[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 80 (Tuesday, April 27, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22106-22107]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-9736]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XW06


Endangered Species; File No. 14510

AGENCY:  National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:  Issuance of permit.

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SUMMARY:  Notice is hereby given that NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science 
Center, 3333 North Torrey Pines Court, La Jolla, CA 92037-1023, has 
been issued a permit to take green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead 
(Caretta caretta), olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), and 
leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtles for purposes of 
scientific research.

ADDRESSES:  The permit and related documents are available for review 
upon written request or by appointment in the following office(s):
    Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705, Silver Spring, MD 
20910; phone (301)713-2289; fax (301)713-0376; and
    Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long 
Beach, CA 90802-4213; phone (562)980-4001; fax (562)980-4018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Kate Swails or Amy Hapeman (301)713-
2289.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 18, 2009, notice was published 
in the Federal Register (74 FR 59525) that a request for a scientific 
research permit to take had been submitted by the above-named 
applicant. The requested permit has been issued 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).
    The purpose of the proposed research project is to initiate a 
baseline study of the status of sea turtles in the San Gabriel River 
and Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, California. Researchers would also 
opportunistically take samples and potentially track sea turtles 
incidentally taken in coastal power plants off California and that 
strand live in the marine environment. Researchers may annually 
capture, measure, weigh, photograph/video, flipper tag, passive 
integrated transponder tag (PIT), tissue biopsy, blood sample, scute 
scrape, lavage, ultrasound, oral swab, cloacal swab, inject 
tetracycline, and release up to: ten green, one olive ridley, and three 
loggerhead sea turtles taken in power plant entrainments; four green, 
one olive ridley, one loggerhead, and two leatherback sea turtles that 
strand in the marine environment; and 35 green, six loggerhead, and six 
olive ridley sea turtles during captures as part of the San Gabriel and 
Los Alamitos Bay California project. Some turtles may have satellite 
transmitters, sonic tags, or camera attached. Researchers would also 
have

[[Page 22107]]

authority to authority to salvage, necropsy, and sample animals that 
die as a result of entrainments or strandings. The permit is issued for 
five years.
    Issuance of this permit, as required by the ESA, was based on a 
finding that such permit (1) was applied for in good faith, (2) will 
not operate to the disadvantage of such endangered or threatened 
species, and (3) is consistent with the purposes and policies set forth 
in section 2 of the ESA.

    Dated: April 21, 2010.
P. Michael Payne,
Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of 
Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-9736 Filed 4-26-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S