Notice2025-07188
Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Year 1 of the U.S. Navy Maintenance and Pile Replacement Project in Puget Sound, Washington
Primary source
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Published
April 25, 2025
Effective
July 1, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS has received a request from the United States Navy 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 10 species of marine mammals, by Level A and Level B harassment, incidental to construction associated with the Navy's Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest (NAVFAC) Northwest Marine Structure Program (MPR) project in Puget Sound, Washington. The project has been delayed and none of the work covered in the initial IHA has been conducted. 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 90 Issue 79 (Friday, April 25, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 79 (Friday, April 25, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17419-17421]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-07188]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XE430]
Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities;
Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Year 1 of the U.S. Navy Maintenance
and Pile Replacement Project in Puget Sound, Washington
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 United States Navy 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 10 species of marine mammals, by Level A
and Level B harassment, incidental to construction associated with the
Navy's Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest (NAVFAC)
Northwest Marine Structure Program (MPR) project in Puget Sound,
Washington. The project has been delayed and none of the work covered
in the initial IHA has been conducted. 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 July 1, 2025 through June
30, 2026. The initial IHA was effective from July 1, 2024 through June
30, 2025. The Navy has requested re-issuance with new effective dates
of July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
ADDRESSES: An electronic copy of the final 2024 IHA previously issued
to the Navy, the Navy'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/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-construction-activities">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-construction-activities</a>. In case of
problems accessing these documents, please call the contact listed
below (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kate Fleming, Office of Protected
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Sections 101(a)(5)(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
[[Page 17420]]
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 June 3, 2024, NMFS published final notice of our issuance of two
consecutive 1-year IHAs authorizing take of marine mammals incidental
to the Navy NW MPR project in Puget Sound, Washington (89 FR 47539).
The effective dates of the Year 1 IHA were July 1, 2024 through June
30, 2025. On June 25, 2024, the Navy informed NMFS that the Year 1
project was delayed. None of the work identified in the initial IHA
(e.g., pile driving and removal) would occur due to a combination of
funding and design issues and the need for additional consultation
under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. On November 14, 2024, the Navy
submitted a request that we reissue an identical IHA that would be
effective from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, 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 the Navy's construction project is to maintain
existing wharfs and piers that are needed to ensure continuance of
necessary missions at three naval installations in Puget Sound,
Washington. The location, timing, and nature of the activities,
including the types of equipment planned for use, are within scope of
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), humpback whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae), minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), killer whale
(Orcinus orca), Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli), harbor porpoise
(Phocoena phocoena), California sea lion (Zalophus califonianus),
Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), harbor seal (Phoca vitulina),
northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustrirostris). 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 2024 IHA for the Navy's construction work (89 FR 47539), the
Navy's application, the Federal Register notice of the proposed IHA (89
FR 25580), and all associated references and documents.
Determinations
The Navy will conduct activities as analyzed in the initial 2024
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 2025 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 effect 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 Navy'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 NAO 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 have not identified any
extraordinary circumstances that would preclude this categorical
exclusion.
Endangered Species Act
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 West Coast
Regional Office (WCRO).
NMFS is authorizing take of southern resident killer whale, as well
as two distinct population segments of humpback whale (Central
American/Southern Mexico-California-Oregon-Washington and Mainland
Mexico-California-Oregon-Washington), which are listed under the ESA.
The NMFS WCRO issued a Biological Opinion under section 7 of the
ESA on the issuance of an IHA to the Navy under section 101(a)(5)(D) of
the MMPA by NMFS Office of Protected Resources The biological opinion
concluded that the action is not likely to jeopardize the continued
existence of the listed species. WCRO confirmed that NMFS' current
action remains covered by the programmatic Biological Opinion (WCRO-
2016-00018) completed for the issuance of regulations preceding the IHA
upon which the reissued IHA is based (83 FR 9366, March 5, 2018), and
that re-initiation of the consultation is not required.
Authorization
NMFS has issued an IHA to the Navy for in-water construction
activities
[[Page 17421]]
associated with the specified activity from July 1, 2025 through June
30, 2026. All previously described mitigation, monitoring, and
reporting requirements from the initial 2024 IHA are incorporated.
Dated: April 22, 2025.
Catherine Marzin,
Acting Director Office of Protected Resources, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-07188 Filed 4-24-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on April 25, 2025.
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