NMFS Proposes IHA for L-DEO Seismic in the Northeast Atlantic
On March 21, 2013, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service published Federal Register notice requesting public comment on a proposed Incidental Harassment Authorization for the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. NMFS proposes to issue this IHA under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. It would authorize L-DEO to take, by Level B harassment only, 20 species of marine mammals incidental to conducting a marine geophysical survey in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, June to July, 2013.

During the survey, L-DEO plans to use conventional seismic methodology in the Deep Galicia Basin of the northeast Atlantic Ocean. The goal of the proposed research is to collect data necessary to study rifted continental to oceanic crust transition in the Deep Galicia Basin west of Spain. This margin and its conjugate are among the best studied magma-poor, rifted margins in the world, and the focus of studies has been the faulting mechanics and modification of the upper mantle associated with such margins.

Any comments on this IHA should be received by NMFS by April 22, 2013.