Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Space Vehicle and Test Flight Activities From Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), CA

NMFS, upon application from the U.S. Air Force (USAF), is issuing regulations to govern the unintentional takings of small numbers of marine mammals incidental to space vehicle and test flight activities from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA (VAFB) over a 5-year period. Issuance of regulations is required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) when the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), after notice and opportunity for comment, finds, as here, that such takes will have a negligible impact on the species or stocks of marine mammals and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on their availability for subsistence uses. These regulations prescribe methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species and their habitat, and on the availability of the species for subsistence uses.