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.
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