Expert Panel Review of Monitoring Protocols in Applications for Incidental Harassment Authorizations Related to Oil and Gas Exploration in the

• Main Authors: Beaufort Seas, Ion Geophysical
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Anchorage; Arctic; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.434.6193; http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/permits/openwater/peer_review_report2011.pdf

Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) allow for the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographic region. For activities that occur in Arctic waters and have the potential to affect the availability of a species or stock of marine mammal for subsistence uses, the monitoring plan for the proposed activity must be independently peerreviewed. To aid the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in its review of the monitoring plans for the upcoming season, NMFS holds an annual Open Water Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, each spring. The meetings are open to the public and provide an opportunity for applicants to share the results of monitoring programs from the previous year and present the monitoring plans for activities proposed for the upcoming open water season. The meeting also allows for input and comments from Alaska Natives, industry representatives and industry-funded scientists, government representatives, environmental organizations, and interested members of the public on the results of the previous year's monitoring programs and the proposed monitoring plans for the upcoming season. In 2011, NMFS, working with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), sponsored the Open Water Meeting on 7-8 March. At the time of the meeting, NMFS had