[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 35 (Friday, February 21, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10153-10154]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03486]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XR095]


Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; 
Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the South Quay Wall 
Recapitalization Project, Mayport, Florida

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

ACTION: Notice; issuance of incidental harassment authorization.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the United States Navy (Navy) 
for the re-issuance of a previously issued incidental harassment 
authorization (IHA) with the change being a minor modification to the 
effective dates. The initial IHA authorizes take of one species of 
marine mammal, by Level B harassment only, incidental to pile driving 
associated with the South Quay Wall Recapitalization Project, Naval 
Station Mayport, Florida. The project has been delayed and none of the 
work covered in the initial IHA has been conducted. The initial IHA has 
an effective period from February 15, 2020, through February 14, 2021. 
The Navy has requested re-issuance with new effective dates of July 1, 
2020 through June 30, 2021. The scope of the activities and anticipated 
effects remain the same, authorized take numbers are not changed, and 
the required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting remains the same as 
included in the initial IHA. Therefore, NMFS re-issued the IHA.

DATES: This authorization is effective from July 1, 2020, through June 
30, 2021.

ADDRESSES: An electronic copy of the initial IHA, the Navy's initial 
IHA's application, and the Federal Register notices proposing and 
issuing the initial IHA may be obtained by visiting https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-south-quay-wall-recapitalization-project-naval-station-mayport. In case of 
problems accessing these documents, please call the contact listed 
below (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jaclyn Daly, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 
(MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) direct the Secretary of Commerce (as 
delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon request, the incidental, but not 
intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens 
who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial fishing) 
within a specified geographical region if certain findings are made and 
either regulations are issued or, if the taking is limited to 
harassment, a 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).

Summary of Request

    On July 26, 2019, NMFS issued an IHA authorizing take of marine 
mammals incidental to the South Quay Wall Recapitalization Project, 
Mayport, Florida (84 FR 37841; August 2, 2019). The effective dates of 
that IHA are February 15, 2020 through February 14, 2021. On December 
2, 2019, the Navy informed NMFS that the project was delayed such that 
work would not begin until July 2020 (i.e., no work would occur between 
February and July 2020). As such, the Navy requested NMFS re-issue the 
IHA with a new effective period of July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. 
No other changes to the IHA were requested.
    However, with the reissuance request, the Navy notified us that 
they intend to use a different pile type to construct the new South 
Quay wall. For reasons described below, we verified use of this pile 
type will result in a smaller ensonified area during vibratory pile 
driving and the same ensonified area for impact pile driving (resulting 
in the same or fewer takes than previously authorized in the initial 
IHA). All of the other aspects of the activity (e.g., number of pile 
driving days) would remain identical and, therefore, no changes to take 
numbers, species taken, or monitoring, mitigation, or reporting 
measures are necessary. That is, the potential impacts to marine 
mammals from the proposed work are the same as were previously 
analyzed. As such, NMFS determined reissuance is appropriate and NMFS 
has re-issued the IHA. The reissued IHA is identical to the one issued 
previously, with the exception of the effective dates, and all of the 
necessary MMPA findings have been made.

Summary of Specified Activity and Anticipated Impacts

    The specified activity for which take is authorized in the reissued 
IHA remains the same as the initial IHA (i.e., vibratory and impact 
pile driving). All mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures, 
amount of authorized incidental take, and anticipated impacts on the 
affected stocks are the same as those analyzed and authorized through 
the previously issued IHA.
    The purpose of the project is to support the existing bulkhead wall 
that has been weakened by the formation of voids within the wall. To 
construct the new wall, the Navy initially proposed it would install 
240 individual sheet piles over the course of 35 days, averaging 7 to 
10 sheet piles installed per day, with a maximum of 15 individual piles 
installed per day. The Navy has since notified NMFS they have changed 
the design from an all sheet-pile bulkhead to an alternating sheet 
pile/king pile bulkhead. The king piles are comparable to the king 
piles installed at Mayport's C-2 Wharf and monitored during sound 
source verification tests for that work.

[[Page 10154]]

Based on the Navy's 2017 acoustic monitoring report (found at https://www.navymarinespeciesmonitoring.us/files/4814/9089/8563/Pile-driving_Noise_Measurements_Final_Report_12Jan2017.pdf), the Navy 
assumed the source level during vibratory driving of king piles would 
be 149 decibel root mean square (dB rms). During impact driving 
(proofing only), the Navy estimated a 180 dB sound exposure level (SEL) 
source level (Caltrans, 2015). These source levels are less than or 
equal to sheet pile installation with a vibratory and impact hammer 
(156 dB rms and 180 dB SEL, respectively) analyzed in the initial IHA 
request. The Navy indicated sheet pile driving would occur the same 
days as king pile driving. The previously analyzed sheet pile driving 
remains an appropriate representation of the modified work that will be 
conducted under this IHA. The Navy indicated the number of days of pile 
driving would not change from the initial IHA despite the design 
modification. Further, the re-issued IHA contains the identical 
mitigation, monitoring and reporting measures as the initital IHA.
    The only species of marine mammal expected to be taken by the 
planned activity is the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The 
data inputs and methods of estimating take are identical to those used 
in the initial IHA. As such, the manner and amount of authorized take 
in the reissued IHA is identical to that in the initial IHA. NMFS has 
reviewed recent Stock Assessment Reports, information on relevant 
Unusual Mortality Events, and recent scientific literature, and 
determined that no new information affects our initial analysis of 
impacts or take estimate under the initial IHA.
    We refer to the documents related to the previously issued IHA, 
which include the Federal Register notice of the issuance of the 
initial IHA for the Navy's construction work (84 FR 37841, August 2, 
2019), the Navy's application, the Federal Register notice of the 
proposed IHA (84 FR 23024, May 21, 2019), and all associated references 
and documents.

Determinations

    The Navy will conduct activities that have impacts less than or 
equal to those analyzed in the initial IHA. As described above, the 
number of authorized takes of the same species and stocks of marine 
mammals is identical to the number that we found met the small numbers 
standard for issuance of the initial IHA. There are no changes to the 
status of the stock or the conditions under which the taking would 
occur. Further, the re-issued IHA includes identical required 
mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures as the initial IHA. For 
the initial IHA, NMFS found the authorized take would result in a 
negligible impact to the affected stocks of bottlenose dolphins. No new 
information has emerged that would suggest we should change or analysis 
or findings.
    Based on the information contained here and in the referenced 
documents, NMFS has determined the following: (1) The required 
mitigation measures will effect the least practicable impact on marine 
mammal species or stocks and their habitat; (2) the authorized takes 
will have a negligible impact on the affected marine mammal species or 
stocks; (3) the authorized takes represent small numbers of marine 
mammals relative to the affected stock abundances; and (4) the Navy's 
activities will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on taking for 
subsistence purposes as no relevant subsistence uses of marine mammals 
are implicated by this action.

National Environmental Policy Act

    To comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 
42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) 216-6A, 
NMFS must review our proposed action with respect to environmental 
consequences on the human environment.
    Accordingly, NMFS has determined that the issuance of the IHA 
qualifies to be categorically excluded from further NEPA review. This 
action is consistent with categories of activities identified in CE B4 
of the Companion Manual for NOAA Administrative Order 216-6A, which do 
not individually or cumulatively have the potential for significant 
impacts on the quality of the human environment and for which we have 
not identified any extraordinary circumstances that would preclude this 
categorical exclusion. Because the only change to the IHA are effective 
dates, the CE on record for issuance of the initial IHA applies to this 
action.

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

    Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA: 16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) requires that each Federal agency insure that any 
action it authorizes, funds, or carries out is not likely to jeopardize 
the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or 
result in the destruction or adverse modification of designated 
critical habitat. To ensure ESA compliance for the issuance of IHAs, 
NMFS consults internally whenever we propose to authorize take for 
endangered or threatened species. No incidental take of ESA-listed 
species is anticipated or authorized in the IHA as none occur in the 
action area. Therefore, NMFS has determined that formal consultation 
under section 7 of the ESA is not required for this action.

Authorization

    NMFS has issued an IHA to the Navy for in-water construction 
activities associated with the specified activity from July 1, 2020, 
through June 30, 2021. All previously described mitigation, monitoring, 
and reporting requirements from the initial IHA are incorporated.

    Dated: February 18, 2020.
Donna S. Wieting,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-03486 Filed 2-20-20; 8:45 am]
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