SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The subject permit is requested under the authority of the Endangered Species Act ( printed page 59998) 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).

The applicant proposes to evaluate modifications to commercial fishing gear to mitigate sea turtle interactions and capture under two projects in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea and their estuarine and coastal environments: (1) Turtle Excluder Device (TED) Evaluations in Trawl Fisheries and (2) Evaluation of Longline Alternative Methods. These evaluations and subsequent gear modifications could help reduce incidental turtle bycatch in the gear types studied. The applicant proposes to conduct research on sea turtles bycaught in fisheries managed by Federal authority or during directed research to test different gear configurations. For the TED Evaluations project, the applicant requests the following annual take numbers to study turtles bycaught in commercial fisheries or directly captured by researchers using trawls: 160 loggerhead, 42 Kemp's ridley, 10 leatherback, 21 green, and 10 hawksbill sea turtles. For the Evaluation of Longline Alternative Methods project, the applicant requests the following annual take numbers for those individuals bycaught in commercial fisheries: 3 loggerhead, 2 Kemp's ridley, 18 leatherback, 2 green, and 2 hawksbill sea turtles. All individuals captured will be handled, measured, weighed, photographed, flipper tagged, passive integrated transponder tagged, skin biopsied, and released. Biological samples may be imported for analysis and curation. For each project, up to 10 unidentified sea turtle carcasses that unintentionally die in a fishery may be salvaged. The applicant requests 3 loggerhead, 2 Kemp's ridley, 2 green, and 2 leatherback sea turtle mortalities for the life of the permit for individuals that may unintentionally die during research. The permit would be valid for five years from the date of issuance.