Chapter IX — Marine Mammal Permits 



biologist with expertise in ice seal behavior or an Inuit 

 familiar with ice seal behavior. 



On 23 March 1998 the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service published notice in the Federal Register that 

 it had issued letters of authorization to take ringed and 

 bearded seals incidental to on-ice seismic operations 

 in the southern Beaufort Sea to BP Exploration, 

 Western Geophysical, and Northern Geophysical of 

 America. These authorizations were effective from 16 

 March through 31 May 1998. 



Taking of Bottlenose and Spotted Dolphins 

 Incidental to Oil and Gas Structure Removal in the 

 Gulf of Mexico — As noted in previous Commission 

 reports, the American Petroleum Institute, represent- 

 ing companies that remove structures used for oil and 

 gas exploration, development, and production in the 

 Gulf of Mexico, requested a small-take authorization 

 from the National Marine Fisheries Service in 1989 to 

 take bottlenose dolphins and spotted dolphins inciden- 

 tal to structure removal. Notice of the final rule 

 authorizing the incidental taking was published in the 

 Federal Register on 12 October 1995. The rule 

 remains valid through 13 November 2000 and autho- 

 rizes the issuance of letters of authorization allowing 

 the taking by harassment of up to 200 dolphins per 

 year. The rule limits the types and amounts of 

 explosives, requires that explosives be detonated only 

 during daylight hours when weather conditions are 

 such that dolphins can be seen within the area where 

 they could be killed or injured by the detonations, and 

 specifies monitoring that must be done to minimize 

 the possibility that dolphins could be within the 

 possible zone of influence when the detonations occur. 



One letter of authorization was issued pursuant to 

 these regulations in 1995, 17 in 1996, and 18 in 1997. 

 On 4 May 1998 the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 published in the Federal Register notice that one-year 

 letters of authorization had been issued to Progo 

 Producing Co. on 12 February 1998, to Burlington 

 Resources Offshore Inc. and Apache Corp. on 1 April 

 1998, and to Chevron U.S.A. on 24 April 1998. To 

 date, no dolphins are known to have been killed or 

 injured incidental to the authorized removals. 



Taking Incidental to Rocket Launches from 

 Vandenberg Air Force Base — Since the addition of 



section 101(a)(5)(D) to the Marine Mammal Protec- 

 tion Act in 1994, the U.S. Air Force has requested a 

 series of one-year authorizations to take harbor seals 

 and possibly other marine mammals incidental to 

 launches of Delta II, Titan II, Titan IV, Taurus, and 

 Lockheed Martin rockets at Vandenberg Air Force 

 Base on the central California coast. As noted in 

 previous reports, the Commission believes that, if 

 launches of these and other rockets from Vandenberg 

 Air Force Base are expected to continue in the fore- 

 seeable future, it would be more appropriate to obtain 

 a five-year authorization under section 101(a)(5)(A) of 

 the Marine Mammal Protection Act, rather than seek 

 annual authorizations for each type of vehicle 

 launched from the base. The Commission also has 

 questioned whether the monitoring programs required 

 by the National Marine Fisheries Service have been 

 sufficient to detect cumulative adverse effects. 



The Air Force has recognized the uncertainty 

 concerning possible cumulative effects and, as noted 

 in the Commission's previous report, submitted an 

 application to the National Marine Fisheries Service in 

 April 1997 for a scientific research permit to authorize 

 the taking of California sea lions. Pacific harbor seals, 

 and northern elephant seals in the course of studies to 

 determine the possible cumulative effects of noise 

 from rocket launches on these species. The permit, 

 which is effective until 30 January 2002, was issued 

 on 26 June 1997. 



On 30 September 1997 the Air Force applied to the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service for a five-year 

 small-take authorization under section 101(a)(5)(A) of 

 the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Notice of receipt 

 of the application and proposed regulations to autho- 

 rize the requested incidental taking were published in 

 the Federal Register on 21 July 1998. The Federal 

 Register notice and an environmental assessment 

 provided by the Air Force indicated that noise associ- 

 ated with rocket launches and associated activities at 

 Vandenberg Air Force Base have been documented, in 

 some cases, to cause seals hauled out on beaches near 

 the launch sites and on the northern Channel Islands 

 to flee into the water. They also indicated that 

 temporary hearing threshold shifts had been docu- 

 mented experimentally. They concluded that only 

 small proportions of the regional seal populations 



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