[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1483-1484]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28694]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XA735]


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to Training Activities in the Gulf of Alaska Temporary 
Maritime Activities 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 activities 
in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Temporary Maritime Activities Area (TMAA) 
Study Area for a period of seven years, from April 2022 through April 
2029. 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 January 
29, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the applications should be addressed to Jolie 
Harrison, Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. 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 online at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-military-readiness-activities 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: Leah Davis, 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 (as delegated to NMFS) 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 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).
    The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2004 
(Pub. L. 108-136) removed the ``small numbers'' and ``specified 
geographical region'' limitations 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

[[Page 1484]]

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 October 9, 2020, NMFS received an adequate and complete 
application from the Navy requesting authorization for take of marine 
mammals, by Level A and Level B harassment incidental to training 
(categorized as military readiness activities) from the use of active 
sonar and other transducers and explosives (occurring at or near the 
surface of the water) in the TMAA Study Area. The requested regulations 
would be valid for seven years, from 2022 through 2029.
    This will be the third time NMFS has promulgated incidental take 
regulations pursuant to the MMPA relating to similar military readiness 
activities in the GOA TMAA, following those effective from May 4, 2011 
to May 4, 2016 (76 FR 25479; May 4, 2011) and from April 26, 2017 to 
April 26, 2022 (82 FR 19530; April 27, 2017).

Description of the Specified Activity

    The TMAA Study Area is a temporary area established in conjunction 
with the Federal Aviation Administration that is a surface, undersea 
space, and airspace maneuver area within the GOA for ships, submarines, 
and aircraft to conduct required training activities. As depicted in 
Figure 1-1 of the Navy's application, the TMAA is a polygon roughly 
resembling a rectangle oriented from northwest to southeast, 
approximately 300 nautical miles (nmi) (556 kilometers [km]) in length 
by 150 nmi (278 km) in width, located south of Montague Island and east 
of Kodiak Island.
    The following types of training activities and exercises, which are 
classified as military readiness activities pursuant to section 315(f) 
of Public Law 101-314 (16 U.S.C. 703), are included in the specified 
activity described in the Navy's application: Air warfare, surface 
warfare, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), electronic warfare, Naval 
Special Warfare, strike warfare, and support operations.
    The Navy's application includes proposed mitigation measures for 
marine mammals that would be implemented during training activities in 
the TMAA 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 TMAA 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 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: December 21, 2020.
Donna Wieting,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-28694 Filed 1-7-21; 8:45 am]
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