"The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes to issue a modification to a research permit to the NMFS Southeast Regional Science Center for takes of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) in the wild, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The modification would be valid through October 31, 2013. The primary objective of the proposed modification would remain unchanged: to non-lethally collect data on the biology, distribution and abundance of the endangered smalltooth sawfish to facilitate recovery of the species. Sampling, with the goal of taking 45 smalltooth sawfish annually, is currently authorized by longline, gillnet, seine net, drum (set) lines, or rod and reel throughout Florida's coastal waters, but primarily in the region of the Florida coast from Naples to Key West, encompassing the Ten Thousand Islands. All captured sawfish are to be handled, measured, tagged, sampled, and released alive. Current tagging methods include rototags (fin tags), dart tags, umbrella dart tags, Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags, acoustic transmitters, Pop-Up Archival Transmitting (PAT) tags, and Smart Position Only Transmitting (SPOT) tags. Sampling also includes tissue fin clips and blood. Finally, dead sawfish acquired through strandings or from law enforcement confiscations are also measured and sampled for scientific purposes"--Abstract.

NMFS proposes to issue a modification to scientific research permit No. 16547 to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), 11110 Kimages Road; Charles City, Virginia 23030 [Albert Spells: Responsible Party], authorizing scientific research on endangered Atlantic sturgeon pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.c. 1531 et seq.) and the regulations governing the taking, importing, and exporting of endangered and threatened species (50 CFR 222-226). The modification would be valid through April 5, 2017. Permit No. 16547 currently permits the permit holder to: evaluate abundance of Atlantic sturgeon within the Chesapeake Bay Distinct Population Segment (DPS), including the entirety of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries above and below 22 parts per thousand (ppt) salinity. Researchers are authorized to capture adult, juvenile and early life stages (ELS) of Atlantic sturgeon using gill nets, trawls, fyke nets, trammel nets, pound nets and egg mats; and to measure, weigh, tissue sample, PIT and Floy tag appropriately sized animals. Dependent on the life stage and the salinity level, a subset may be telemetry tagged internally or externally. The permit holder now requests to: telemetry tag adult sub-adult or juvenile Atlantic sturgeon with either internal or external telemetry tags without respect to salinity level within the same action area. However, the numbers of adult and sub-adult Atlantic sturgeon requested would be reduced from 425 to 350 per year; the numbers of juveniles would be reduced from 175 to 125 annually, and the sub-set of juveniles requested to be telemetry tagged is increased to 50 from 25, including the option for internal telemetry tagging. Finally, the number of ELS proposed would increase from 25 to 50 annually to document spawning in other rivers. All other aspects of the currently permitted activity--the action area, capture methods, incidental takes, impacts to other listed species, types of research activities, and objectives--would remain the same.

"The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes to issue Scientific Research Permit No. 15802, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The permit would be valid for five years from the date of issuance. The primary purpose of the proposed permit is to authorize takes of endangered smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) for scientific purposes related to research and monitoring of small tooth sawfish in order to develop conservation and protective measures to ensure smalltooth sawfish recovery range-wide. The proposed permit would also authorize takes of threatened and endangered sea turtles incidentally caught during sampling. The proposed permit would authorize the capture, measuring, tissue and blood sampling, passive integrated transponder, roto, and internal and external satellite tagging of smalltooth sawfish. The proposed research would take place in state and Federal waters of Florida and the southeastern United States"--Abstract from EA; Portfolio comprised of three related PDF documents digitized and organized by: NOAA Office of Program Planning and Integration (PPI) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) staff.

In response to the receipt of an application from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), NMFS, Office of Protected Resources (PR) proposes to modify Permit No. 16436 and terminate Permit No. 16439 pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Both permits are held by the NYSDEC. The Permit Holder proposes to continue studying the population dynamics and seasonal habitat use of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) authorized in Permit 16436 and proposes to consolidate the existing takes of shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) in Permit 16439 and then terminate Permit No. 16439 upon issuance of the modification. The Permit Holder also requests increasing the numbers and procedures for taking both Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon to meet new objectives, including tracking movement, habitat and diet changes in response to major construction projects on the Hudson River. The modification would be valid through the expiration date of the original permit on April 5, 2017.

In response to the receipt of an application for a permit modification from Warnell School of Forest Resources, Fisheries Division [hereinafter, Permit Holder, and Douglas Peterson, PhD, Responsible Party (RP)/Principal Investigator (PI)], University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602], NMFS, Office of Protected Resources (PR) proposes to modify Permit No. 16482 to include additional "takes" of shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) and Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).The permit holder proposes to continue studying the population dynamics and seasonal habitat use of Atlantic sturgeon in the rivers and estuaries as currently authorized in Permit 16482 in the Savannah (GA/SC), Ogeechee (GA), Altamaha (GA), Satilla (GA), and Saint Marys Rivers (GA/FL). The Permit Holder is authorized to capture Atlantic sturgeon with gill nets and trammel nets and also measure, weigh, genetic tissue sample, PIT tag and Floy tag, acoustic tag, laparoscope, biopsy, anesthetize, gastric lavage, fin ray clip, acoustic tag and to collect early life stages. However, the permit holder now proposes to combine takes of shortnose sturgeon, which were previously authorized under separate permits while fishing concurrently for Atlantic sturgeon. One existing shortnose sturgeon permit in Georgia waters would be terminated when the modification is issued, while other expired shortnose sturgeon permits would be reapplied for as previously authorized. The permit holder also requests taking 100 blood samples from both species captured from the Altamaha River. Further, the modification expands the project area to include northeast Florida's Nassau and St. Johns rivers and adjoining waterways, as well as to authorize the take of shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon. The modification would be valid through the expiration date of the original permit on April 5, 2017.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes to issue a modification to a research permit to Dewayne Fox, PhD., for takes of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) in the wild, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The modification would be valid through April 5, 2017. The objectives of the research for Atlantic sturgeon would remain unchanged: to collect data on the biology, distribution and abundance of endangered Atlantic sturgeon to facilitate recovery of the species. Three projects fall under the permitted research. The first project authorizes directed mortality of Atlantic sturgeon eggs. As part of the second project, a hydroacoustic assessment survey, 100 Atlantic sturgeon are authorized for capture by gill net, and for measuring, weighing, tissue sampling, and PIT tagging. The third involves the capture of 300 Atlantic sturgeon annually by gill net throughout Delaware's coastal waters, and in the Delaware Bay and River. All captured Atlantic sturgeon are measured, passive integrated transponder tagged, tissue sampled, and released. Subsets of captured Atlantic sturgeon are fitted with internal satellite tags or external pop-off satellite tags; sampling also includes gonad tissue biopsy. The applicant now requests authorization for 100 annual shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) takes for the remainder of the permit; all capture methods, action areas and activities would remain the same as for the currently authorized Atlantic sturgeon takes. The authorization to sample an additional sturgeon species would allow the permit holder to test use of a hydroacoustic assessment method for shortnose sturgeon which is currently authorized for Atlantic sturgeon.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes to issue modifications to two research permits held by the North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit [hereinafter "Permit Holder" and Joseph Hightower, Ph.D., Responsible Party/Principal Investigator: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695] for takes of shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) (File No. 14759-01) and for takes of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) (File No. 16375-01) in the wild, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The research objectives for both permits would remain unchanged: to collect data on the biology, distribution and abundance of endangered shortnose sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon to facilitate recovery of the respective species. In Permit No. 14759, the Permit Holder is currently authorized to capture with gill net, measure, weigh, genetic tissue sample, PIT tag and Floy tag up to 15 shortnose sturgeon annually from the Chowan and Cape Fear River Basins and Albemarle Sound. Additionally, the Permit Holder is authorized to capture and sample up to 25 shortnose sturgeon per year from the Roanoke River Basin. Annually, a sub- set of up to five sub-adults or adults from each of the river basins and Albemarle Sound can also be anesthetized and surgically implanted with internal sonic transmitters annually. In Permit No. 16375, the Permit Holder is authorized to capture with gill nets measure, weigh, genetic tissue sample, PIT and Floy tag up to 200 Atlantic sturgeon annually from the same locations authorized in Permit No. 14759. Further, a sub-set of up to ninety juvenile, sub-adult or adult Atlantic sturgeon may be annually implanted with acoustic transmitter tags within the Albemarle Sound, and Roanoke, Chowan and Cape Fear River Basins, with no more than 45 tagged in each the Cape Fear River system or the combined area for the Albemarle Sound, Roanoke River and Chowan River. The applicant now requests authorization to verify spawning activity shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon by deploying artificial egg mats downstream of suspected spawning areas to take up to 50 early life stages (ELS) of each species annually from both the Roanoke River and Cape Fear River (total of 200 ELS). The expanded action area for each species up to the first impassible dam on the Roanoke River (rkm 221) and on the Cape Fear (rkm 300), will also be a part of the permit modification. All other currently authorized takes, methods and activities would remain the same for each permit. The modifications would be valid through the expiration dates of the original Permit No. 14759 (August 19, 2015) and Permit No. 16375 (April 5, 2017).