Issuing an Incidental Take Permit (File No. 27490) to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology for the incidental take of ESA-listed sea turtles and sturgeon associated with the otherwise lawful fisheries survey activities within and adjacent to the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Wind Energy Area

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes to issue an incidental take permit (ITP) to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the regulations governing the incidental taking of endangered and threatened species (50 CFR 222.307). The ITP would authorize the incidental take of endangered and threatened sea turtles and sturgeon, including the North Atlantic Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of green (Chelonia mydas), Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), and Northwest Atlantic Ocean DPS of loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtles, and the Gulf of Maine, New York Bight, Chesapeake Bay, Carolina, and South Atlantic DPSs of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus), associated with the otherwise lawful fisheries survey activities within and adjacent to the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Wind Energy Area in southern New England offshore waters. The ITP would be valid for 10 years from the date of execution.