[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.
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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]
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