The Minerals Management Service (MMS) initiated the Endangered Species Act (ESA)

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Balaena mysticetus; Beaufort Sea; bowhead whale; Inupiat; north slope; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.175.1871; http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/protectedresources/whales/bowhead/biop.pdf

This document represents National Marine Fisheries Service’s biological opinion (Opinion) on the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) proposed approval of a development and production plan for the construction and operation of the Liberty project in the U.S. Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north coast, and its effects on the endangered bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus, in accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA) [16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.]. Formal section 7 consultation with the MMS was initiated on March 2, 2001. This Opinion is based on information provided by the MMS in their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the Liberty Development and Production Plan released in January 2001, the biological assessment dated February 26, 2001, recent research on the effects of oil and gas activities on the bowhead whale, traditional knowledge of Native hunters and the Inupiat along Alaska’s north slope, and other sources of information. A complete administrative record of this consultation is on file at the NMFS ’ Alaska