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Making Your Views Known On Marine Mammal Regulation
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Parties Ask Court to Stay Seismic Litigation to Allow Time to Conclude Settlement Negotiations
Several environmental groups are suing BOEM in federal court in New Orleans. The groups allege that BOEM's regulation of oil and gas seismic in the Gulf of Mexico violates several federal laws with regard to marine mammals and other species. Industry parties have intervened in the case. Based on the parties' motions, the Court has stayed the litigation pending settlement negotiations. On February 1, 2012, the plaintiffs and defendants filed another stay motion which stated in part:
Click here to read full article
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NMFS Seeks Comment on SARS Guidelines Revisions
On January 24, 2012, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service published Federal Register notice that NMFS has drafted revisions to the Services' guidelines for preparing marine mammal stock assessment reports. Comments on these draft revisions must be received by NMFS by March 26, 2012.
SARs are required by Section 117 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which requires NMFS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare stock assessments for each stock of
marine mammals occurring in waters under the jurisdiction of the United States. These reports must contain information regarding the distribution and abundance of the stock, population growth rates and trends, estimates of annual human-caused mortality and serious injury from all sources, descriptions of the fisheries with which the stock interacts, and the status of the
stock.
Click here to read NMFS' Federal Register notice about Stock Assessment Guidelines
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