The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has finalized a rule change for Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) permits in support of which NSCA and SPNHC jointly submitted comments earlier this year. The revision makes it possible for NOAA to issue permits for longer than the current 5-year term.
The joint comments are mentioned and quoted in the review of public comments received: “A comment submitted jointly from the Natural Science Collections Alliance and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History represents another type of permit holder, those curating scientific collections of marine mammal specimens. Their letter points out that, currently, natural history collections must re-apply every 5 years for a new permit to import, export, or receive parts even though, typically, there are no changes to research techniques, impacts to live animals, or activities that could negatively affect wild populations. The comment states that a longer permit duration could ‘support the longstanding role of collections as stable repositories and save scientific and administrative effort both for museum collections staff and for NOAA, without negatively impacting the important function that these permits serve in marine mammal protection’.”