National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration March 12, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that Patricia Fair, Ph.D., South Carolina Aquarium, 100 Aquarium Wharf, Charleston, SC 29401, has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

This Notice announces a decision by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) to supersede the American Samoa Vertical Datum of 2002 (ASVD 02) and revert back to Local Tidal (LT) as the official civilian vertical datum for surveying and mapping activities for the island of Tutuila, American Samoa. As a member of the Federal Geographic Data Committee, NOAA is responsible for defining, maintaining and providing access to the National Spatial Reference System. Within NOAA, the National Geodetic Survey has the responsibility to accomplish this task. Due to geophysical activity, the ASVD 02 vertical datum is destroyed. To provide for vertical control, it is necessary to revert to heights based on a LT datum. To the extent it is legally allowable and feasible, all surveys performed or financed by the Federal agencies using or producing vertical height information will undertake an orderly transition to LT tied to the tide gauge at Pago Pago. Exceptions are for those with specific military related applications, which will use their own datum.