Incidental Take Authorization: NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center Fisheries and Ecosystem Research Activities in the California Current and Antarctic Research Areas
Summary
NOAA Fisheries' Office of Protected Resources has issued regulations to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to fisheries research conducted in multiple specified geographical regions over the course of five years. These regulations, which allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization for the incidental take of marine mammals during the described activities and specified timeframes, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, as well as requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking.

Federal Register
Supporting Materials
- LOA- Antarctic Marine Living Resources Ecosystem (pdf, 7 pages)
- LOA- California Current Ecosystem (pdf, 10 pages)
- LOA Application (pdf, 198 pages)
- Environmental Assessment (pdf, 307 pages)
- Environmental Assessment Appendices (pdf, 77 pages)
- FONSI (pdf, 4 pages)
- Environmental Assessment Adoption Memo (pdf, 5 pages)
- Biological Opinion (pdf, 235 pages, use Internet Explorer to open)
- Public Comments
- References (pdf, 5 pages)
- Monitoring Report 2020 (pdf, 9 pages)