Marine Mammal Protection Act MMPA Incidental Take Authorization DOC NOAA NMFS
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) prohibits "take" of marine mammals with certain exceptions. The MMPA allows, upon request, the incidental take of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographic region provided the taking would be of small numbers; have no more than a negligible impact on those marine mammal stocks or species; and the take would not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stock for subsistence uses.