[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 51 (Friday, March 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9495-9497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04818]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XG873


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to U.S. Navy Training and Testing Activities in the Mariana 
Islands Training and Testing Study Area

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for a Letter of Authorization; 
request for comments and information.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for 
authorization to take marine mammals incidental to training and testing 
activities conducted in the Mariana Islands Training and Testing (MITT) 
Study Area for a period of seven years, from August, 2020 through 
August, 2027. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of the Navy's request 
for the development and implementation of regulations governing the 
incidental taking of marine mammals. NMFS invites the public to provide 
information, suggestions, and comments on the Navy's application and 
request.

DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than April 
15, 2019.

[[Page 9496]]


ADDRESSES: Comments on the application should be addressed to Jolie 
Harrison, Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. Physical comments should 
be sent to 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 and 
electronic comments should be sent to [email protected].
    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 received electronically, including 
all attachments, must not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. Attachments 
to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word or Excel or 
Adobe PDF file formats only. All comments received are a part of the 
public record and will generally be posted to the internet at 
www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental/military.htm 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: Stephanie Egger, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. An electronic copy of the Navy's 
application may be obtained online at: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental/military.htm. In case of problems accessing these documents, 
please call the contact listed above.

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 (Secretary) 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 geographic region if certain findings are 
made and either regulations are issued or, if the taking is limited to 
harassment, 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).
    The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Pub. 
L. 108-136) removed the ``small numbers'' and ``specified geographical 
region'' limitations indicated above and amended the definition of 
``harassment'' as it applies 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 2019 NDAA (Pub. L. 115-232) amended the MMPA to allow 
incidental take regulations for military readiness activities to be 
issued for up to seven years.

Summary of Request

    On February 11, 2019, NMFS received an adequate and complete 
application from the Navy requesting authorization for the take of 
marine mammals, by Level A and B harassment, incidental to training, 
testing, and routine military operations (all categorized as military 
readiness activities) from the use of sonar and other transducers and 
in-water detonations. The requested regulations will be valid for seven 
years, from 2020 through 2027.
    This will be the third time NMFS has promulgated incidental take 
regulations pursuant to the MMPA relating to similar military readiness 
activities in the MITT Study Area, following those effective from 
August 3, 2010, through August 3, 2015, (75 FR 45527; August 3, 2010) 
and from August 3, 2015 through August 3, 2020 (80 FR 46112; August 3, 
2015).

Description of the Specified Activity

    The MITT Study Area is comprised of three components: (1) The 
Mariana Islands Range Complex (MIRC), (2) additional areas on the high 
seas, and (3) a transit corridor between the MIRC and the Hawaii Range 
Complex (HRC) (see Figure 1.1-1 of the application). The transit 
corridor is outside the geographic boundaries of the MIRC and 
represents a great-circle route across the high seas for Navy ships 
transiting between the MIRC and the HRC. The proposed activities also 
includes various operations in Apra Harbor such as sonar maintenance 
and testing alongside Navy piers located in Inner Apra Harbor.
    The following types of training and testing, which are classified 
as military readiness activities pursuant to section 315(f) of Public 
Law 101-314 (16 U.S.C. 703), are included in the specified activity 
described in the Navy's application: Amphibious warfare (in-water 
detonations), anti-submarine warfare (sonar and other transducers, in-
water detonations), surface warfare (in-water detonations), and other 
(sonar and other transducers).
    The Navy's application includes proposed mitigation measures for 
marine mammals that would be implemented during training and testing 
activities in the MITT Study Area. Proposed procedural mitigation 
measures generally include: (1) The use of Lookouts to observe for 
biological resources and communicate the need for mitigation 
implementation; (2) powerdowns, shutdowns, and delay of starts to avoid 
exposure of marine mammals to high levels of sound or explosive blasts 
more likely to result in injury or more serious behavioral disruption; 
and (3) limiting the use of active sonar or explosives in certain 
biologically important areas to reduce the probability or severity of 
impacts when they are more likely to contribute to fitness impacts.
    The Navy also proposes to undertake monitoring and reporting 
efforts to track compliance with incidental take authorizations and to 
help investigate the effectiveness of implemented mitigation measures 
in the MITT Study Area. This can include Adaptive

[[Page 9497]]

Management, the Integrated Comprehensive Monitoring Program, the 
Strategic Planning Process, and Annual Monitoring and Exercise and 
Testing Reports. As an example, under the Integrated Comprehensive 
Monitoring Program, the monitoring relating to the effects of Navy 
training and testing activities on protected marine species are 
designed to increase the understanding of the likely occurrence of 
marine mammals in the vicinity of the action (i.e., presence, 
abundance, distribution, and density of species) and to increase the 
understanding of the nature, scope, or context of the likely exposure 
of marine mammals to any of the potential stressors associated with the 
action.

Information Solicited

    Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and 
comments concerning the Navy's 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 Navy, if appropriate.

    Dated: March 11, 2019.
Catherine G. Marzin,
Deputy Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-04818 Filed 3-14-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P