Notice2024-20715
Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Military Readiness Activities in the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing Study Area
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
September 20, 2024
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Department of the Navy (including the U.S. Navy (Navy) and the U.S. Marine Corps) and on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard; hereafter, Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are collectively referred to as Action Proponents) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to training and testing activities conducted in the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) Study Area over the course of 7 years from November 2025 through November 2032. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of the Action Proponents' request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals and issuance of three, 7-year Letters of Authorization (LOAs). NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on the Action Proponents' application and request.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 183 (Friday, September 20, 2024)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 183 (Friday, September 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77106-77107]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-20715]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XE062]
Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals
Incidental to Military Readiness Activities in the Atlantic Fleet
Training and Testing Study Area
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for regulations and Letters of
Authorization; request for comments and information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Department of the
Navy (including the U.S. Navy (Navy) and the U.S. Marine Corps) and on
behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard; hereafter, Navy, U.S.
Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are collectively referred to as Action
Proponents) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to
training and testing activities conducted in the Atlantic Fleet
Training and Testing (AFTT) Study Area over the course of 7 years from
November 2025 through November 2032. Pursuant to regulations
implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is
announcing receipt of the Action Proponents' request for the
development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental
taking of marine mammals and issuance of three, 7-year Letters of
Authorization (LOAs). NMFS invites the public to provide information,
suggestions, and comments on the Action Proponents' application and
request.
DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than October
21, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Jolie Harrison, Chief,
Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources,
National Marine Fisheries Service, and should be sent to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#feb7aaaed09d929b889b908d8a97909bbe90919f9fd0999188"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="38716c68165b545d4e5d564b4c51565d7856575959165f574e">[email protected]</span></a>. An electronic copy of the Action Proponents'
application may be obtained online at: <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-military-readiness-activities">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-military-readiness-activities</a>. In case of problems accessing the
document, please call the contact listed below.
Instructions: NMFS is not responsible for comments sent by any
other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the
end of the comment period. Comments, including all attachments, must
not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. All comments received are a part of
the public record and will generally be posted online at: <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-military-readiness-activities">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-military-readiness-activities</a> without change. All
personal identifying information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily
submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit
confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected
information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alyssa Clevenstine, Office of
Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The MMPA prohibits the ``take'' of marine mammals, with certain
exceptions. Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the 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 proposed or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a
proposed authorization is provided to the public for review.
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
[[Page 77107]]
unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or
stock(s) for taking for subsistence uses (where relevant). Further,
NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other ``means
of effecting the least practicable adverse impact'' on the affected
species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to
rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on
the availability of the species or stocks for taking for certain
subsistence uses (referred to in shorthand as ``mitigation''); and
requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of the takings.
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.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2004
(Pub. L. 108-136) amended section 101(a)(5) of the MMPA to remove the
``small numbers'' and ``specified geographical region'' provisions and
amended the definition of ``harassment'' as applied to a ``military
readiness activity'' to read as follows (section 3(18)(B) of the MMPA):
(i) Any act that injures or has the significant potential to injure a
marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A Harassment);
or (ii) Any act that disturbs or is likely to disturb a marine mammal
or marine mammal stock in the wild by causing disruption of natural
behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration,
surfacing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering, to a point where
such behavioral patterns are abandoned or significantly altered (Level
B Harassment). On August 13, 2018, the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2019 (Pub.
L. 115-232) amended the MMPA to allow incidental take regulations for
military readiness activities to be issued for up to 7 years.
Summary of Request
On May 28, 2024, NMFS received an application from the Action
Proponents requesting authorization to take marine mammals, by Level A
and Level B harassment, incidental to training and testing
(characterized as military readiness activities) including the use of
sonar and other transducers, in-water detonations, air guns, and impact
and vibratory pile driving and extraction in the AFTT Study Area. In
addition, the Action Proponents are requesting authorization of 5 takes
by mortality of 2 marine mammal species from explosives during Navy
training exercises, 44 takes by mortality of 9 marine mammal species
from ship shock trials during Navy testing activities, and of 6 takes
of large whales by serious injury or mortality from vessel strikes over
the 7-year period of the LOAs: 3 takes incidental to the Navy's
training and testing activities, and 3 takes incidental to the Coast
Guard's training activities. In response to our comments and following
information exchange, Action Proponents submitted a final revised
application on August 16, 2024, that we determined was adequate and
complete on August 19, 2024. The Action Proponents requested the
regulations and subsequent LOAs be valid for 7 years beginning in
November 2025.
This will be the fourth time NMFS has promulgated incidental take
regulations pursuant to the MMPA relating to similar military readiness
activities in AFTT, following those effective from January 22, 2009,
through January 22, 2014 (74 FR 4844), from November 14, 2013, through
November 13, 2018 (78 FR 73009, December 4, 2013), and from November
14, 2018, through November 13, 2023 (83 FR 57076, November 14, 2018),
which was subsequently extended until November 13, 2025 (84 FR 70712,
December 23, 2019) due to amendments to the NDAA (Pub. L. 115-232).
Description of the Specified Activity
The AFTT Study Area includes areas of the western Atlantic Ocean
along the east coast of North America, the Gulf of Mexico, and portions
of the Caribbean Sea, covering approximately 2.6 million square
nautical miles (nmi\2\) of ocean area, oriented from the mean high tide
line along the U.S. coast and extending east to 45-degree W longitude
line, north to 65-degree N latitude line, and south to approximately
the 20-degree N latitude line. Please refer to figure 1.1-1 of the
application for a map of the AFTT Study Area and figure 2.1-1 through
figure 2.1-5 for additional maps of the range complexes and testing
ranges.
The following types of training and testing, which are classified
as military readiness activities pursuant to the section 315(f) of
Public Law 101-314 (16 U.S.C. 703), are included in the specified
activity described in the Action Proponents' application:
<bullet> Amphibious warfare (in-water detonations),
<bullet> Anti-submarine warfare (sonar and other transducers, in-
water detonations),
<bullet> Expeditionary warfare (in-water detonations, pile driving/
extraction),
<bullet> Mine warfare (sonar and other transducers, in-water
detonations),
<bullet> Surface warfare (in-water detonations), and
<bullet> Other (sonar and other transducers, air guns, vessel
movement).
The application includes proposed mitigation measures for marine
mammals that would be implemented during training and testing
activities in the AFTT Study Area (see section 11 of the application).
Proposed procedural mitigation generally involves: (1) the use of one
or more trained Lookouts to diligently observe for specific biological
resources within a mitigation zone, (2) requirements for Lookouts to
immediately communicate sightings of specific biological resources to
the appropriate watch station for information dissemination, and (3)
requirements for the watch station to implement mitigation (e.g., halt
an activity) until certain recommencement conditions have been met.
Mitigation measures are also proposed for specific mitigation areas and
consist of a variety of measures in those areas including, but not
limited to: conducting a certain number of major training exercises per
year, not planning or avoiding planning major training exercises,
minimizing or not conducting active sonar, conducting a limited amount
of hull-mounted mid-frequency active sonar per year, not expending
explosive or non-explosive ordnance, and implementing vessel speed
reductions in certain circumstances.
The Action Proponents also propose to undertake monitoring and
reporting efforts to better understand the impacts of their activities
on marine mammals and their habitat, track compliance with take
authorizations, and to help investigate the effectiveness of
implemented mitigation measures in the AFTT Study Area.
Information Solicited
Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and
comments concerning the Action Proponents' request (see ADDRESSES).
NMFS will consider all information, suggestions, and comments related
to the request during the development of proposed regulations governing
the incidental taking of marine mammals by the Action Proponents, if
appropriate.
Dated: September 9, 2024.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-20715 Filed 9-19-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 20, 2024.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.