[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 197 (Friday, October 9, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64124-64125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-22407]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XA472]


Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; 
Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Gastineau Channel Historical 
Society Sentinel Island Moorage Float Project, Juneau, Alaska

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 Gastineau Channel 
Historical Society (GCHS) for the re-issuance of a previously issued 
incidental harassment authorization (IHA) with the only change being 
effective dates. The initial IHA authorized take of seven species of 
marine mammals, by Level A and Level B harassment, incidental to 
construction associated with the Sentinel Island moorage float near 
Juneau, Alaska. The project has been delayed and none of the work 
covered in the initial IHA has been conducted. GCHS has requested re-
issuance with new effective dates over the same period in 2021 (i.e., 
July 15, 2021 through September 20, 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. NMFS is, therefore, 
issuing a second identical IHA to cover the incidental take analyzed 
and authorized in the initial IHA.

DATES: This authorization is effective from July 15, 2021 through 
September 20, 2021.

ADDRESSES: An electronic copy of the final 2020 IHA previously issued 
to GCHS, the re-issued IHA, the original 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-sentinel-island-moorage-float-project-juneau-alaska. In 
case of problems accessing these documents, please call the contact 
listed below (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dwayne Meadows, Ph.D., Office of 
Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 7-8401.

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 15, 2020, NMFS published final notice of our issuance of an 
IHA authorizing take of marine mammals incidental to the Sentinel 
Island moorage float project (85 FR 42837). The effective dates of that 
IHA were July 15, 2020, through September 20, 2020. On September 14, 
2020, GCHS informed NMFS that the project was delayed. None of the work 
identified in the initial IHA (e.g., pile driving) has occurred. GCHS 
submitted a request for a new identical IHA that would be effective 
from July 15, 2021 through September 20, 2021, in order to conduct the 
construction work that was analyzed and authorized through the 
previously issued IHA. Therefore, re-issuance of the IHA is 
appropriate.

Summary of Specified Activity and Anticipated Impacts

    The planned activities (including mitigation, monitoring, and 
reporting), 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 GCHS' construction project is to construct an access 
float to more easily access Sentinel Island. The location, timing, and 
nature of the activities, including the types of equipment planned for 
use, are identical those described in the initial IHA. The

[[Page 64125]]

mitigation and monitoring are also as prescribed in the initial IHA.
    Species that are expected to be taken by the planned activity 
include harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), Dall's porpoise 
(Phocoenoides dalli), Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), 
humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), harbor seals (Phoca 
vitulina), Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), and killer whale 
(Orcinus orca). A description of the methods and inputs used to 
estimate take anticipated to occur and, ultimately, the take that was 
authorized is found in the previous documents referenced above. The 
data inputs and methods of estimating take are identical to those used 
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 original 
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 2020 IHA for GCHS' construction work (85 FR 42837), GCHS' 
application, the Federal Register notice of the proposed IHA (85 FR 
18196; April 1, 2020), and all associated references and documents.

Determinations

    GCHS will conduct activities as analyzed in the initial 2020 IHA. 
As described above, the number of authorized takes of the same species 
and stocks of marine mammals are identical to the numbers that were 
found to meet the negligible impact and small numbers standards and 
authorized under the initial IHA and no new information has emerged 
that would change those findings. The re-issued 2021 IHA includes 
identical required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures as 
the initial IHA, and there is no new information suggesting that our 
analysis or findings should change.
    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) GCHS' 
activities will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on taking for 
subsistence purposes as subsistence harvest of harbor seals and other 
marine mammals is rare in the area and local subsistence users have not 
expressed concern about this project.

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.

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.
    NMFS is proposing to authorize take of Western DPS Steller sea lion 
(Eumetopias jubatus) and Mexico DPS of humpback whales (Megaptera 
novaeangliae), which are listed under the ESA. The NMFS Alaska Regional 
Office Protected Resources Division issued a Biological Opinion on June 
25, 2020 under section 7 of the ESA, on the issuance of an IHA to GCHS 
under section 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA by the NMFS Permits and 
Conservation Division. The Biological Opinion concluded that the 
proposed action is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of 
the above species, and is also not likely to destroy or adversely 
modify critical habitat of the above species.

Authorization

    NMFS has issued an IHA to GCHS for in-water construction activities 
associated with the specified activity from July 15, 2021 through 
September 20, 2021. All previously described mitigation, monitoring, 
and reporting requirements from the initial 2020 IHA are incorporated.

    Dated: October 5, 2020.
Donna S. Wieting,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-22407 Filed 10-8-20; 8:45 am]
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