[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 10 (Thursday, January 15, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2333-2336]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-901]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 120803A]


Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; 
Brunswick Harbor Deepening Project, Glynn County, Georgia

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

ACTION: Notice of receipt of application and proposed authorization for 
a small take exemption; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers-Savannah District (Corps) for an Incidental Harassment 
Authorization (IHA) to take small numbers of marine mammals, by 
harassment, incidental to deepening the inner harbor portion of the 
Brunswick Harbor in Glynn County, GA to a depth of -36 ft (-11 m) mean 
low water (MLW) in the inner harbor and -38 ft (-11.6 m) MLW across the 
bar channel. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is 
requesting comments on its proposal to issue a 1-year IHA, to the Corps 
to incidentally take, by harassment, small numbers of bottlenose 
dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) as a result of conducting this activity.

DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than February 
17, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the application should be addressed to Michael 
Payne, Chief, Marine Mammal Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3225. 
Comments cannot be accepted if submitted via e-mail or the Internet. A 
copy of the application may be obtained by writing to this address or 
by telephoning the contact listed here. Publications referenced in this 
document are available for viewing, by appointment during regular 
business hours, at this address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth R. Hollingshead, NMFS, (301) 
713-2322, ext 128.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) 
direct the Secretary of Commerce to allow, upon request, the 
incidental, but not intentional, taking 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.
    Permission may be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a 
negligible impact on the species or stock(s) and will not have an 
unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or 
stock(s) for subsistence uses and that the permissible methods of 
taking and requirements pertaining to the 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.''
    Subsection 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA established an expedited 
process by which citizens of the United States can apply for an 
authorization to incidentally take small numbers of marine mammals by 
harassment. 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].

    Subsection 101(a)(5)(D) establishes a 45-day time limit for NMFS 
review of an application followed by a 30-day public notice and comment 
period on any proposed authorizations for the incidental harassment of 
small numbers of marine mammals. Within 45 days of the close of the 
comment period, NMFS must either issue or deny issuance of the 
authorization.

[[Page 2334]]

Summary of Request

    On November 6, 2003, NMFS received a request from the Corps for an 
IHA to take bottlenose dolphins incidental to deepening the inner 
harbor portion of Brunswick Harbor during the Brunswick Harbor 
Deepening Project in Glynn County, GA. The Corps is proposing 
improvements to the existing navigation facilities at Brunswick Harbor. 
The proposal is a 6-ft (1.8 m) deepening of the navigation channel from 
the inner harbor across the bar channel to the ocean. The new 
authorized depth would range from a depth of -36 ft (-11 m) MLW in the 
inner harbor and -38 ft (-11.6 m) MLW across the bar channel. 
Completion of the dredging project is likely to employ a cutterhead 
dredge and confined blasting.
    The Corps' proposed action is to modify the Brunswick Harbor 
Deepening Project to allow pretreatment (blasting) to improve 
performance of dredging. The proposal to allow blasting during dredging 
operations is limited to only the central section of the inner harbor 
work. The potential blast area runs primarily in a section of the South 
Brunswick River from near the mouth of Turtle River into St. Simons 
Sound, a length of approximately 26,500 ft (8077 m), and includes the 
first 2,250 ft (685.8 m) in East River and an addition 1000-ft (304.8 
m) section about 6000 feet (1829 m) further upstream in East River. 
Approximately 590,000 cubic yards of material has been identified that 
may require blasting. No blasting would be allowed outside the reaches 
designated for blasting.
    Pretreatment may include punch barge or blasting. Impacts from 
punch barge operations are expected to be similar to those for 
hydraulic cutterhead dredging. Material removed by dredging after 
pretreatment will be placed in the nearshore deposition areas near 
Jekyll Island or other areas approved by the resource agencies.
    The Corps expects the contractor will employ underwater dredging 
and confined blasting to construct the project. Blasting has the 
potential to have adverse impacts on bottlenose dolphins inhabiting the 
area near the project. While the Corps does not presently have a 
blasting plan from the contractor, which will specifically identify the 
number of holes that will be drilled, the amount of explosives that 
will be used for each hole, the number of blasts per day (usually no 
more than three per day) or the number of days the construction is 
anticipated to take to complete, the Corps has provided a description 
of a completed project in San Juan Harbor, Puerto Rico to use as an 
example. For that project, the maximum weight of the explosives used 
for each event was 375 lbs (170 kg) and the contractors detonated 
explosives once or twice daily from July 16 to September 9, for a total 
of 38 individual detonations. Normal practice is for each charge to be 
placed approximately 5 - 10 ft (1.5 - 3 m) deep depending on how much 
rock needs to be broken and how deep a depth is sought. The charges are 
placed in the holes and tamped with rock. Therefore, if the total 
explosive weight needed is 375 lbs (170 kg) and they have 10 holes, 
they would average 37.5 lbs (17.0 kgs)/hole. However, the weight for 
the Corps' project in Brunswick Harbor is likely to be significantly 
less. Charge weight and other determinations are expected to be made by 
the Corps and the contractor approximately 30-60 days prior to 
commencement of the construction project. Because the charge weight and 
other information is not presently available, NMFS will require the 
Corps provide this information to NMFS, including calculations for 
impact/mitigation zones (for the protection of marine mammals and sea 
turtles from injury), prior to issuance of the IHA.

Description of the Marine Mammals Affected by the Activity

    General information on marine mammal species found off the
    East Coast of the United States can be found in Waring et al. 
(2001, 2002). This report is available at the following location: 
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/PR2/Stock_Assessment_Program/sars.html
    The only marine mammal species likely to be found in Brunswick 
Harbor is the bottlenose dolphin and West Indian manatee (Trichechus 
manatus latirostris). Take authorizations for manatees are issued by 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). There is no stock assessment 
available concerning the status of bottlenose dolphins in the inshore 
and nearshore waters off Georgia. The Dolphin Project conducts surveys 
for dolphins along the GA coast, but they have not conducted any 
scientific surveys within the project area. Anecdotal information from 
Georgia Department of Natural Resources indicates there may be up to 
about 30 individuals within the project area. The defined stocks of 
bottlenose dolphins that reside closest to the project area are the 
western North Atlantic coastal and offshore stocks of bottlenose 
dolphins, with minimum populations estimated to be 2,482 for the 
coastal stock and 24,897 for the offshore stock. Additional assessment 
information for these two stocks is available at the previously 
mentioned URL.

Potential Effects on Marine Mammals

    Potential impacts to marine mammals from explosive detonations 
could include both lethal and non-lethal injury, as well as Level B 
harassment. Marine mammals may be killed or injured as a result of an 
explosive detonation due to the response of air cavities in the body, 
such as the lungs and bubbles in the intestines. Effects are more 
likely to be most severe in near surface waters where the reflected 
shock wave creates a region of negative pressure called ``cavitation.''
    A second possible cause of mortality is the onset of extensive lung 
hemorrhage. Extensive lung hemorrhage is considered debilitating and 
potentially fatal. Suffocation caused by lung hemorrhage is likely to 
be the major cause of marine mammal death from underwater shock waves. 
The estimated range for the onset of extensive lung hemorrhage to 
marine mammals varies depending upon the animal's weight, with the 
smallest mammals having the greatest potential hazard range.
    NMFS' criteria for determining non-lethal injury (Level A 
harassment) from explosives are the peak pressure that will result in: 
(1) the onset of slight lung hemorrhage, or (2) a 50-percent 
probability level for a rupture of the tympanic membrane. These are 
injuries from which animals would be expected to recover on their own. 
NMFS has also established dual criteria for what constitutes Level B 
acoustic harassment: (1) an energy-based TTS (temporary threshold 
shift) criterion from received sound levels 182 dB re 1 microPa\2\-sec 
cumulative energy flux in any 1/3 octave band above 100 Hz for 
odontocetes (derived from experiments with bottlenose dolphins (Ridgway 
et al., 1997; Schlundt et al., 2000)); and (2) 12 psi peak pressure 
cited by Ketten (1995) as associated with a safe outer limit for 
minimal, recoverable auditory trauma (i.e., TTS). The Level B 
Harassment zone therefore is the minimum distance at which neither 
criterion is exceeded.

Mitigation and Monitoring

    In the absence of these acoustic measurements (because of the high 
cost and complex instrumentation needed), in order to protect 
endangered, threatened and protected species (manatees, dolphins, sea 
turtles), the following equations have been proposed by the Corps for 
blasting projects to determine zones for injury or mortality from an 
open water explosion and to

[[Page 2335]]

assist the Corps in establishing mitigation to reduce impacts to the 
lowest level practicable. These equations are believed to be more 
conservative than the dual criteria since they are based on (1) a 
species more sensitive than dolphins (humans) and (2) unconfined 
charges and the proposed blasts in Brunswick Harbor will be confined 
(stemmed) charges. The equations are:
    Caution Zone radius = 260 (lbs/delay)\1/3\
    Safety Zone radius = 520 (lbs/delay)\1/3\
    The caution zone represents the radius from the detonation beyond 
which mortality is not expected from an open-water blast. The safety 
zone is the approximate distance beyond which non-serious injury (Level 
A harassment) is unlikely from an open-water explosion. These zones 
will be used for implementing mitigation measures.
    In Brunswick Harbor (or any area where explosives are required to 
obtain channel design depth), marine mammal/sea turtle protection 
measures will be employed by the Corps. For each explosive charge, the 
Corps proposes that detonation will not occur if a marine mammal is 
sighted by a dedicated marine mammal/sea turtle observer within an area 
that is two times the caution zone (called the marine mammal safety 
zone) where the caution zone is a circular area around the detonation 
site with the following radius: R = 260(W)1/3 (260 times the cube root 
of the weight of the explosive charge in pounds) where: R = radius of 
the caution zone in ft; W = weight of the explosive charge in lbs).
    Although the caution zone is considered to be an area where 
mortality is possible, the Corps believes that because all explosive 
charges will be stemmed (placed in a drilled hole and tamped with 
rock), the areas for potential mortality and injury will be 
significantly smaller than this zone and therefore it is unlikely that 
even non-serious injury would occur if, as is believed to be the case, 
monitoring this zone is effective. For example, since bottlenose 
dolphins are commonly found on the surface of the water, implementation 
of a mitigation/monitoring program is expected by NMFS to be close to 
100 percent effective.
    According to the Corps, bottlenose dolphins and other marine 
mammals have not been documented as being directly affected by dredging 
activities and therefore the Corps does not anticipate any incidental 
harassment of bottlenose dolphins by dredging.
    The Corps proposes to implement mitigation measures and a 
monitoring program that will establish both caution- and safety- zone 
radii to ensure that bottlenose dolphins will not be injured during 
blasting and that impacts will be at the lowest level practicable. 
Mitigation measures include: (1) confining the explosives in a hole 
with drill patterns restricted to a minimum of 8 ft (2.44 m) separation 
from any other loaded hole; (2) restricting the hours of detonation 
from 2 hours after sunrise to 1 hr before sunset to ensure adequate 
observation of marine mammals and sea turtles in the safety zone; (3) 
staggering the detonation for each explosive hole in order to spread 
the explosive's total overpressure over time, which in turn will reduce 
the radius of the caution zone; (4) capping the hole containing 
explosives with rock in order to reduce the outward potential of the 
blast, thereby reducing the chance of injuring a dolphin, manatee, or 
sea turtle; (5) matching, to the extent possible, the energy needed in 
the ``work effort'' of the borehole to the rock mass to minimize excess 
energy vented into the water column; and (6) conducting a marine 
mammal/sea turtle watch with no less than two qualified observers from 
a small water craft and/or an elevated platform on the explosives 
barge, from at least 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after each 
detonation to ensure that there are no marine mammals or sea turtles in 
the area at the time of detonation.
    The observer monitoring program will take place in a circular area 
at least three times the radius of the above described caution zone 
(called the watch zone). Particular attention will be placed in a 
circular area with a radius of two times the caution zone (the marine 
mammal safety zone). Any marine mammal(s) in the caution zone, marine 
mammal safety zone, or watch zone will not be forced to move out of 
those zones by human intervention. Detonation will not occur until the 
animal(s) move(s) out of the caution zone and safety zone on its own 
volition.

Reporting

    Because this project may take a period of time longer than 1 year, 
NMFS is proposing to issue a 1-year IHA with the possibility for 
renewal upon application from the Corps. NMFS proposes to require the 
Corps to submit a report of activities 120 days before the expiration 
of the proposed IHA if the Corps plans to request a renewal of its IHA 
(and the proposed work has started), or within 120 days after the 
expiration of the IHA if a renewal is not being requested.
    In the unlikely event a marine mammal or marine turtle is injured 
or killed during blasting, the Contractor shall immediately notify the 
NMFS Regional Office.

Endangered Species Act

    Under section 7 of the ESA, NMFS has begun consultation on the 
proposed issuance of an IHA under section 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA for 
this activity. The Corps is consulting with FWS regarding effects on 
manatees. Consultation will be concluded prior to issuance of an IHA.

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

    The Corps prepared an Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) 
in 1998 for the Brunswick Harbor Deepening Project. A copy of this 
document is available upon request (see ADDRESSES). NMFS is reviewing 
this FEIS in relation to the Corps' application and will determine the 
appropriate action to take under NEPA prior to making a determination 
on the issuance of an IHA.

Preliminary Conclusions

    NMFS has preliminarily determined that the Corps' proposed action, 
including mitigation measures to protect marine mammals, should result, 
at worst, in the temporary modification in behavior by bottlenose 
dolphins, including temporarily vacating the area, may be made by these 
species to avoid the blasting activity and the potential for minor 
visual and acoustic disturbance from dredging and detonations. This 
action is expected to have a negligible impact on the affected species 
or stocks of marine mammals. In addition, no take by injury and/or 
death is anticipated, and harassment takes will be at the lowest level 
practicable due to incorporation of the mitigation measures described 
in this document.

Proposed Authorization

    NMFS proposes to issue an IHA to the Corps for the harassment of 
small numbers of bottlenose dolphins incidental to deepening the inner 
harbor portion of Brunswick Harbor during the Brunswick Harbor 
Deepening Project in Glynn County, GA, provided the previously 
mentioned mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements are 
incorporated. NMFS has preliminarily determined that the proposed 
activity would result in the harassment of only small numbers of 
bottlenose dolphins and will have no more than a negligible impact on 
this marine mammal stock.
    Information Solicited

[[Page 2336]]

    NMFS requests interested persons to submit comments, information, 
and suggestions concerning this request (see ADDRESSES).

    Dated: January 8, 2004.
Laurie K. Allen,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 04-901 Filed 1-14-04; 8:45 am]
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