Permit Applications Received Under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-541)

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Permit Applications Received Under the Antarctic Conservation Act

of 1978 (P.L. 95-541)

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice of permit applications received under the Antarctic

Conservation Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95-541.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is required to publish

notice of permit applications received to conduct activities regulated

under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. NSF has published

regulations under the Antarctic Conservation Act at Title 45 Part 670

of the Code of Federal Regulations. This is the required notice of

permit applications received.

DATES: Interested parties are invited to submit written data, comments,

or views with respect to these permit applications by April 1, 1998.

Permit applications may be inspected by interested parties at the

Permit Office, address below.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Permit Office, Room 755,

Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson

Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nadene G. Kennedy at the above address

or (703) 306-1033.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Science Foundation, as directed

by the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-541), has

developed regulations that implement the ``Agreed Measures for the

Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora'' for all United States

citizens. The Agreed Measures, developed by the Antarctic Treaty

Consultative Parties, recommended establishment of a permit system for

various activities in Antarctica and designation of certain animals and

certain geographic areas as requiring special protection. The

regulations establish such a permit system to designate Specially

Protected Areas and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

The application received as follows:

Permit Application: 99-001

1. Applicant: Gerald L. Kooyman, Center for Marine Biotechnology

and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of

California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0204.

Activity for Which Permit is Requested: Taking, and Import into the

U.S.

[[Page 10948]]

The applicant proposes to capture and restrain 6 adult Emperor

penguins for 30 minutes while a 260 gram satellite transmitter is glued

to the feathers. The transmitters expected to remain attached for three

months before shedding. Twenty Emperor penguins will be captured and

held for twenty minutes. During captivity stomach samples will be

obtained by stomach lavage. These procedures are the only means of

determining diet preferences, diving behavior and distribution patterns

of individual birds in the Ross Sea. None of this information is known

about Emperor penguins occurring in the Ross Sea during the winter.

Location: Ross Sea pack ice. Access is via the R/V Nathaniel B.

Palmer.

Dates: May 1, 1998 to August 1, 1998.

Permit Application: 99-002

2. Applicant: William R. Fraser, Department of Biology, Montana

State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717.

Activity for Which Permit is Requested: Taking, and Import Into the

U.S.

The applicant, as a participant in the Long-Term Ecological

Research Program (LTER), is seeking to understand the factors that

control the abundance and distribution of seabirds within and between

seasons in the LTER study region. Part of this research encompasses

understanding seasonal variability in the diets of the region's most

common seabirds, of which the early winter period still remains of the

least known and one of the most important from an ecological

perspective. Research on seabirds in general suggests that winter

feeding conditions may determine the survival of annual cohorts and

breeding adults, and adult breeding condition in spring, in effect,

some of the key variables that influence long-term demography.

The applicant proposes to capture up to 100 Adelie penguins, 100

Chinstrap penguins and 50 Emperor penguins in order to weigh, measure

and obtain stomach contents through stomach lavage. The applicant also

proposes to kill up to 75 Snow Petrels, 50 Southern Fulmars and 75

Antarctic Petrels in order to obtain measurements, weights and study

stomach contents. These seabids will then be imported into the U.S. for

subsequent distribution to museums and teaching collections at various

institutions, thus ensuring the full use of these specimens.

Location: Bellingshausen Sea, vicinity of Marguerite Bay. Access is

via the R/V Lawrence M. Gould.

Dates: May 1, 1998 to September 1, 1998.

Nadene G. Kennedy,

Permit Officer, Office of Polar Programs.

[FR Doc. 98-5611 Filed 3-4-98; 8:45 am]

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