Notice2022-09924
Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specific Activities
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 9, 2022
Effective
October 1, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS has received a request from the City of Hoonah (City) for the re-issuance of a previously issued incidental harassment authorization (IHA) with the only change being effective dates. The initial IHA authorized take of nine species of marine mammals, by Level A and Level B harassment, incidental to pile driving activities associated with construction upgrades of a cargo dock at the city-owned Hoonah Marine Industrial Center (HMIC) in Port Frederick Inlet on Chichagof Island in Hoonah, Alaska. The project has been delayed and none of the work covered in the initial IHA has been conducted. The initial IHA was effective from May 7, 2021, through May 6, 2022. The City has requested re-issuance with new effective dates of October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. The scope of the activities and anticipated effects remain the same, authorized take numbers are not changed, and the required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting remains the same as included in the initial IHA. NMFS is, therefore, issuing a second identical IHA to cover the incidental take analyzed and authorized in the initial IHA.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 89 (Monday, May 9, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 89 (Monday, May 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27571-27573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09924]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XB983]
Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specific Activities
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; issuance of incidental harassment authorization.
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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the City of Hoonah (City) for
the re-issuance of a previously issued incidental harassment
authorization (IHA) with the only change being effective dates. The
initial IHA authorized take of nine species of marine mammals, by Level
A and Level B harassment, incidental to pile driving activities
associated with construction upgrades of a cargo dock at the city-owned
Hoonah Marine Industrial Center (HMIC) in Port Frederick Inlet on
Chichagof Island in Hoonah, Alaska. The project has been delayed and
none of the work covered in the initial IHA has been conducted. The
initial IHA was effective from May 7, 2021, through May 6, 2022. The
City has requested re-issuance with new effective dates of October 1,
2022 through September 30, 2023. The scope of the activities and
anticipated effects remain the same, authorized take numbers are not
changed, and the required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting remains
the same as included in the initial IHA. NMFS is, therefore, issuing a
second identical IHA to cover the incidental take analyzed and
authorized in the initial IHA.
DATES: This authorization is effective from October 1, 2022 through
September 30, 2023.
ADDRESSES: An electronic copy of the final 2021 IHA previously issued
to the City, the City's application, and the Federal Register notices
proposing and issuing the initial IHA may be obtained by visiting
<a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-hoonah-marine-industrial-center-cargo-dock-project-hoonah">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-hoonah-marine-industrial-center-cargo-dock-project-hoonah</a>. In case of
problems accessing these documents, please call the contact
[[Page 27572]]
listed below (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Egger, Office of Protected
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act
(MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) direct the Secretary of Commerce (as
delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon request, the incidental, but not
intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens
who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial fishing)
within a specified geographical region if certain findings are made and
either regulations are issued or, if the taking is limited to
harassment, a notice of a proposed authorization is provided to the
public for review.
An authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS
finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or
stock(s), will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the
availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses (where
relevant), and if the permissible methods of taking and requirements
pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of such takings
are set forth.
NMFS has defined ``negligible impact'' in 50 CFR 216.103 as an
impact resulting from the specified activity that cannot be reasonably
expected to, and is not reasonably likely to, adversely affect the
species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or
survival.
The MMPA states that the term ``take'' means to harass, hunt,
capture, kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine
mammal.
Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent here, the
MMPA defines ``harassment'' as any act of pursuit, torment, or
annoyance which (i) has the potential to injure a marine mammal or
marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has the
potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild
by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not
limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or
sheltering (Level B harassment).
Summary of Request
On May 20, 2021, NMFS published final notice of our issuance of an
IHA authorizing take of marine mammals incidental to the City of Hoonah
for the Hoonah Marine Industrial Center Cargo Dock Project, Hoonah,
Alaska (86 FR 27410). The effective dates of that IHA were May 7, 2021,
through May 6, 2022. On February 27, 2022, the City informed NMFS that
the project was delayed. None of the work identified in the initial IHA
(e.g., pile driving activities) has occurred. The City submitted a
request on April 6, 2022 that we reissue an identical IHA that would be
effective from October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023, in order to
conduct the construction work that was analyzed and authorized through
the previously issued IHA. Therefore, re-issuance of the IHA is
appropriate.
Summary of Specified Activity and Anticipated Impacts
The planned activities (including mitigation, monitoring, and
reporting), authorized incidental take, and anticipated impacts on the
affected stocks are the same as those analyzed and authorized through
the previously issued IHA.
The purpose of this project is to make upgrades to the HMIC.
Upgrades to the site include the installation of three breasting
dolphins, a sheet pile bulk cargo dock, fender piles, and a catwalk.
The planned upgrades are needed to continue safely accommodating barges
and other vessels delivering essential goods to the City. The planned
project at the HMIC is located in Port Frederick Inlet, approximately
0.8 kilometers (km) (0.5 miles) northwest of downtown Hoonah 0.24 km
(0.15 miles) east of the State of Alaska Ferry Terminal in Southeast
Alaska. The location, timing, and nature of the activities, including
the types of equipment planned for use, are identical to those
described in the initial IHA. The mitigation and monitoring are also as
prescribed in the initial IHA.
Species that are expected to be taken by the planned activity
include: Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), Minke whale (Balaenoptera
acutorostrata), Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), Killer whale
(Orcinus orca), Pacific White-Sided Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus
obliquidens), Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli), Harbor porpoise
(Phocoena phocoena), Steller Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus), and Harbor
seal (Phoca vitulina). A description of the methods and inputs used to
estimate take anticipated to occur and, ultimately, the take that was
authorized is found in the previous documents referenced above. The
data inputs and methods of estimating take are identical to those used
in the initial IHA. NMFS has reviewed recent Stock Assessment Reports,
information on relevant Unusual Mortality Events, and recent scientific
literature, and determined that no new information affects our original
analysis of impacts or take estimate under the initial IHA.
We refer to the documents related to the previously issued IHA,
which include the Federal Register notice of the issuance of the
initial 2021 IHA for the City's construction work (86 FR 27410), the
City's application, the Federal Register notice of the proposed IHA (86
FR 12630), and all associated references and documents.
Determinations
The City will conduct activities as analyzed in the initial 2021
IHA. As described above, the number of authorized takes of the same
species and stocks of marine mammals are identical to the numbers that
were found to meet the negligible impact and small numbers standards
and authorized under the initial IHA and no new information has emerged
that would change those findings. The re-issued 2022 IHA includes
identical required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures as
the initial IHA, and there is no new information suggesting that our
analysis or findings should change.
Based on the information contained here and in the referenced
documents, NMFS has determined the following: (1) The required
mitigation measures will affect the least practicable impact on marine
mammal species or stocks and their habitat; (2) the authorized takes
will have a negligible impact on the affected marine mammal species or
stocks; (3) the authorized takes represent small numbers of marine
mammals relative to the affected stock abundances; and (4) the City's
activities will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on taking for
subsistence purposes as no relevant subsistence uses of marine mammals
are implicated by this action.
National Environmental Policy Act
To comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA;
42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) 216-6A,
NMFS must review our proposed action with respect to environmental
consequences on the human environment.
Accordingly, NMFS has determined that the issuance of the IHA
qualifies to be categorically excluded from further NEPA review. This
action is consistent with categories of activities identified in CE B4
of the Companion Manual for NOAA Administrative Order 216-6A, which do
not individually or cumulatively have the potential for significant
impacts on the quality of the human environment and for which we
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have not identified any extraordinary circumstances that would preclude
this categorical exclusion.
Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA: 16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) requires that each Federal agency insure that any
action it authorizes, funds, or carries out is not likely to jeopardize
the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or
result in the destruction or adverse modification of designated
critical habitat. To ensure ESA compliance for the issuance of IHAs,
NMFS consults internally whenever we propose to authorize take for
endangered or threatened species, in this case with the Alaska Regional
Office (AKRO).
NMFS is authorizing take of Mexico DPS humpback whales, and Western
DPS Steller sea lions, which are listed under the ESA. The Permit and
Conservation Division completed a Section 7 consultation with the AKRO
for the issuance of this IHA and a biological opinion was issued on May
4, 2021. The AKRO's biological opinion states that the action is not
likely to jeopardize the continued existence of Western DPS Steller sea
lions or Mexico DPS humpback whales. The May 4, 2021 biological opinion
is still in effect.
Authorization
NMFS has issued an IHA to the City for in-water construction
activities associated with the specified activity from October 1, 2022
through September 30, 2023. All previously described mitigation,
monitoring, and reporting requirements from the initial 2021 IHA are
incorporated.
Dated: May 4, 2022.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-09924 Filed 5-6-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 9, 2022.
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