National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration July 31, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On April 29, 2009, we, NMFS, announced the initiation of a status review under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the Oregon Coast coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) evolutionarily significant unit (ESU). As part of that proposal, we provided a 90- day comment period, ending on July 28, 2009. We have received requests for an extension of the public comment period. In response to these requests, we are reopening the comment period for the proposed action.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and implementing regulations, notification is hereby given that NMFS has a issued one-year Letter of Authorization (LOA) to take marine mammals incidental to the explosive removal of offshore oil and gas structures (EROS) in the Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA publishes this final rule for certain regulations for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This final rule makes technical corrections and modifications to several areas in the regulations. As part of these modifications, NOAA: amends the definition of coral to specifically include the common sea fan, Gorgonia ventalina and Venus sea fan, Gorgonia flabellum, which are both important sanctuary resources and are currently managed under the category ``live rock''; specifies that ``touching'' coral is an injury and therefore, a prohibited activity in the FKNMS; amends the minimum distance between vessels and ``divers down'' flags to be 100 yards instead of 100 feet; clarifies that the prohibitions listed for Sanctuary Preservation Areas and Ecological Reserves also apply in Research-only Areas; and corrects several citations that were currently out of date.