32320 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 115 / Thursday, June 14, 2001 / Notices

to a voluntary annual post card survey

to list the number of days spent fishing

for billfish, where they fished, and what

they caught. This information is used to

help determine changes in areas of local

abundance of Pacific billfish and is

useful in the management of billfish

resources.

II. Method of Collection

A paper form the size of a postcard is

used.

III. Data

OMB Number: 0648–0020.

Form Number: NOAA Form 88–10.

Type of Review: Regular submission.

Affected Public: Individuals or

households.

Estimated Number of Respondents:

1,500.

Estimated Time Per Response: 5

minutes.

Estimated Total Annual Burden

Hours: 125.

Estimated Total Annual Cost to

Public: $0.

IV. Request for Comments

Comments are invited on: (a) whether

the proposed collection of information

is necessary for the proper performance

of the functions of the agency, including

whether the information shall have

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the burden

(including hours and cost) of the

proposed collection of information; (c)

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on respondents, including through the

use of automated collection techniques

or other forms of information

technology.

Comments submitted in response to

this notice will be summarized and/or

included in the request for OMB

approval of this information collection;

they also will become a matter of public

record.

Dated: June 8, 2001.

Gwellnar Banks,

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief

Information Officer.

[FR Doc. 01–15064 Filed 6–13–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

Intent To Distribute Digital Electronic

Navigational Charts on the Internet

AGENCY: Office of Coast Survey,

National Ocean Service, National

Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), DOC.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: NOAA’s National Ocean

Service (NOS) is announcing its

intention to distribute digital Electronic

Navigational Charts (ENC) of U.S.

waters on the Internet.

This notice announces that NOS

intends to distribute digital ENC’s of

U.S. waters via the Internet beginning

on or about July 16, 2001. NOS plans to

post its ENC’s and associated updates

on the World Wide Web with the data

accessible to all users.

The purpose of distributing ENC’s in

this manner is to promote maximum

availability of these valuable data,

which have primary application in

navigation and in a broad range of

Geographic Information System (GIS)

activities. For users interested in

navigational applications, the data will

be posted at NOAA’s Office of Coast

Survey Web Site,

www.chartmaker.nos.noaa.gov.

Initially digital ENC’s will be

provided as prototype products. At the

outset, the data will not be supported by

regular updates. Therefore, these ENC’s

should jot be used for navigation.

Rather, during this initial period, the

intent is for users to familiarize

themselves with downloading

procedures and for NOS to evaluate the

products and to determine the level of

support necessary to maintain the

distribution service. Once NOS

develops and implements an update

process and assuming that no problems

are identified during the initial phase

and that such problems are resolved,

NOS intends to make the ENC’s

available for use in navigation. The NOS

ENC products are designed in

compliance with the International

Hydrographic Organization’s S–57 ENC

Product Specification.

Initially, ENC’s will be available for

the nation’s 40 major ports. However,

NOS plans to expand coverage as

resources become available. The ENC

data posted on the Web will not be

encrypted, but may have some type of

authentication built in, such as a digital

watermark, so that end users can verify

that data issued by NOS has not been

corrupted.

NOS does not intend to limit access

to or restrict use of ENC’s available on

the Internet. However, NOS does plan to

develop specific procedures for users

who wish to incorporate these ENC’s in

products designed to satisfy chart

carriage requirements mandated by the

International Safety Of Life At Sea

Convention (SOLAS) and the U.S. Code

of Federal Regulations. This means that

users planning to provide value added

navigation products must establish a

certifiable process by which NOS ENC

data are incorporated in the products

without compromise to the data quality

or data lineage.

NOS intends to issue guidelines

governing the certification process for

derived navigational products. Among

the guidelines under consideration are:

(1) The operation of a quality assurance

system that is in essential compliance

with a recognized quality standard, such

as ISO 9000 series or equivalent and (2)

the certification by a United States Coast

Guard-approved quality standards

organization that results in products

being consistently manufactured to the

same specification.

Once NOS makes its ENC’s available

on the Web, it anticipates that industry

will develop services in support of

derived products. For example, a

portfolio management service or an ENC

distributor may provide NOS ENC’s ‘‘asis’’ and ‘‘push’’ the appropriate updates

to a segment of users who choose not to

download the data directly. Likewise, a

system manufacturer may bundle or resell the ENC’s by converting the data to

a proprietary ‘‘System ENC’’ (SENC)

before distributing it to customers. In

the latter case, the SENC product and

supporting updates must be based on a

certifiable process by which there is no

compromise to NOS-provided data.

Further, since ENC’s will be provided in

the open, non-proprietary S–57 format,

NOS anticipates that most users will be

well versed in the format and its feature

attribution. With this in mind, it is

expected that S–57 technical support

will be provided by expertise available

in the private sector.

The coastal management community,

a major NOAA constituency, will also

benefit from this distribution policy in

that ENC data will be widely available

for use as base map information in a

variety of GIS applications. Coastal

managers, emergency planners, and

others will have easy access to ENC

data. To assist these users, NOAA will

investigate means to convert the data to

a format that is more suitable for GIS

applications and to post it in a manner

similar to the navigational data.

However, the level of specialized

technical support by NOS is expected to

be limited.

NOS intends to conduct several

workshops in order to familiarize the

public with the distribution policy, to

entertain comments from interested

parties on its implementation, to

consider complaints with the

distribution of prototype products and

to answer questions pertaining to the

use of ENC’s for production of derived

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 115 / Thursday, June 14, 2001 / Notices 32321

navigational products and for GIS

related applications. The workshops

will be announced in the NOS Web

sites, www.nos.noaa.gov, and the Office

of Coast Survey, noted above, and by

mail to NOS constituents.

NOS plans to conduct an initial

briefing that will be open to the general

public concerning its plan to release

ENC’s on the Internet. The briefing will

be held at 9 AM, July 11, 2001, Room

4527, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver

Spring, Maryland. Members of the

public who plan on attending this

briefing should contact Mike Brown at

(301)–713–2712 x153 or e-mail

Mike.Brown@noaa.gov.

NOS has been in contact with the U.S.

Coast Guard concerning 33 CFR 164.33,

Nautical Charts and Publications, as it

pertains to this announced policy.

Questions concerning those regulations

should be addressed to the Director of

Waterways Management, United States

Coast Guard, Washington, DC 20593–

0001.

NOS is publishing this notice

consistent with section 8a(6)(j) of the

Office of Management and Budget

Circular A–130. Anyone with comments

or questions regarding this subject

should address them to Captain

Nicholas Perugini, NOAA, Chief,

Marine Chart Division, Office of Coast

Survey, NOS/NOAA, 1315 East-West

Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland

20910–3282.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Captain Nicholas E. Perugini, NOAA,

Chief, Marine Chart Division, Office of

Coast Survey, NOS/NOAA 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland

20910–3282, 301–713–2724, Extension

101, FAX: 301–713–4516.

Dated: June 7, 2001.

Margaret A. Davidson,

Acting Assistant Administrator for Ocean

Services and Coastal Zone Management.

[FR Doc. 01–14974 Filed 6–13–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 052401B]

Small Takes of Marine Mammals

Incidental to Specified Activities;

Offshore Seismic Activities in the

Beaufort Sea

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: ACTION: Notice of receipt of

application and proposed authorization

for a small take exemption; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request

from WesternGeco, LLC (formerly

Western Geophysical) for an

authorization to take small numbers of

marine mammals by harassment

incidental to conducting ocean bottom

cable (OBC) seismic surveys in the

Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Under the Marine

Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS

is requesting comments on its proposal

to authorize WesternGeco to

incidentally take, by harassment, small

numbers of bowhead whales and other

marine mammals in the above

mentioned area during the open water

period of 2001.

DATES: Comments and information must

be received no later than July 16, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the

application should be addressed to

Donna Wieting, Chief, Marine Mammal

Conservation Division, Office of

Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD

20910–3225. A copy of the application,

the Technical Monitoring Plan, the

Environmental Assessment (EA), and a

list of references used in this document

may be obtained by writing to this

address or by telephoning one of the

contacts listed here.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Simona Perry Roberts, Office of

Protected Resources (301) 713–2322,

ext. 106, or Brad Smith, Alaska Region

(907) 271–5006.

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 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, notice of a proposed

authorization is provided to the public

for review.

Permission may be granted if NMFS

finds that the taking will have no more

than a negligible impact on the species

or stock(s) and will not have an

unmitigable adverse impact on the

availability of the species or stock(s) for

subsistence uses and that the

permissible methods of taking and

requirements pertaining to the

monitoring and reporting of such taking

are set forth.

On April 10, 1996 (61 FR 15884),

NMFS published an interim rule

establishing, among other things,

procedures for issuing incidental

harassment authorizations (IHAs) under

section 101 (a)(5)(D) of the MMPA for

activities in Arctic waters. For

additional information on the

procedures to be followed for this

authorization, please refer to that

document.

Summary of Request

On April 16, 2001, NMFS received an

application from WesternGeco

requesting an authorization for the

harassment of small numbers of several

species of marine mammals incidental

to conducting OBC seismic surveys

during the open water season in the

south central Beaufort Sea off Alaska

between western Camden Bay and

Harrison Bay. The primary area of

seismic activity is expected to be an area

approximately 16 by 7 kilometers (km)

(10 miles (mi) by 4 mi) in and near

Simpson Lagoon, west of Prudhoe Bay

and offshore of Oliktok Point. Weather

permitting, the survey is expected to

take place between approximately July

15 and late October, 2001. WesternGeco

anticipates completing six survey

patches during the 2001 open water

season. A detailed description of the

work proposed for 2001 is contained in

the application (WesternGeco, 2001)

which is available upon request (see

ADDRESSES).

Description of the Activity

Seismic surveys are used to obtain

data about geological formations several

thousands of feet deep. The proposed

seismic operation is an OBC survey.

WesternGeco’s OBC survey involves

dropping cables from a ship to the ocean

bottom, forming a patch consisting of 4

parallel cables 8.9 km (5.5 mi) long,

separated by approximately 600 meters

(m) (1,968 feet (ft)) from each other.

Hydrophones and geophones, attached

to the cables, are used to detect seismic

energy reflected back from rock strata

below the ocean bottom. The source of

this energy is a submerged acoustic

source, called a seismic airgun array,

that releases compressed air into the

water, creating an acoustical energy

pulse that is directed downward toward

the seabed. WesternGeco will use two

source vessels for the open-water 2001

seismic surveys, one for deep water and

one for shallow water, primarily

shoreward of the barrier islands. The

deep water vessel, the R/V Arctic Star,

will utilize an airgun array with an air

discharge volume of 1,210 cubic inches