Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Power Plant Operations

NMFS, upon application from North Atlantic Energy Service Corporation (North Atlantic), issues regulations to govern the unintentional take of small numbers of seals incidental to routine operations of the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant, Seabrook, NH (Seabrook Station). Issuance of regulations governing unintentional incidental takes in connection with particular activities 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 and stocks of marine mammals and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of them for subsistence uses. This rulemaking does not authorize this activity; such authorization is under the jurisdiction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is not within the jurisdiction of the Secretary. Rather, these regulations authorize the unintentional incidental take of marine mammals in connection with such activities and prescribe methods of taking and other means of affecting the least practicable adverse impact on the species, and its habitat, and on the availability of the species for subsistence uses.