Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 177 / Thursday, September 14, 2017 / Notices 43223 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XE937 

Taking and Importing Marine 

Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 

Incidental to Fisheries Research 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for 

letters of authorization; request for 

comments and information. 

SUMMARY: NMFS’ Office of Protected 

Resources (OPR) has received a request 

from the NMFS Alaska Fisheries 

Science Center (AFSC) for authorization 

to take small numbers of marine 

mammals incidental to conducting 

fisheries research, over the course of 

five years from the date of issuance. 

Pursuant to regulations implementing 

the Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA), OPR is announcing receipt of 

the AFSC’s request for the development 

and implementation of regulations 

governing the incidental taking of 

marine mammals. OPR invites the 

public to provide information, 

suggestions, and comments on the 

AFSC’s application and request. 

DATES: Comments and information must 

be received no later than October 16, 

2017. 

ADDRESSES: Comments on the 

applications should be addressed to 

Jolie Harrison, Chief, Permits and 

Conservation Division, Office of 

Protected Resources, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. Physical comments 

should be sent to 1315 East-West 

Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 and 

electronic comments should be sent to 

ITP.Laws@noaa.gov. 

Instructions: OPR 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 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted online at 

www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/ 

incidental/research.htm 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: Ben 

Laws, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, (301) 427–8401. Electronic 

copies of the application and supporting 

documents, as well as a list of the 

references cited in this document, may 

be obtained online at: 

www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/ 

incidental/research.htm. 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 authorization for incidental 

takings 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. 

NMFS has defined ‘‘unmitigable 

adverse impact’’ in 50 CFR 216.103 as 

. . . an impact resulting from the 

specified activity: 

(1) That is likely to reduce the 

availability of the species to a level 

insufficient for a harvest to meet 

subsistence needs by: (i) Causing the 

marine mammals to abandon or avoid 

hunting areas; (ii) directly displacing 

subsistence users; or (iii) placing 

physical barriers between the marine 

mammals and the subsistence hunters; 

and 

(2) That cannot be sufficiently 

mitigated by other measures to increase 

the availability of marine mammals to 

allow subsistence needs to be met. 

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 June 28, 2016, OPR received an 

adequate and complete application from 

the AFSC requesting authorization for 

take of marine mammals incidental to 

fisheries research conducted by the 

AFSC. We previously made this version 

of the application available for public 

review on October 18, 2016 (81 FR 

71709), for a period of 30 days. 

On September 6, 2017, AFSC 

presented substantive revisions to the 

application. First, AFSC has modified 

their analysis of potential take of marine 

mammals resulting from fisheries 

research activities that they conduct 

following a determination that take of 

sperm whales and killer whales is a 

reasonably anticipated outcome of those 

activities. These species are known to 

attempt depredation of the catch of 

longline operations, and although there 

are no known interactions between 

these species and research longline gear, 

there are records of such interactions 

between these species and commercial 

longline operations. Therefore, AFSC 

has modified their request for 

authorization of take to include small 

numbers of take of these species 

specifically incidental to fisheries 

research using bottom longline gear. 

Second, AFSC has determined it 

appropriate to incorporate the fisheries 

research activities of the International 

Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) into 

their specified activity. The IPHC, 

established by a Convention between 

the governments of Canada and the U.S., 

is an international fisheries organization 

mandated to conduct research on and 

management of the stocks of Pacific 

halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) within 

the Convention waters of both nations. 

Although operating in U.S. waters (and, 

therefore, subject to the MMPA 

prohibition on ‘‘take’’ of marine 

mammals), the IPHC is not 

appropriately considered to be a U.S. 

citizen (as defined by the MMPA) and 


asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with NOTICES
43224 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 177 / Thursday, September 14, 2017 / Notices 

cannot be issued an incidental take 

authorization. IPHC activity and 

requested take authorization is 

described in Appendix C of AFSC’s 

application. 

Aside from section 6.1 (describing the 

requested take authorization incidental 

to AFSC-conducted activities) and 

Appendix C (describing IPHC activities 

and associated take authorization 

request), the AFSC application is 

unchanged from the version made 

available for review in 2016. 

The requested regulations would be 

valid for five years from the date of 

issuance. The AFSC plans to conduct 

fisheries research surveys in multiple 

geographic regions, including the Gulf 

of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean. 

The IPHC operates in the Bering Sea, 

Gulf of Alaska, and waters off the U.S. 

west coast. It is possible that marine 

mammals may interact with fishing gear 

(e.g., trawls nets, longlines) used in 

AFSC’s and IPHC’s fisheries research 

projects, resulting in injury, serious 

injury, or mortality. In addition, the 

AFSC operates active acoustic devices 

that have the potential to disturb marine 

mammals. Because the specified 

activities have the potential to take 

marine mammals present within these 

action areas, the AFSC requests 

authorization to take multiple species of 

marine mammal that may occur in these 

areas, incidental to the activities 

planned by AFSC and IPHC. 

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 

AFSC is the research arm of NMFS in 

U.S. waters off of Alaska. 

As noted above, the IPHC is an 

international organization dedicated to 

conducting research in support of 

increasing and maintaining knowledge 

of halibut biology and stock assessment. 

Research is aimed at monitoring fish 

stock recruitment, survival and 

biological rates, abundance and 

geographic distribution of species and 

stocks, and providing other scientific 

information needed to improve our 

understanding of complex marine 

ecological processes. The AFSC and 

IPHC propose to administer and 

conduct these survey programs over the 

five-year period. 

Information Solicited 

Interested persons may submit 

information, suggestions, and comments 

concerning the AFSC’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 AFSC and 

IPHC, if appropriate. 

Dated: September 11, 2017. 

Catherine Marzin, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Protected 

Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19544 Filed 9–13–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XF362 

Endangered and Threatened Species; 

File No. 21316 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application. 

SUMMARY: NMFS has received an 

application from Barney M. Davis L.P. 

for an incidental take permit, pursuant 

to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 

1973, as amended, for Barney M. Davis 

Power Station in Corpus Christi, TX. 

The facility monitors the intake canal in 

an effort to intercept sea turtles prior to 

their contact with the facility’s cooling 

water intake structure. The facility is 

requesting the permit be issued for a 

duration of 10 years. 

Although the facility has been in 

operation since 1974, the presence of 

sea turtles in the intake canal has only 

occurred during the past 10 years, and 

is associated with cold-stunning events. 

Under the proposed action, when a sea 

turtle is located in the intake canal of 

the facility, the sea turtle will be 

collected by Texas Parks and Wildlife 

Department and held at their nearby 

facility until the United States Fish and 

Wildlife Service collects the sea turtles 

for tagging and rehabilitation at the 

Animal Rehabilitation Keep prior to 

release back into the Gulf of Mexico. 

Although every effort will be made to 

intercept sea turtles prior to the cooling 

water intake structure, it is possible that 

a stunned sea turtle may become 

impinged on the automatic rake prior to 

entering the structure. Although 

unlikely, due to the physical 

characteristics and operations of the 

structure, any impingement of turtles 

would be lethal. 

NMFS is furnishing this notice in 

order to allow other agencies and the 

public an opportunity to review and 

comment on this document. All 

comments received will become part of 

the public record and will be available 

for review. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received at the appropriate address or 

fax number (see ADDRESSES) on or before 

October 16, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: The application is available 

for download and review at http://

www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/esa_

review.htm under the section heading 

ESA Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permits and 

Applications. The application is also 

available upon written request or by 

appointment in the following office: 

Endangered Species Conservation 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13752, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone 

(301) 427–8403; fax (301) 713–4060. 

You may submit comments, identified 

by NOAA–NMFS–2017–0104, by any of 

the following methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to 

www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2017- 

0104 click the ‘‘Comment Now’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Fax: (301) 713–4060; Attn: Ron 

Dean. 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Endangered Species Conservation 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13535, Silver Spring, MD 20910; Attn: 

Ron Dean. 

Instructions: You must submit 

comments by one of the above methods 

to ensure that we receive, document, 

and consider them. Comments sent by 

any other method, to any other address 

or individual, or received after the end 


asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with NOTICES