[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 132 (Monday, July 12, 1999)] [Notices] [Pages 37511-37512] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 99-17624] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [I.D. 061199A] Incidental Take of Marine Mammals; Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Power Plant Operations
Agency
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
Action
Notice of issuance of a letter of authorization.
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Summary
In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act
(MMPA), as amended, and implementing regulations, notification is hereby given that a 1-year letter of authorization to take harbor, gray, harp and hooded seals incidental to intake cooling water operations at Seabrook Station nuclear power plant, Seabrook, NH, was issued to the North Atlantic Energy Service Corporation on July 2, 1999.
Addresses
The application and letter are available for review in the following offices: Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, and the Northeast Region, NMFS, One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.
For Further Information Contact
Kenneth R. Hollingshead, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 713-2055 or Scott Sandorf, Northeast Region (978) 281-9388.
Supplementary Information
Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) directs NMFS to allow, on 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 regulations are issued. Under the MMPA, the term ``taking'' means to harass, hunt, capture, or kill or to attempt to harass, hunt, capture or kill marine mammals. Permission may be granted for periods up to 5 years if NMFS finds, after notification and opportunity for public comment, that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stock(s) of marine mammals and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses. In addition, NMFS must prescribe regulations that include permissible methods of taking and other means effecting the least practicable adverse impact on the species and its habitat, and on the availability of the species for subsistence uses, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance. The regulations must include requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking. Regulations governing the taking of several species of seals incidental to intake cooling water operations at Seabrook Station nuclear power plant, Seabrook, NH, were published on May 25, 1999 (64 FR 28114), and remain in effect until June 30, 2004. Issuance of this letter of authorization is based on a finding that the total takings will have a negligible impact on the marine mammal species of the Western North Atlantic.
Dated: July 2, 1999. Art Jeffers, Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 99-17624 Filed 7-9-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-22-F