[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 183 (Friday, September 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77106-77107]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-20715]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XE062]


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to Military Readiness Activities in the Atlantic Fleet 
Training and Testing Study Area

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for regulations and Letters of 
Authorization; request for comments and information.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Department of the 
Navy (including the U.S. Navy (Navy) and the U.S. Marine Corps) and on 
behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard; hereafter, Navy, U.S. 
Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are collectively referred to as Action 
Proponents) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to 
training and testing activities conducted in the Atlantic Fleet 
Training and Testing (AFTT) Study Area over the course of 7 years from 
November 2025 through November 2032. Pursuant to regulations 
implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is 
announcing receipt of the Action Proponents' request for the 
development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental 
taking of marine mammals and issuance of three, 7-year Letters of 
Authorization (LOAs). NMFS invites the public to provide information, 
suggestions, and comments on the Action Proponents' application and 
request.

DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than October 
21, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Jolie Harrison, Chief, 
Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service, and should be sent to 
[email protected]. An electronic copy of the Action Proponents' 
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 the 
document, please call the contact listed below.
    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, including all attachments, must 
not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. 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: Alyssa Clevenstine, Office of 
Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The MMPA prohibits the ``take'' of marine mammals, with certain 
exceptions. 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 
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 proposed or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a 
proposed authorization is provided to the public for review.
    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

[[Page 77107]]

unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or 
stock(s) for taking for subsistence uses (where relevant). Further, 
NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other ``means 
of effecting the least practicable adverse impact'' on the affected 
species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to 
rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on 
the availability of the species or stocks for taking for certain 
subsistence uses (referred to in shorthand as ``mitigation''); and 
requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of the takings.
    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.
    The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2004 
(Pub. L. 108-136) amended section 101(a)(5) of the MMPA to remove the 
``small numbers'' and ``specified geographical region'' provisions and 
amended the definition of ``harassment'' as applied 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 NDAA for Fiscal Year 2019 (Pub. 
L. 115-232) amended the MMPA to allow incidental take regulations for 
military readiness activities to be issued for up to 7 years.

Summary of Request

    On May 28, 2024, NMFS received an application from the Action 
Proponents requesting authorization to take marine mammals, by Level A 
and Level B harassment, incidental to training and testing 
(characterized as military readiness activities) including the use of 
sonar and other transducers, in-water detonations, air guns, and impact 
and vibratory pile driving and extraction in the AFTT Study Area. In 
addition, the Action Proponents are requesting authorization of 5 takes 
by mortality of 2 marine mammal species from explosives during Navy 
training exercises, 44 takes by mortality of 9 marine mammal species 
from ship shock trials during Navy testing activities, and of 6 takes 
of large whales by serious injury or mortality from vessel strikes over 
the 7-year period of the LOAs: 3 takes incidental to the Navy's 
training and testing activities, and 3 takes incidental to the Coast 
Guard's training activities. In response to our comments and following 
information exchange, Action Proponents submitted a final revised 
application on August 16, 2024, that we determined was adequate and 
complete on August 19, 2024. The Action Proponents requested the 
regulations and subsequent LOAs be valid for 7 years beginning in 
November 2025.
    This will be the fourth time NMFS has promulgated incidental take 
regulations pursuant to the MMPA relating to similar military readiness 
activities in AFTT, following those effective from January 22, 2009, 
through January 22, 2014 (74 FR 4844), from November 14, 2013, through 
November 13, 2018 (78 FR 73009, December 4, 2013), and from November 
14, 2018, through November 13, 2023 (83 FR 57076, November 14, 2018), 
which was subsequently extended until November 13, 2025 (84 FR 70712, 
December 23, 2019) due to amendments to the NDAA (Pub. L. 115-232).

Description of the Specified Activity

    The AFTT Study Area includes areas of the western Atlantic Ocean 
along the east coast of North America, the Gulf of Mexico, and portions 
of the Caribbean Sea, covering approximately 2.6 million square 
nautical miles (nmi\2\) of ocean area, oriented from the mean high tide 
line along the U.S. coast and extending east to 45-degree W longitude 
line, north to 65-degree N latitude line, and south to approximately 
the 20-degree N latitude line. Please refer to figure 1.1-1 of the 
application for a map of the AFTT Study Area and figure 2.1-1 through 
figure 2.1-5 for additional maps of the range complexes and testing 
ranges.
    The following types of training and testing, which are classified 
as military readiness activities pursuant to the section 315(f) of 
Public Law 101-314 (16 U.S.C. 703), are included in the specified 
activity described in the Action Proponents' application:
     Amphibious warfare (in-water detonations),
     Anti-submarine warfare (sonar and other transducers, in-
water detonations),
     Expeditionary warfare (in-water detonations, pile driving/
extraction),
     Mine warfare (sonar and other transducers, in-water 
detonations),
     Surface warfare (in-water detonations), and
     Other (sonar and other transducers, air guns, vessel 
movement).
    The application includes proposed mitigation measures for marine 
mammals that would be implemented during training and testing 
activities in the AFTT Study Area (see section 11 of the application). 
Proposed procedural mitigation generally involves: (1) the use of one 
or more trained Lookouts to diligently observe for specific biological 
resources within a mitigation zone, (2) requirements for Lookouts to 
immediately communicate sightings of specific biological resources to 
the appropriate watch station for information dissemination, and (3) 
requirements for the watch station to implement mitigation (e.g., halt 
an activity) until certain recommencement conditions have been met. 
Mitigation measures are also proposed for specific mitigation areas and 
consist of a variety of measures in those areas including, but not 
limited to: conducting a certain number of major training exercises per 
year, not planning or avoiding planning major training exercises, 
minimizing or not conducting active sonar, conducting a limited amount 
of hull-mounted mid-frequency active sonar per year, not expending 
explosive or non-explosive ordnance, and implementing vessel speed 
reductions in certain circumstances.
    The Action Proponents also propose to undertake monitoring and 
reporting efforts to better understand the impacts of their activities 
on marine mammals and their habitat, track compliance with take 
authorizations, and to help investigate the effectiveness of 
implemented mitigation measures in the AFTT Study Area.

Information Solicited

    Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and 
comments concerning the Action Proponents' 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 Action Proponents, if 
appropriate.

    Dated: September 9, 2024.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-20715 Filed 9-19-24; 8:45 am]
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