Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Southeast Fisheries Science Center Fisheries Research

NMFS's Office of Protected Resources (OPR), upon request from NMFS's Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC), hereby issues regulations to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to fisheries research conducted in the Atlantic Ocean along the southeastern U.S. coast and select estuaries, the Gulf of Mexico and select estuaries, and the Caribbean Sea over the course of 5 years. These regulations, which allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization (LOA) for the incidental take of marine mammals during the described activities and specified 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, as well as requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking.