[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 150 (Friday, August 3, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38125-38127]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-16599]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XG131


Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; 
Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Bravo Wharf Recapitalization 
Project

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: In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine 
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, notification is hereby given 
that NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to 
the U.S. Navy (Navy) for the take, by Level B harassment only, of 
bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), incidental to the Bravo Wharf 
Recapitalization Project at Bravo Wharf, Naval Station Mayport, 
Florida.

DATES: The IHA is valid from May 14, 2018 through May 13, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jaclyn Daly, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8438.

Background

    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 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).

National Environmental Policy Act

    In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), as implemented by the regulations published 
by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), the 
Navy prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) to consider the direct, 
indirect and cumulative effects to the human environment resulting from 
the Bravo Wharf recapitalization project. NMFS made the Navy's EA 
available to the public for review and comment, in relation to its 
suitability for adoption by NMFS in order to assess the impacts to the 
human environment of issuance of an IHA to the Navy. Also in compliance 
with NEPA and the CEQ regulations, as well as NOAA Administrative Order 
216-6, NMFS has reviewed the Navy's EA, determined it to be sufficient, 
and adopted that EA and signed a Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FONSI) in July, 2016. The 2016 NEPA documents are available at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/node/23111. Since the IHA covers a subset of 
the same work covered in a former IHA, NMFS is relying on this same EA 
and FONSI document.

History of Request

    On July 21, 2015, we received a request from the Navy for 
authorization of the taking, by Level B harassment only, of marine 
mammals incidental to pile driving (predominantly vibratory pile 
driving, with a small amount of impact pile driving as a contingency 
plan in case of difficult piles) in association with the Bravo Wharf 
Recapitalization Project at Naval Station Mayport, Florida. A final 
version of the application, which we deemed adequate and complete, was 
submitted on November 17, 2015. We published a notice of a proposed IHA 
and request for comments on December 7, 2015 (80 FR 75978), and 
subsequently published final notice of our issuance of the IHA on 
August 9, 2016 (81 FR 52637). In-water work associated with the project 
was expected to be completed within the one-year timeframe of the IHA 
(effective dates originally December 1, 2016 through November 30, 
2017). The specified activities were, and are, expected to result in 
the take of individuals from four stocks of bottlenose dolphins.
    On January 23, 2017, the Navy informed NMFS that no work had been 
performed relevant to the specified

[[Page 38126]]

activity considered in the MMPA analysis. On February 22, 2017, we 
published a notice of a revision of the IHA (82 FR 11344), revising the 
effective authorization dates from March 13, 2017, through March 12, 
2018.
    On December 5, 2017, the Navy informed NMFS that construction had 
not yet begun on one of two construction phases authorized under the 
revised IHA. The Navy attributed delays in progress and inaccuracies in 
original construction planning due to a combination of: (1) Rain 
delays, hurricane preparation, and Hurricane Irma, (2) inefficiencies 
by the contractor, and (3) activities influenced by tides, originally 
unaccounted for in the schedule.
    On January 9, 2018, the Navy formally requested that NMFS issue an 
IHA for one year from May 14, 2018, to May 13, 2019 in order to 
complete a subset of the construction activity previously covered by 
the 2017 IHA. We issued a notice of proposed IHA on April 4, 2018 (83 
FR 1443) primarily referring back to our previous documents and 
analysis but fully describing updates to acoustic analysis, take 
numbers (due to decreased amount of work), and stock abundances.

Comments and Responses

    A notice of NMFS' proposal to issue an IHA to the Navy for the 
Bravo Wharf Recapitalization Project was published in the Federal 
Register on April 4, 2018 (83 FR 14443). During the 30-day public 
comment period, we received one letter, dated April 30, 2018, from the 
Marine Mammal Commission (Commission). The Commission concurs with 
NMFS's preliminary findings and recommends that NMFS issue the 
incidental harassment authorization, subject to inclusion of the 
proposed mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures.

Description of the Proposed Activity and Anticipated Impacts

    The 2017 IHA covered the installation of 880 single sheet piles 
installed with a vibratory hammer over 110 days and 20 days of 
contingency impact driving, for a total of up to 130 construction days. 
The 2017 IHA authorized the Level B harassment of 370 bottlenose 
dolphins (330 takes from vibratory pile driving, 40 from impact pile 
driving), which could occur to any of the four stocks in the area. The 
Navy did not complete that work, and requested that a second IHA cover 
the installation of the remaining 356 steel sheet piles over the course 
of 43 pile-driving days, plus 10 contingency impact driving days, for a 
total of 53 days. Other documents that fully describe the project 
include the Federal Register notice of the issuance of the 2017 IHA for 
the Navy's Bravo Wharf (82 FR 11344, February 22, 2017), the Navy's 
application, the Federal Register notice of the proposed IHA (81 FR 
52637; December 1, 2016), and all associated references and documents.
    Detailed Description of the Action--A detailed description of the 
proposed vibratory and impact pile driving activities at Bravo Wharf is 
found in the aforementioned documents. The location, timing (e.g., lack 
of seasonality), and nature of the pile driving operations, including 
the type and size of piles and the methods of pile driving, are 
identical to those described in the previous notices, except that only 
a subset of the number of piles are proposed to be driven under the 
recently issued IHA (356 piles over 53 days, versus 880 over 130 days).
    Description of Marine Mammals--A description of the marine mammals 
in the area of the activities is also found in the aforementioned 
documents, which remains applicable to this IHA except for new 
information in the 2016 stock assessment reports where abundance for 
the Northern Florida coastal stock was reduced from 1,219 to 877 
individuals and southern migratory coastal stock was decreased from 
9,137 to 3,751 individuals.
    Potential Effects on Marine Mammals--A description of the potential 
effects of the specified activities on marine mammals and their habitat 
is found in these previous documents, which remains applicable to this 
IHA. There is no new information on potential effects.
    Estimated Take--A description of the methods and inputs used to 
estimate take anticipated to occur and, ultimately, the take that was 
authorized is found in these previous documents. The methods of 
estimating take are identical to those used in the previous IHA, as is 
the density of marine mammals. One input into the take estimate, the 
source levels, was changed to reflect newer information. The original 
IHA reflected a vibratory pile driving source level of 151 decibels 
(dB) root mean square (rms), but more recent measurements (measurements 
of vibratory driving of steel sheet piles during the first year of 
construction at nearby Wharf C-2 at Naval Station Mayport (DoN 2015) 
support a higher source level (156 dB rms). The impact pile driving 
source level was also corrected from 189 dB rms to 190 rms (CalTrans, 
2015). The Navy modified their take estimates to reflect these newer 
values, which NMFS used for issuance of another IHA at Bravo Wharf (83 
FR 9287; March 5, 2018). Using the same take estimate methodology 
described in the 2017 IHA and the updated source levels (which extends 
the vibratory pile driving Level B harassment isopleth from 1,166 
meters (m) to 2,512 m, and the impact pile driving Level B harassment 
isopleth from 858 m to 1000 m), we are authorizing 242 Level B 
harassment takes of bottlenose dolphins during vibratory driving and 22 
during impact driving, for a total of 264 requested Level B bottlenose 
dolphin takes. There are four stocks of bottlenose dolphins to which 
takes could accrue: Jacksonville Estuarine System; Western North 
Atlantic, northern Florida coastal; Western North Atlantic, offshore; 
and Western North Atlantic, southern migratory coastal. No Level A take 
is authorized.
    Description of Proposed Mitigation, Monitoring and Reporting 
Measures--A description of proposed mitigation, monitoring, and 
reporting measures is found in the previous documents, which are 
identical in this proposed IHA and provided in our April 4, 2018 notice 
of proposed IHA. In summary, mitigation includes soft start techniques, 
as well as a 15-m shutdown zone for vibratory pile driving and 40-m 
shutdown for impact pile driving. Two trained observers will monitor to 
implement shutdowns and collect information.
    On January 9, 2018, the Navy submitted a monitoring report for 
construction that had been completed under the 2017 IHA. The Navy 
complied with all mitigation, monitoring, and reporting protocols. 
Recorded takes were below the number authorized for the corresponding 
amount of work. The monitoring report can be viewed on NMFS's website 
at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/node/23111.

Determinations

    The Navy proposes to conduct a subset of activities identical to 
those covered in the previous 2017 IHA. As described above, the number 
of estimated takes of the same stocks of bottlenose dolphins 
(Jacksonville Estuarine System; northern Florida coastal; Western North 
Atlantic, offshore; and southern migratory coastal) is significantly 
lower than the 330 Level B harassment takes from vibratory pile driving 
and 40 Level B harassment takes from impact pile driving that were 
found to meet the negligible impact and small numbers standards and 
authorized under the 2017 IHA. The IHA includes identical required 
mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures as the 2017 IHA

[[Page 38127]]

(with the exception of harassment distances, as described above), 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.

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.
    No incidental take of ESA-listed species is authorized or expected 
to result from this activity. Therefore, NMFS has determined that 
formal consultation under section 7 of the ESA is not required for this 
action.

Authorization

    As a result of these determinations, NMFS has issued an IHA to the 
Navy for the harassment of small numbers of bottlenose dolphins 
incidental to construction activities related to the Bravo Wharf 
Recapitalization Project, Naval Base Mayport, Florida, provided the 
previously mentioned mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements 
are incorporated.

    Dated: July 30, 2018.
Donna S. Wieting,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-16599 Filed 8-2-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P