Marine Mammal Incidental Take Authorizations (MMPA)

Current understanding

To be populated as evidence accumulates.

2026-10-13 — Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan; Fixed Gear Marking and Entanglement Risk Reduction: cross-connection with fisheries-management-pacific-groundfish: Gear-marking requirements for Pacific Coast groundfish fixed gear tie the fishery’s management regime to marine mammal entanglement attribution and MMPA incidental take tracking. (novelty: 2)
2026-10-19 — Marine Mammals; Incidental Take of Polar Bears and Pacific Walruses in the Beaufort Sea and North Slope of Alaska: cross-connection with beaufort-sea-polar-bear-walrus-incidental-take: This Beaufort Sea/North Slope rule is a species- and region-specific application of the MMPA incidental take authorization regime administered (for polar bears and walruses) by FWS rather than NMFS. (novelty: 2)
2026-08-26 — Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Duckabush Estuary Restoration Project in Washington: NMFS issued a final rule authorizing the Army Corps of Engineers to incidentally take marine mammals during the Duckabush Estuary Restoration Project in Washington’s Hood Canal from 2027–2032, subject to work-window limits, monitoring, and reporting requirements. (novelty: 2)