Endangered and Threatened Species; File No. 27106

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Section 9 of the ESA and Federal regulations prohibit the `taking' of a species listed as endangered or threatened. The ESA defines “take” to mean harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct. NMFS may issue permits, under limited circumstances to take listed species incidental to, and not the purpose of, otherwise lawful activities. Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA provides a mechanism for authorizing incidental take of listed species. NMFS regulations governing permits for threatened and endangered species are located in 50 CFR 222.307.

Species Covered in This Permit

Kemp's ridley ( Lepidochelys kempii), hawksbill ( Eretmochelys imbricata), leatherback ( Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtles; North Atlantic and South Atlantic distinct population segments (DPSs) of green ( Chelonia mydas) sea turtles; Northwest Atlantic Ocean DPS of loggerhead ( Caretta caretta) sea turtles; New York Bight, Chesapeake, Carolina, and South Atlantic DPSs of Atlantic sturgeon ( Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus); and and shortnose sturgeon ( Acipenser brevirostrum).

Background

NMFS received a draft permit application and conservation plan from NCDMF on June 22, 2022. Based on our review of the draft application, we requested further information and clarification on their minimization, monitoring, and mitigation measures and take requests. After several draft submissions and reviews, on December 2, 2022, NCDMF submitted a complete revised application for the incidental take of ESA-listed sea turtles and sturgeon. On December 22, 2022, we published a notice of receipt (87 FR 78659) of application and conservation plan from NCDMF for an incidental take permit. In that notice, we made the Incidental Take Permit (ITP) application and associated conservation plan available for public comment during a 30-day public comment period. Subsequently, we received a request to extend the public comment period. NMFS provided a 30-day extension (88 FR 3971, January 23, 2023) to the comment period, which closed on February 22, 2023. We received 231 comments on the application and conservation plan and responses to these comments are available in the draft Environmental Assessment (EA).

On August 10, 2023, a Federal Register notice was published to inform the public of the availability of, and request comments on, the draft EA (88 FR 54303). The public comment period ended on September 11, 2023, and 22 comments were received. The comments received and their accompanying responses are located in appendix D of the final EA. Comments received were considered and any revisions needed to address comments were incorporated in the final EA and NCDMF's final ITP application and conservation plan.

NMFS has issued the requested incidental take permit under the authority of the ESA of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and the regulations governing the taking, importing, and exporting of endangered and threatened species (50 CFR parts 222-226).

Incidental takes by species in rolling 2-year (ITP year) intervals or ITP duration that are authorized under the permit were based on annual take values from model predictions or observed counts based on previous interaction data for the duration of requested ITP (10 years; Please see section 7.A.2 Estimation of Incidental Takes of the conservation plan). Authorized takes include the total number of predicted takes across the fishery whenever possible; otherwise takes are based on counts of observed takes. Takes are either combined or separate for mesh-size category and disposition of the incidentally captured animals. Mesh-size categories are large (≥5 Inches Stretched Mesh (ISM), ≥12.7 Centimeters Stretched Mesh (CSM) and small (<5 ISM, <12.7 CSM).