NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that it is seeking comments by Friday, Oct. 30 on a proposed rule providing guidance for safely deterring marine mammals, including prohibitions on certain deterrent methods that NMFS has deemed would have a significant adverse effect on them.
NMFS notes the Marine Mammal Protection Act provides protection from liability under the legislation for take resulting from deterrence actions that are consistent with NMFS guidelines or specific recommended measures, while adding that it has not evaluated the deterrents for effectiveness.
Through NMFS, the MMPA tasks the Commerce Secretary to publish a list of guidelines for use in safely deterring marine mammals under NMFS’ jurisdiction and to recommend specific measures” that may be used to nonlethally deter marine mammals listed under the Endangered Species Act.
