[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 151 (Tuesday, August 6, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38225-38226]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-16759]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XR008


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to U.S. Navy Training and Testing Activities in the 
Northwest 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 Northwest Training and Testing (NWTT) Study 
Area for a period of seven years, from November, 2020 through November, 
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 
September 5, 2019.

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: Wendy Piniak, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. An electronic copy of the Navy's 
application may be obtained online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-military-readiness-activities. 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 (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2004 
(Public Law (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 March 11, 2019, NMFS received an adequate and complete 
application from the Navy requesting authorization for the take of 
marine mammals, by Level A harassment 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. In addition, the Navy is 
requesting authorization of three takes of large whales by serious 
injury or mortality resulting from vessel strikes. NMFS received a 
revised application on June 24, 2019. The requested regulations would 
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 NWTT Study Area, following those effective from 
November 9, 2010 through November 8, 2015 (75 FR 69275; November 10, 
2010) and from November 9, 2015 through November 8, 2010 (80 FR 73555; 
November 24, 2015).

Description of the Specified Activity

    The NWTT Study Area is composed of established maritime operating 
and warning areas in the eastern North

[[Page 38226]]

Pacific Ocean region, including areas of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 
Puget Sound, and Western Behm Canal in southeastern Alaska (see Figure 
2-1 of the Navy's application). The Study Area includes four existing 
range complexes and facilities: The Northwest Training Range Complex, 
the Keyport Range Complex, Carr Inlet Operations Area, and the 
Southeast Alaska Acoustic Measurement Facility (Western Behm Canal, 
Alaska). In addition to these range complexes, the Study Area also 
includes Navy pierside locations where sonar maintenance and testing 
occurs as part of overhaul, modernization, maintenance, and repair 
activities at Naval Base Kitsap, Bremerton; Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor; 
and Naval Station Everett.
    The following types of training and testing activities, which are 
classified as military readiness activities pursuant to section 315(f) 
of Pub. L. 101-314 (16 U.S.C. 703), are included in the specified 
activity described in the Navy's application: Anti-submarine warfare 
(sonar and other transducers, underwater detonations), mine warfare 
(sonar and other transducers, underwater detonations), surface warfare 
(underwater 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 NWTT Study Area (see Section 11 of the Navy's 
application). Proposed procedural mitigation measures and geographic 
mitigation areas 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 (see 
Figure 11-1 of the Navy's application).
    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 NWTT Study Area. This includes Adaptive Management, the 
Integrated Comprehensive Monitoring Program, the Strategic Planning 
Process, and Annual Monitoring and Activity 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: August 1, 2019.
Donna S. Wieting,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-16759 Filed 8-5-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P