[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 18 (Thursday, January 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4277-4280]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-01593]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-HQ-ES-2021-0151; FF09420000/223/FXES111609M0000; OMB Control 
Number 1018-New]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Approval Procedures for 
Incidental Harassment Authorizations of Marine Mammals

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing a new 
information collection in use without an Office of Management and 
Budget control number.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
March 28, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments on the information collection request 
(ICR) by one of the following methods (please reference ``1018-IHA'' in 
the subject line of your comments):
     Internet (preferred): http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2021-
0151.
     Email: [email protected].
     U.S. mail: Service Information Collection Clearance 
Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB 
(JAO/3W), Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information 
about this ICR, contact Madonna L. Baucum, Service Information 
Collection

[[Page 4278]]

Clearance Officer, by email at [email protected], or by telephone at 
(703) 358-2503. Individuals who are hearing or speech impaired may call 
the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 for TTY assistance.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and its implementing regulations at 5 
CFR 1320.8(d)(1), all information collections require approval under 
the PRA. We may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to 
respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.
    As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent 
burdens, we invite the public and other Federal agencies to comment on 
new, proposed, revised, and continuing collections of information. This 
helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements 
and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public 
understand our information collection requirements and provide the 
requested data in the desired format.
    We are especially interested in public comment addressing the 
following:
    (1) Whether or not the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether or not the information will have practical utility;
    (2) The accuracy of our estimate of the burden for this collection 
of information, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used;
    (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) How might the agency minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of response.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request 
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone 
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in 
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including 
your personal identifying information--may be made publicly available 
at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your 
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
    Abstract: Section 101(a)(5)(D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 
of 1972 (MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) authorizes the Secretary of the 
Interior (Secretary) to allow, upon request, the incidental, but not 
intentional, taking by harassment of small numbers of marine mammals of 
a species or population stock by U.S. citizens who engage in a 
specified activity (other than commercial fishing) within a specific 
geographic region for periods of not more than 1 year. The Service may 
authorize incidental take by harassment if statutory and regulatory 
procedures are followed and the Service finds: (i) Take is of a small 
number of marine mammals of a species or stock, (ii) take will have a 
negligible impact on the species or stock, and (iii) take will not have 
an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or 
stock for taking for subsistence uses by Alaska Natives.
    The term ``take'' means to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, or 
attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, any marine mammal. 
Harassment means any act of pursuit, torment, or annoyance which (i) 
has the potential to injure a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in 
the wild (the MMPA defines this as ``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 (the MMPA defines this as ``Level B harassment'').
    The terms ``negligible impact,'' ``small numbers,'' and 
``unmitigable adverse impact'' are defined in 50 CFR 18.27 (i.e., the 
Service's regulations governing small takes of marine mammals 
incidental to specified activities). ``Negligible impact'' is 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. ``Unmitigable adverse impact'' means an impact resulting from 
the specified activity (1) that is likely to reduce the availability of 
the species to a level insufficient for a harvest to meet subsistence 
needs by (i) causing the marine mammals to abandon or avoid hunting 
areas, (ii) directly displacing subsistence users, or (iii) placing 
physical barriers between the marine mammals and the subsistence 
hunters; and (2) that cannot be sufficiently mitigated by other 
measures to increase the availability of marine mammals to allow 
subsistence needs to be met.
    The term ``small numbers'' is also defined in 50 CFR 18.27. 
However, we do not rely on that definition here as it conflates ``small 
numbers'' with ``negligible impacts.'' We recognize ``small numbers'' 
and ``negligible impact'' as separate and distinct considerations when 
reviewing requests for incidental harassment authorizations (IHA) under 
the MMPA (see Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Evans, 232 F. Supp. 2d 
1003, 1025 (N.D. Cal. 2003)). Instead, for our small numbers 
determination, we estimate the likely number of takes of marine mammals 
and evaluate if that take is small relative to the size of the species 
or stock.
    The term ``least practicable adverse impact'' is not defined in the 
MMPA or its enacting regulations. The Service ensures the least 
practicable adverse impact through mitigation measures that are 
effective in reducing the impact of project activities but are not so 
restrictive as to make project activities unduly burdensome or 
impossible to undertake and complete.
    If the requisite findings are made, the Service issues an IHA, 
which may set forth the following: (i) Permissible methods of taking; 
(ii) other means of effecting the least practicable impact on the 
species or stock and its habitat, paying particular attention to 
rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on 
the availability of the species or stock for taking for subsistence 
uses by coastal dwelling Alaska Natives (if applicable); and (iii) 
requirements for monitoring and reporting such take by harassment.
    Applicants seeking to conduct activities may request an IHA for the 
specified activity. If the IHA is issued, the applicants must submit 
on-site monitoring reports and a final report of the activity to the 
Secretary.
    This is a non-form collection. Applicants must comply with the 
regulations at 50 CFR 18.27, which outline the procedures and 
requirements for submitting a request. These regulations provide the 
applicant with a detailed description of information the Service needs 
in order to evaluate the proposed activity and make the required 
determinations. Specifically, applicants must submit the following 
information to the Service as part of the IHA application process:
     A description of the specific activity or class of 
activities that can be expected to result in incidental taking of 
marine mammals, and
     The dates and duration of such activity and the specific 
geographical region where it will occur.

[[Page 4279]]

     Based on the best available scientific information, each 
applicant must also:

--Estimate the species and numbers of marine mammals likely to be taken 
by age, sex, and reproductive conditions, and the type of taking (e.g., 
disturbance by sound, injury or death resulting from collision, etc.) 
and the number of times such taking is likely to occur;
--Describe the status, distribution, and seasonal distribution (when 
applicable) of the affected species or stocks likely to be affected by 
such activities;
--Describe the anticipated impacts of an activity upon the species or 
stocks;
--Discuss the anticipated impact of the activity on the availability of 
the species or stocks for subsistence uses;

     Discuss the anticipated impact of the activity upon the 
habitat of the marine mammal populations and the likelihood of 
restoration of the affected habitat;
     Describe the anticipated impact of the loss or 
modification of the habitat on the marine mammal population involved;
     Describe availability and feasibility (economic and 
technological) of equipment, methods, and manner of conducting such 
activity or other means of effecting the least practicable adverse 
impact upon the affected species or stocks, their habitat, and, where 
relevant, on their availability for subsistence uses, paying particular 
attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar 
significance;
     Discuss the suggested means of accomplishing the necessary 
monitoring and reporting which will result in increased knowledge of 
the species through an analysis of the level of taking or impacts, and 
suggested means of minimizing burdens by coordinating such reporting 
requirements with other schemes already applicable to persons 
conducting such activity; and
     Suggest means of learning of, encouraging, and 
coordinating research opportunities, plans, and activities relating to 
reducing such incidental taking from such specified activities, and 
evaluating their effects.
    The Service uses the information to draft the proposed IHA, 
including proposed determinations and mitigation measures to ensure the 
least practicable adverse impacts on the species or stock and its 
habitat. Upon IHA issuance, applicants must submit monitoring and final 
reports indicating the nature and extent of all takes of marine mammals 
that occurred incidentally to the specified activity. The purpose of 
monitoring requirements is to assess the effects of project activities 
on the species or stock, ensure that take is consistent with that 
anticipated in the negligible impact and subsistence use analyses, and 
detect any unanticipated effects on the species or stock. Because the 
length of project activities varies by project (a few weeks to a few 
months), some projects require weekly reports during project 
activities.
    OMB previously approved information collection requirements 
associated with incidental take regulations (ITRs) and letters of 
authorization (LOAs) contained in 50 CFR 18, subparts J (Beaufort Sea) 
and K (Cook Inlet) under OMB Control Number 1018-0070. Because the ITRs 
and associated LOAs authorize specific entities to incidentally take 
marine mammals while engaged in specified activities within a specific 
geographic region for periods of not more than 5 years, the Service 
will request a separate OMB control number for information collection 
requirements associated with IHAs.
    Title of Collection: Approval Procedures for Incidental Harassment 
Authorizations of Marine Mammals (50 CFR 18.27).
    OMB Control Number: 1018-New.
    Form Number: None.
    Type of Review: Existing collection in use without an OMB control 
number.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Private sector and State/local/Tribal 
government.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain a benefit.
    Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
    Total Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden Cost: None.

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                                                                                      Average
                                  Average number  Average number  Average number    completion       Estimated
           Requirement               of annual     of responses      of annual       time per      annual burden
                                    respondents        each          responses       response          hours
                                                                                      (hours)
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                                Incidental Harassment Authorization--Application
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Private Sector..................               4               1               4              50             200
Government......................               1               1               1              50              50
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                     Incidental Harassment Authorization--Monitoring and Observation Reports
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Private Sector..................               4              12              48             1.5              72
Government......................               1              12              12             1.5              18
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                                Incidental Harassment Authorization--Final Report
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Private Sector..................               4               1               4               5              20
Government......................               1               1               1               5               5
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    Totals:.....................              15  ..............              70  ..............             365
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    An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required 
to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number.
    The authority for this action is the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).


[[Page 4280]]


Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-01593 Filed 1-26-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P