, gastrically intubated and

lavaged, injected/intubated with 200g of

doubly-labeled water (DLW), and blood

sampled up to 3 times.

For the pup energetics study 100 pups

will be captured, tagged, and bleached

marked. Of these 100 pups, 30 pups will

be: captured (9 additional times)

gastrically lavaged and intubated (3

times), injected/intubated with 200g

DLW (3 times), injected with 0.5cc

Evan’s Blue (3 times), and blood

sampled (15 times).

For the long-term tagging study, the

permittee requests to tag up to 1000

pups.

Additionally, the permittee requests

to incidentally harass: up to 128

southern elephant seals (Mirounga

leonina), 3468 Antarctic fur seals

(Arctocephalus gazella), 2 crabeater

seals (Hydrurga leptonyx), 16 Weddell

seals (Leptonychotes weddellii), and 2

leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx); and

accidentally kill up to 2 adults and 2

pups A. gazella during the conduct of

these activities.

Addresses: Applications and related

documents are available in the

following offices:

Permits and Documentation Division,

Office of Protected Resources, NMFS,

1315 East-West Highway, Room 13130,

Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301/713–

2289);

(758–1431) - Northwest Region,

NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way, NE, BIN

C15700, Bldg., 1, Seattle, WA 98115–

0070 (206/526–6150);

Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box

21668, Juneau, AK 99802–2166 (907/

586–7221); and

(P772#69) - Southwest Region, NMFS,

501 West Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA

90802–4213 (310/980–4001).

Dated: September 24, 1997

Ann D. Terbush,

Chief, Permits and Documentation Division,

Office of Protected Resources, National

Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–25776 Filed 9–26–97; 8:45 am]

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