[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 86 (Friday, May 3, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19052-19053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09109]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XE461


Marine Mammals; Pinniped Removal Authority; Revised Authorization

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

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the availability of a revised authorization to 
the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho (states) for lethal removal 
of individually identifiable predatory California sea lions (Zalophus 
californianus) in the vicinity of Bonneville Dam to minimize pinniped 
predation on Pacific salmon and steelhead (Oncorhynchus spp.) listed as 
threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the 
Columbia River in Washington and Oregon. This authorization is pursuant 
to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

ADDRESSES: Additional information about our determination may be 
obtained by visiting the NMFS West Coast Region's website: http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov, or by writing to us at: NMFS West 
Coast Region, Protected Resources Division, 1201 Lloyd Blvd., Suite 
1100, Portland, OR 97232.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert Anderson at the above 
address, by phone at (503) 231-2226, or by email at, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Section 120 of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361, et seq.) allows the 
Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Assistant Administrator for 
Fisheries, and the West Coast Regional Administrator of NMFS, the 
discretion to authorize the intentional lethal taking of individually 
identifiable pinnipeds that are having a significant negative impact on 
salmonids that are either: (1) Listed under the ESA, (2) approaching a 
threatened or endangered status, or (3) migrate through the Ballard 
Locks in Seattle. The authorization applies only to pinnipeds that are 
not: (1) Listed under the ESA, (2) designated as depleted, or (3) 
designated a strategic stock.
    On January 27, 2016, NMFS received an application from the states 
to reauthorize the 2012 MMPA section 120 authorization through June 30, 
2021. On March 28, 2016, NMFS published a notice in the Federal 
Register (81 FR 17141), announcing receipt of the states' application, 
and soliciting public comments on the application and any additional 
information that NMFS should consider in making its decision. On May 
31, 2016, NMFS reconvened the Pinniped-Fishery Interaction Task Force 
(Task Force), which was open to the public, and during which it 
reviewed the states' application, public comments on the application, 
and other information related to sea lion predation on salmonids at 
Bonneville Dam. The Task Force completed and submitted its report to 
NMFS on June 22, 2016. Thirteen of the fourteen members recommended 
that NMFS approve the states' extension request, with one member 
dissenting. All decision documents, including a copy of the new 
authorization, are available on NMFS's West Coast Region web page (see 
ADDRESSES).
    As part of the MMPA section 120 process, subsection (c)(5) states 
that after implementation of an approved application, the Task Force 
shall evaluate the effectiveness of the permitted intentional lethal 
taking or alternative actions implemented. If implementation was 
ineffective in eliminating the problem interaction, the Task Force 
shall recommend additional actions. If the implementation was 
effective, the Task Force shall so advise the Secretary, and the 
Secretary shall disband the Task Force.
    Because the results of the final year of implementation were not 
available at the time the 2012 authorization was set to expire, NMFS 
deferred the assessment of the effectiveness of the permitted 
intentional lethal taking until that information became available. In 
the interim, NMFS granted the states' request for a renewal on June 28, 
2016, resulting in a new 5-year authorization starting July 1, 2016.
    On March 1 and 2, 2017, NMFS reconvened the Task Force to evaluate 
the effectiveness of the states permitted intentional lethal taking at 
Bonneville Dam during the years 2012 through 2016. One of the 
recommendations provided to NMFS by the Task Force was to change the 
criteria in Term and Condition 1 of the June 28, 2016, authorization to 
expedite adding California sea lions to Appendix 1, thus expediting the 
process for identifying specific California sea lions for removal 
(i.e., placement in permanent captivity or killing).
    Currently, the states' MMPA section 120 authorization permits the 
states to lethally remove no more than 92 California sea lions 
annually. The program has never been fully implemented to achieve that 
level and as a result many believed it has not been as effective as it 
could be. Some Task Force members thought that increasing the number of 
individual California sea lions on the list of animals approved for 
removal might allow for increases in removal and a decrease in 
predation, while others recognized that staffing and resource 
limitations may prevent full implementation. Because individual 
residence time of California sea lions has decreased, there are fewer 
days/time that observers may see an animal eating salmon at the dam. 
Consideration was given to changing the criteria in the current 
Authorization to one or more of the following:
    a. An animal may be removed if it is individually identifiable and 
has been seen eating salmon, or has been observed in the observation 
area for x days. (See options below for new number of days).
    Option 1: Use data to analyze the probability of consumption of at-
risk salmonids based on how many days an animal has been in the area. 
Then use this number to determine the appropriate number of observation 
days needed.
    Option 2: Reduce the number of days of observation from 5 days to 3 
days, regardless of a probability analysis;
    Option 3: Reduce the number of days of observation from 5 days to 2 
days, regardless of a probability analysis.
    Based on the Task Force recommendation (Option 1), the states 
requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fisheries Field Unit 
(FFU) conduct an analysis to examine whether the changes proposed by 
the Task Force would improve the ability to identify

[[Page 19053]]

animals for removal. The FFU analyzed the data presented in 2015 by the 
states in the Bonneville Field Report for the number of California sea 
lions that could have been qualified for removal if the conditions of 
``five days observed and one salmonid kill'' were changed to ``five 
days observed or one salmonid kill.'' Findings indicated that changing 
the criteria would have led to a 66 percent increase in the number of 
California sea lions added to the removal list. Changing criteria from 
``and'' to ``or'' would therefore significantly improve the 
effectiveness of the state's lethal removal program.

Findings

    Based on the results of the FFU evaluation of the Task Force 
recommendation, on February 6, 2019, NMFS received a letter from the 
states and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission requesting 
that we formally adopt the Task Force recommendation to change the 
``and'' to ``or'' in Term and Condition 1 in the June 28, 2016, 
authorization. At the request of the states, NMFS adopts the Task Force 
recommendation to change the criteria in Term and Condition 1 of the 
state's 2016 MMPA section 120 authorization. All other Terms and 
Conditions in the June 28, 2016, authorization remain unchanged. For 
the revised Term and Condition, NMFS incorporated provision ``c'' in 
Term and Condition 1 into both criteria ``a'' and ``b'' for clarity and 
readability.
    As required under section 7(a)(2) under the ESA, NMFS has 
previously completed formal consultation, and in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), in 2016 NMFS completed a 
supplemental environmental assessment (EA) to the 2008 EA with a 
finding of no significant impact. The proposed action (issuing the 
states a revised MMPA section 120 authorization) does not require 
reinitiation of consultation under ESA Section 7 (WCR-2016-4754) as 
none of the reinitiation requirements in 50 CFR 402.16 have been met. 
Similarly, we have determined that the existing 2016 Supplemental 
Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FONSI) remain valid because the new circumstances and/or information 
relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action 
or its impacts are not significant under NEPA because the changes to 
the proposed action that are relevant to environmental considerations 
are not substantial, and because the proposed changes will have no 
direct, indirect, or cumulative effects and are within the range of 
effects on all resources considered in our 2016 EA and FONSI.
    In considering a state's application to lethally remove pinnipeds, 
NMFS is also required, pursuant to section 120(b)(1) of the MMPA, to 
determine that individually identifiable pinnipeds are having a 
significant negative impact on the decline or recovery of at-risk 
salmonid fishery stocks. We determined that changing criteria from 
``and'' to ``or'' would not change our determination that the MMPA 
section 120 individually identifiable and significant negative impact 
requirements in section 120(b)(1) have been met. The proposed criteria 
only change the process, not the standard, by which such animals are 
deemed qualified for removal, and is consistent with our previous MMPA 
section 120 decisions that pinnipeds collectively are having a 
significant negative impact on ESA-listed salmon and steelhead in the 
vicinity of Bonneville Dam, and are also deemed to be major 
contributors to detrimental impacts on ESA-listed salmonids because 
they have been documented to prey on ESA-listed salmonids, are repeat 
offenders, and persist in the action area after being exposed to 
nonlethal deterrence.
    Based on these requirements, considerations, and analyses, NMFS has 
determined that the requirements of section 120 of the MMPA have been 
met and it is therefore reasonable to issue a revised authorization to 
the states for the lethal removal in the vicinity of Bonneville Dam of 
individually identifiable predatory California sea lions through 2021.

    Dated: April 30, 2019.
Donna S. Wieting,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-09109 Filed 5-2-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P