The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, upon request from the U.S. Navy, has issued regulations pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act to govern the taking of marine mammals incidental to the Navy’s training and testing activities conducted in the Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing Study Area over the course of five years beginning in December 2018. These regulations, which allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization for the incidental take of marine mammals during the described activities and timeframes, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, and establish requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking. They are effective from December 21, 2018 through December 20, 2023.
The U.S. National and Marine Fisheries Service has received a request from the U.S. Navy to amend NMFS’ Marine Mammal Protection Act regulations authorizing the take of marine mammals incidental to Navy training and testing activities conducted in the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing Study Area from November 2018 to November 2023 to cover seven years of the Navy’s activities, instead of five.
The Canadian Press posed the above-titled article, which reads as follows:
“Ottawa and Inuit groups say they’ve reached a deal on benefits for the people who live near vast new marine protected area in Canada’s Arctic.
The agreement means the waters north of Baffin Island — more than 100,000 square kilometres of some of the richest and most productive seas in the North — are one step closer to becoming Canada’s largest protected area.
Formerly called Lancaster Sound, it will now be called TallurutiupImanga National Marine Conservation Area.
The agreement includes jobs in the five communities around the area as well as promises for mobile food processors to support hunters and increase the supply of country food.
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has published Federal Register notice of that NMFS has issued incidental harassment authorizations to five separate applicants to incidentally harass marine mammals during geophysical survey activities in the Atlantic Ocean. These IHAs are issued under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. They are effective for one year from the date of effectiveness. The IHAs are effective upon written notification from the applicant to NMFS, but not beginning later than one year from the date of issuance or extending beyond two years from the date of issuance.
NMFS’ Federal Register notice contains NMFS’ response to comments on its proposed Atlantic IHAs.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences include the above-titled article, which includes the following Abstract:
NMFS Issues Atlantic IHAs
Dec 06
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued incidental harassment authorizations to five separate applicants to incidentally harass marine mammals during geophysical survey activities in the Atlantic Ocean.These authorizations are effective for one year from the date of effectiveness. They are issued under
Section 101(a)(5)(D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq., which directs the Secretary of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon 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 specific geographic region if certain findings are made and notice of a proposed authorization is provided to the public for review.
