[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 216 (Thursday, November 7, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66901-66902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-26727]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XA713
Endangered Species; File No. 16482-01
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for permit modification.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Warnell School of Forest
Resources, Fisheries Division, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
30602 [Douglas Peterson: Responsible Party], has applied in due form
for a permit modification to take Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser
oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) and shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum)
for purposes of scientific research.
DATES: Written, telefaxed, or email comments must be received on or
before December 9, 2013.
ADDRESSES: The application and related documents are available for
review by selecting ``Records Open for Public Comment'' from the
Features box on the Applications and Permits for Protected Species
(APPS) home page, https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov, and then selecting File
No. 16482-01 from the list of available applications.
These documents are also available upon written request or by
appointment in the following offices:
Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected
Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705, Silver Spring, MD
20910; phone (301) 427-8401; fax (301) 713-0376; and
Southeast Region, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, Saint
Petersburg, Florida 33701; phone (727) 824-5312; fax (727) 824-5309.
Written comments on either application should be submitted to the
Chief, Permits and Conservation Division
By email to [email protected] (include the File
No. in the subject line of the email);
By facsimile to (301) 713-0376; or
At the address listed above.
Those individuals requesting a public hearing should submit a
written request to the Chief, Permits and Conservation Division at the
address listed above. The request should set forth the specific reasons
why a hearing on the application would be appropriate.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Malcolm Mohead at (301) 427-8401.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The subject permit modification is requested
under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended
(ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the regulations governing the
taking, importing, and exporting of endangered and threatened species
(50 CFR parts 222-226).
Permit No. 16482 was issued April 6, 2012 (77 FR 21754) to the
Permit Holder listed above to capture Atlantic sturgeon
[[Page 66902]]
life stages in the Savannah (SC/GA), Ogeechee (GA), Altamaha (GA),
Satilla (GA), and Saint Marys (GA/FL) Rivers using gill nets and
trammel nets to measure, weigh, photograph, PIT and Floy tag, and
tissue sample. Subsets are anesthetized, fin ray sectioned,
laparoscoped, and implanted with an internal acoustic tag. Incidental
mortality of serious harm to five juvenile and sub-adults or one adult
annually is authorized. The Permit Holder is also authorized to sample
Atlantic sturgeon early life stages (ELS) in suspected spawning areas
using egg mats. The Permit Holder now requests consolidating the
existing takes of shortnose sturgeon authorized in a separate Permit No
14394 in the Altamaha River (GA) into the current modification, and
subsequently terminating Permit No. 14394. Additionally, the Permit
Holder proposes new takes of shortnose sturgeon from the Savannah,
Ogeechee, Satilla River (GA), Saint Marys Rivers (GA/FL) and Saint
Johns and Nassau Rivers (FL); and new takes of Atlantic sturgeon from
the Nassau and Saint Johns Rivers (FL) using identical methods
described for Atlantic sturgeon. One additional procedure is requested
not permitted in prior permits: the Permit Holder requests sampling
blood from subsets of captured Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon from the
Altamaha River (GA). Incidental mortality of two juvenile or adult
shortnose sturgeon would be authorized annually from all river systems,
as well sampling of shortnose sturgeon ELS in suspected spawning areas.
The modification would be valid through the expiration date of the
original permit on April 5, 2017.
Dated: November 4, 2013.
P. Michael Payne,
Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-26727 Filed 11-6-13; 8:45 am]
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