Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Sea Ice Road and Trail Construction, Use, and Maintenance Activities Along the Beaufort Sea Coast in Alaska

What it does

NMFS has received a request from Hilcorp Alaska, LLC (Hilcorp) for promulgation of incidental take regulations (ITR) and issuance of an associated Letter of Authorization (LOA) that would authorize continued take of marine mammals over 5 years (2026-2031) incidental to the construction, maintenance and use of sea ice roads, trails and adjacent ice pads after the expiration of the existing ITR and LOA. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is proposing regulations setting forth permissible methods of taking, other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on such marine mammal stocks (i.e., mitigation measures), and requirements pertaining to monitoring and reporting takes and requests comments on the proposed rule. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the promulgation of the requested ITR and issuance of the LOA; agency responses to public comments will be summarized in the final rule, if promulgated.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

1 part of Title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

50 CFR 217

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 0648-BN38 since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

Comments and information must be received no later than March 4, 2026.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket NOAA-NMFS-2026-0265 on Regulations.gov
• Title 50 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register