[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 29 (Thursday, February 13, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9537-9538]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02581]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XE620]
Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals
Incidental to Geophysical Surveys Related to Oil and Gas Activities in
the Gulf of Mexico
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of modification to expiration date of letter of
authorization.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as
amended, its implementing regulations, and NMFS' MMPA Regulations for
Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Geophysical Surveys Related to Oil
and Gas Activities in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), notification is hereby
given that NMFS has modified the expiration date of a Letter of
Authorization (LOA) issued to bp Exploration and Production, Inc., (bp)
for the taking of marine mammals incidental to geophysical survey
activity in the GOM.
DATES: This LOA is effective through March 31, 2025.
ADDRESSES: The LOA, LOA request, and supporting documentation are
available online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/marine-mammal-protection/issued-letters-authorization-oil-and-gas-industry-geophysical-survey. In case of problems accessing these documents,
please call the contact listed below (FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Wachtendonk, Office of
Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401.
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 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.
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).
On January 19, 2021, we issued a final rule with regulations to
govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to
geophysical survey activities conducted by oil and gas industry
operators, and those persons authorized to conduct activities on their
behalf (collectively ``industry operators''), in U.S. waters of the GOM
over the course of 5 years (86 FR 5322, January 19, 2021). The rule was
based on our findings that the total taking from the specified
activities over the 5-year period will have a negligible impact on the
affected species or stock(s) of marine mammals and will not have an
unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of those species or
stocks for subsistence uses. The rule became effective on April 19,
2021.
Our regulations at 50 CFR 217.180 et seq. allow for the issuance of
LOAs to industry operators for the incidental take of marine mammals
during geophysical survey activities and prescribe the permissible
methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable
adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat
(often referred to as mitigation), as well as requirements pertaining
to the monitoring and reporting of such taking. Under 50 CFR
217.186(e), issuance of an LOA shall be based on a determination that
the level of taking will be consistent with the findings made for the
total taking allowable under these regulations and a determination that
the amount of take authorized under the LOA is of no more than small
numbers.
NMFS subsequently discovered that the 2021 rule was based on
erroneous take estimates. We conducted another rulemaking using correct
take estimates and other newly available and pertinent information
relevant to the analyses supporting some of the findings in the 2021
final rule and the taking allowable under the regulations. We issued a
final rule in April 2024, effective May 24, 2024 (89 FR 31488, April
24, 2024).
[[Page 9538]]
The 2024 final rule made no changes to the specified activities or
the specified geographical region in which those activities would be
conducted, nor to the original 5-year period of effectiveness. In
consideration of the new information, the 2024 rule presented new
analyses supporting affirmance of the negligible impact determinations
for all species, and affirmed that the existing regulations, which
contain mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements, are
consistent with the ``least practicable adverse impact'' standard of
the MMPA.
NMFS issued a LOA to bp on September 9, 2024, for the take of
marine mammals incidental to a three-dimensional (3D) ocean bottom node
(OBN) survey over 325 lease blocks in the Alaminos Canyon, Garden
Banks, Keathley Canyon, and East Breaks areas, effective September 9,
2024, through February 14, 2025. Please see the Federal Register notice
of issuance (89 FR 74921, September 13, 2024) for additional detail
regarding the LOA and the survey activity.
Bp has requested that the February 14, 2025, expiration date be
extended to March 31, 2025, as they are using only one source vessel
instead of the planned two. There are no other changes to the planned
survey or our earlier analyses, as described in the previous notice of
LOA issuance for this survey (89 FR 74921, September 13, 2024).
Based on the results of our earlier analysis, NMFS has determined
that the level of taking expected for this survey and authorized
through the LOA is consistent with the findings made for the total
taking allowable under the regulations. See table 1 in this notice and
table 6 of the rule (89 FR 31488, April 24, 2024).
Small Numbers Determination
Under the GOM rule, NMFS may not authorize incidental take of
marine mammals in an LOA if it will exceed ``small numbers.'' In short,
when an acceptable estimate of the individual marine mammals taken is
available, if the estimated number of individual animals taken is up
to, but not greater than, one-third of the best available abundance
estimate, NMFS will determine that the numbers of marine mammals taken
of a species or stock are small (89 FR 31535, May 24, 2024). For more
information please see NMFS' discussion of small numbers in the 2021
final rule (86 FR 5438, January 19, 2021).
NMFS made its small numbers determinations in the original notice
of LOA issuance for the survey (89 FR 74921, September 13, 2024) based
on the information provided in table 1, which has not changed.
Table 1--Take Analysis
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Authorized Scaled take Percent
Species take \1\ Abundance \2\ abundance
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Rice's whale.................................... 0 n/a 51 n/a
Sperm whale..................................... 408 172.5 3,007 5.7
Kogia spp....................................... \3\ 287 85.3 980 10.8
Beaked whales................................... 547 55.2 803 6.9
Rough-toothed dolphin........................... 1,017 292.0 4,853 6.0
Bottlenose dolphin.............................. 363 103.4 165,125 0.1
Clymene dolphin................................. 1,713 491.7 4,619 10.6
Atlantic spotted dolphin........................ 108 30.9 21,506 0.1
Pantropical spotted dolphin..................... 13,612 3,906.5 67,225 5.8
Spinner dolphin................................. 185 52.8 5,548 1.0
Striped dolphin................................. 4,849 1,391.6 5,634 24.7
Fraser's dolphin................................ 444 127.3 1,665 7.6
Risso's dolphin................................. 210 62.0 1,974 3.1
Blackfish \4\................................... 3,384 998.4 6,113 16.3
Short-finned pilot whale........................ 142 42.0 2,741 1.5
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\1\ Scalar ratios were applied to ``Authorized Take'' values as described at 86 FR 5322 and 86 FR 5404 (January
19, 2021) to derive scaled take numbers shown here.
\2\ Best abundance estimate. For most taxa, the best abundance estimate for purposes of comparison with take
estimates is considered here to be the model-predicted abundance (Garrison et al., 2023). For Rice's whale,
Atlantic spotted dolphin, and Risso's dolphin, the larger SAR abundance estimate is used.
\3\ Includes 19 takes by Level A harassment and 268 takes by Level B harassment. Scalar ratio is applied to
takes by Level B harassment only; small numbers determination made on basis of scaled Level B harassment take
plus authorized Level A harassment take.
\4\ The ``blackfish'' guild includes melon-headed whales, false killer whales, pygmy killer whales, and killer
whales.
Authorization
NMFS has changed the expiration date of the LOA from February 14,
2025, to March 31, 2025. There are no other changes to the LOA as
described in the September 13, 2024, Federal Register notice of
issuance (89 FR 74921); the specified survey activity, take estimates,
and small numbers analysis and determination remain unchanged and are
incorporated here by reference.
Dated: February 10, 2025.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-02581 Filed 2-12-25; 8:45 am]
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