[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]
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