FWS regulations 50 CFR 13

[Elaine Hoagland]

The federal register Vol. 60 No. 171 (Tuesday, Sept. 5 '95) contains the
proposed rules for 50 SCR 13, General Provisions and General permit
Procedures.  Scientists and especially scientific societies and institutions
may wish to comment.  The deadline for comments is November 6, 1995.  To
comment, write to the Director, FWS, PO Box 3247, Arlington, VA 22203-3247.
The Association of Systematics Collections is preparing comments now; if you
have any issues you would like us to mention, or comments on the remarks we
plan to make so far, please send email to me at this address.

Please copy this message to your taxonomic specialty listservs that are
concerned with regulations.

Most of the issues we are concerned with are not covered in this part of the
regulations; we still await a new proposed rule for Sec. 14 (import-export)
and other sections.  The new Section 13 attempts to clarify the permit
procedures, along with criteria for rejecting permit applications,
procedures for appeal, and permit renewals.  In my opinion, there is not a
lot to object to, but ASC will raise these points:

1.  The procedures for renewal and for evaluating the initial permits may
not sufficiently take into consideration the opportunistic and ongoing
nature of much of scientific collecting for systematics purposes.  For
example, permit renewals will be issued only for an activity that "has been
authorized thereunder and not been completed."  And, "Any renewal
application information remaining unchanged for a period of more than 4
years may be regarded as outdaged and the applicant required to provide new
and complete application information ..."   Furthermore, FWS writes, "The
applicant should always have an idea of what their intended target species
will be."  We suggest that systematics research in more ongoing and less
based on discrete projects than other kinds of research.  While the FWS for
good reason does not want to have different procedures for each type of
collecting permit, we might get them to increase the flexibility of issuing
scientific permits and especially, renewals, for systematists.

2.  Fees for services will go up substantially.  We understand that this is
necessary, but permits for marine mammal research seem excessive.  It would
be better to streamline the permit procedure than to raise the fee so high
($250).  However, legislative change may be required to effect the streamlining.

3.  Fees are waived for federal and some state and local agencies, but not
for educational and research institutions unless under contract with a
government agency.  We will try to be see that NSF, NIH, etc. grants qualify
in this regard.

4.  ASC, in an earlier comment period, asked for persons to be notified in
writing the reasons for denial of permits.  This change has been made, and
we will thank the FWS.