National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration May 4, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals, by Level B harassment only, during target and missile launch activities on San Nicolas Island (SNI). The Navy is requesting, and NMFS is proposing to issue, an IHA authorizing incidental take of marine mammals during continuation of target and missile launch activities identical to those already analyzed in a 2019 IHA issued on June 12, 2019 and a currently active Renewal IHA issued on June 19, 2020, which expires on June 11, 2021. The proposed mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures remain the same as prescribed in the previous IHAs. This IHA would be effective from June 12, 2021 through June 11, 2022. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notification of our decision. The Navy's activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the MMPA, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (NDAA).

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has adopted U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Placer County Conservation Program Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (FEIS/EIR), issued a ROD, and prepared an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) (No. 25641) for the incidental take of California Central Valley (CCV) steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Central Valley (CV) fall and late fall-run Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) associated with the proposed Placer County Conservation Program (PCCP). The PCCP was prepared by the local agencies that will become permittees (Placer County, City of Lincoln, South Placer Regional Transportation Authority, Placer County Water Agency, and Placer Conservation Authority) and describes Covered Activities and conservation activities in Placer County. The permit is issued for a duration of 50 years.

We, NMFS, are issuing a proposed rule to remove a coral, Siderastrea glynni, from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Species as recommended in the recent 5-year review of the species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We propose this action based on recently obtained genetic and morphological information that demonstrates that S. glynni does not meet the statutory definition of a species, and therefore does not qualify for listing under the ESA.