Commerce Department, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NMFS has received a petition for an incidental take regulation (ITR) from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The requested ITR would govern the authorization of take of small numbers of marine mammals over the course of five years incidental to geophysical survey activities conducted by industry operators in Federal waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM). BOEM submitted the petition in support of oil and gas industry operators, who would conduct the activities. A final ITR would allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization (LOA) to the aforementioned industry operators over a five-year period. As required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS requests comments on its proposed rule, including the following; the proposed regulations, several alternatives to the proposed regulations described in the "Proposed Mitigation" and "Alternatives for Consideration" sections of the preamble, two baselines against which to evaluate the incremental economic impacts of the proposed regulations (addressed in the "Economic Baseline" section), and, two sections with broader implications: A clarification of NMFS's interpretation and application of the "small numbers" standard (see the "Small Numbers" section of the preamble); and an alternative method for assessing Level B harassment from exposure to anthropogenic noise (see the "Estimated Take" section of the preamble).
Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 217 [Docket No. 110811494-7925-01] RIN 0648-BB38 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments. SUMMARY: NMFS has received a petition for an incidental take regulation (ITR) from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The requested ITR would govern the authorization of take of small numbers of marine mammals over the course of five years incidental to geophysical survey activities conducted by industry operators in Federal waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM). BOEM submitted the petition in support of oil and gas industry operators, who would conduct the activities. A final ITR would allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization (LOA) to the aforementioned industry operators over a five-year period. As required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS requests comments on its proposed rule, including the following; the proposed regulations, several alternatives to the proposed regulations described in the “Proposed Mitigation” and “Alternatives for Consideration” sections of the preamble, two baselines against which to evaluate the incremental economic impacts of the proposed regulations (addressed in the “Economic Baseline” section), and, two sections with broader implications: A clarification of NMFS's interpretation and a…
Citation: 83 FR 29212
