The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued a Letter of Authorization to the City of Seattle’s Department of Transportation for the take of eight species of marine mammals incidental to pile driving activities associated with the Elliott Bay Seawall . This LOA is issued under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It is effective from October 22, 2014, through October 21, 2015.
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The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued a permit for a period of three years to authorize the incidental, but not intentional, taking of individuals of three stocks of marine mammals listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by vessels involved in the Hawaii deep-set and shallow-set longline fisheries. These marine mammals are the humpback whale, (Megaptera novaeangliae), Central North Pacific stock; sperm whale, (Physeter macrocephalus), Hawaii stock; and the false killer whale, (Pseudorca crassidens), Main Hawaiian Islands insular false killer whale (MHI IFKW) stock.
Click here to read NMFS’ Federal Register notice of this permit, which is issued under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The U. S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to join NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in supporting an initiative that will lay the foundation for the first national network to monitor marine biodiversity at scales ranging from microbes to whales.
The projects, funded at approximately $17 million over the next five years, subject to the availability of funds, will demonstrate how a nationally operational marine biodiversity observation network could be developed. Such a network would serve as a marine resource management tool to conserve existing biodiversity and enhance U.S. biosecurity against threats such as invasive species and infectious agents.