[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 237 (Wednesday, December 10, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68874-68875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-30609]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 100903A]


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine 
MammalsIncidental to Construction and Operation of Offshore Oil and Gas 
Facilities in the Beaufort Sea

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of issuance of a letter of authorization.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as 
amended, and implementing regulations, notice is hereby given that NMFS 
has issued a letter of authorization (LOA) to BP Exploration (Alaska), 
Inc. (BPXA) to take marine mammals incidental to the production of 
offshore oil and gas at the Northstar development in the Beaufort Sea 
off Alaska.

DATES: This LOA is effective from December 4, 2003, through December 3, 
2004.

ADDRESSES: A copy of BPXA's letter, a list of monitoring reports, and/
or the LOA may be obtained by writing to the Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or by 
telephoning one of the contacts listed here.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth R. Hollingshead (301) 713-
2055, ext. 128, or Bradley Smith (907) 271-5006.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 
1361 et seq.) directs NMFS to allow, on 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 by NMFS and regulations are issued. Under the MMPA, the term 
``take'' means to harass, hunt, capture, or kill or to attempt to 
harass, hunt, capture or kill marine mammals.
    Permission may be granted for periods up to 5 years if NMFS finds, 
after notice and opportunity for public comment, that the taking will 
have a negligible impact on the species or stock(s) of marine mammals, 
and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of 
the species or stock(s) of marine mammals for subsistence uses. In 
addition, NMFS must prescribe regulations setting forth the permissible 
methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable 
adverse impact on the species and its habitat, and on the availability 
of the species for subsistence uses. The regulations also must include 
requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking. 
Regulations governing the taking of marine mammals incidental to 
construction and operation of the offshore oil and gas facility at 
Northstar in the Beaufort Sea were published and made effective on May 
25, 2000 (65 FR 34014), and remain in effect until May 25, 2005. These 
regulations include mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements.

[[Page 68875]]

Summary of Request

    On September 30, 2003, NMFS received a request from BPXA for a 
renewal of an LOA issued on September 18, 2000 (65 FR 58265, September 
28,2000) and reissued on December 14, 2001 (66 FR 65923, December 21, 
2001), and December 9, 2002 (67 FR 77750, December 19, 2002) for the 
taking of marine mammals incidental to oil production operations at 
Northstar, under section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA. This request (BPXA, 
2003) contains information in compliance with 50 CFR 216.209, which 
updates information provided in BPXA's original application for takings 
incidental to construction and operations at Northstar. The current LOA 
for the taking of marine mammals incidental to oil production at the 
Northstar facility will expire on December 9, 2003.
    Impacts on marine mammals may occur through noise from barge, 
helicopter traffic, drilling, and other noise sources on the island 
facility. Impacts may also result if there is an oil spill resulting 
from production. While noise impacts on marine mammals will be low 
(activities on Northstar Island will make less noise than that from 
standard jack-up rigs, the concrete island drilling structure, or 
seismic activity), bowhead whales will likely hear the noise at 
distances up to 10 km (6.2 mi) from the island. In addition, there may 
be some harassment, injury, or mortality of ringed seals during winter 
ice-road construction. Noise impacts may result in Level B harassment 
of approximately 765 bowheads (i.e., the LOA authorizes up to 765 
bowheads annually, with a maximum of 1,533 in 2 out of 5 seasons, and a 
total of 3,585 in 5 years), 5 gray whales and 91 beluga whales. Year-
round operations at Northstar may result in the harassment of up to 
approximately 191 ringed seals, 10 bearded seals, and 5 spotted seals 
being harassed and the incidental mortality of up to 5 ringed seal 
pups. No take is authorized for an oil spill. NMFS and BPXA believe 
that these estimates remain conservative since, for example, monitoring 
between November, 2001 and October, 2002 indicate that approximately 
110 ringed seals, 1 bearded seal and 10-20 beluga whales were present 
in the area and potentially may have been affected (Moulton et al., 
2003). MacLean and Williams (2003) and Moulton et al. (2003) indicate 
that Northstar production probably had little or no effect on most of 
the seals and no seals were injured or killed by activities along the 
ice road or operations at Northstar Island during the late 2002 through 
early 2003 ice-covered season.
    The best estimates of the numbers of bowhead whales displaced 
offshore by 2 km (1.2 mi) or more during the autumn migrations of 2001 
and 2002 were approximately 13 and 19 respectively (Moulton et al., 
2003). Presumably, a larger number of bowheads was displaced by less 
than 2 km (1.2 mi), but current monitoring methods are not capable of 
quantifying displacement over distances shorter than 2 km (BPXA, 2003). 
These estimates are based on acoustic monitoring of bowhead whales 
passing Northstar in the fall, 2001 and 2002 (Greene et al., 2002, 
2003). It is possible that the apparent offshore deflection of a small 
number of bowheads was, at least in part, attributable to a change in 
calling behavior rather than an actual deflection (BPXA, 2003).
    As oil spills are highly unlikely, impacts on marine mammals from 
an oil spill are also unlikely to take place. However, in order to 
mitigate the potential for impacts on bowheads and the subsistence use 
of bowheads, BPXA will not drill into oil-bearing strata during periods 
of open water or broken ice, essentially the time period between June 
13 and ending with the presence of 18 inches of continuous ice cover 
for one-half mile in all directions. This mitigation is warranted 
because oil spill cleanup methods are currently inadequate. Additional 
mitigation has been proposed by BPXA to the North Slope Borough native 
community to ensure that, in the event that an oil spill does occur, it 
will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the subsistence use of 
the bowhead whale.

Monitoring and Reporting

    Monitoring and reporting requirements are contained in the 
Northstar regulations (50 CFR 216.206) and described on May 25, 2000 
(65 FR 34014). Additional information was provided on December 21, 2001 
(66 FR 65923) when NMFS issued an LOA to BPXA for oil production at 
Northstar. Monitoring reports are submitted annually as required by the 
regulations and the LOA and plans and reports are peer-reviewed as 
required by the MMPA and regulations. A list of these reports is 
available upon request (see ADDRESSES). In June, 2003, a peer-review 
meeting was held in Seattle, WA. Participants at that meeting 
recommended that the future characteristics of the project be reviewed 
in early- to mid-2004 by a technical committee, which might be 
constituted and convened under the auspices of the North Slope 
Borough's Science Advisory Committee. BPXA plans to continue monitoring 
in 2003/2004 as suggested by the Seattle peer-review panel and accepted 
by NMFS.

Determinations

    Accordingly, NMFS issued an LOA to BPXA on December 4, 2003, 
authorizing the taking of marine mammals incidental to oil production 
operations at the Northstar offshore oil and gas facility in state and 
federal waters in the U.S. Beaufort Sea. Issuance is based on findings, 
described in the preamble to the final rule (65 FR 34014, May 25, 
2000), that the activities described in the LOA will result in the 
taking of no more than small numbers of bowhead whales, beluga whales, 
ringed seals, and, possibly California gray whales, bearded seals and 
spotted seals and that the total taking will have a negligible impact 
on these marine mammal stocks and would not have an unmitigable adverse 
impact on the availability of these species or stocks for taking for 
subsistence uses. NMFS also prescribed the means for effecting the 
least practicable adverse impact on these stocks. As the results from 
the monitoring program carried out since 1999 have not indicated that 
the determinations made in 2000 and 2001 were in error, nor that 
estimated levels of incidental harassment have been exceeded, and as 
the activity that was reviewed in 2001 (oil production activities) has 
not changed, these determinations remain valid.

    Dated: December 4, 2003.
Stephen L. Leathery,
Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-30609 Filed 12-9-03; 8:45 am]
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