Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations for marine mammal nonfishery interactions

Abstract

The Office of Protected Resources Marine Mammal Conservation Division develops, implements, and administers programs for the protection, conservation, and recovery of marine mammals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Division’s nonfishery interaction program is tasked with implementation of Sec. 101(a)(5) (A–D) of the MMPA, which provides two types of authorizations for allowing the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens engaged in a specified, nonfishery related activity. The first type of authorization, the Letter of Authorization (LOA), requires that regulations be promulgated. These LOA regulations may be effective for a 5 year period, with a new letter, containing specific mitigation and monitoring requirements, issued on an annual basis. The second type of authorization, the Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA), does not require promulgation of regulations but does require a 30-day public comment period. The IHA is valid for 1 year only. The estimated time for processing LOA and IHA requests ranges from 1 year to 120 days; however, depending on other requirements, this time period may be lengthened. NMFS makes its determination to issue or deny requests based on three criteria: negligible impact, small numbers, and unmitigable adverse impacts.