Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 150 / Friday, August 3, 2018 / Notices 38125 

acquires or attempts to acquire such 

ownership, possession or control; 

C. Take any action to acquire from or 

to facilitate the acquisition or attempted 

acquisition from a Denied Person of any 

item subject to the Regulations that has 

been exported from the United States; 

D. Obtain from a Denied Person in the 

United States any item subject to the 

Regulations with knowledge or reason 

to know that the item will be, or is 

intended to be, exported from the 

United States; or 

E. Engage in any transaction to service 

any item subject to the Regulations that 

has been or will be exported from the 

United States and which is owned, 

possessed or controlled by a Denied 

Person, or service any item, of whatever 

origin, that is owned, possessed or 

controlled by a Denied Person if such 

service involves the use of any item 

subject to the Regulations that has been 

or will be exported from the United 

States. For purposes of this paragraph, 

servicing means installation, 

maintenance, repair, modification or 

testing. 

Fifth, after notice and opportunity for 

comment as provided in Section 766.23 

of the Regulations, any person, firm, 

corporation, or business organization 

related to a Denied Person by 

ownership, control, position of 

responsibility, affiliation, or other 

connection in the conduct of trade or 

business may also be made subject to 

the provisions of this Order. 

Sixth, any license issued pursuant to 

the Act or Regulations in which Hydel 

or Sharma has an interest of the date of 

this Order is hereby revoked. 

Seventh, this Order shall be served on 

Hydel and Sharma, and shall be 

published in the Federal Register. 

This Order is effective immediately. 

Issued on July 30, 2018. 

Richard R. Majauskas, 

Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 

Export Enforcement. 

[FR Doc. 2018–16678 Filed 8–2–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XG131 

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to 

Specified Activities; Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to the Bravo 

Wharf Recapitalization Project 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance of incidental 

harassment authorization. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

regulations implementing the Marine 

Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as 

amended, notification is hereby given 

that NMFS has issued an incidental 

harassment authorization (IHA) to the 

U.S. Navy (Navy) for the take, by Level 

B harassment only, of bottlenose 

dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), 

incidental to the Bravo Wharf 

Recapitalization Project at Bravo Wharf, 

Naval Station Mayport, Florida. 

DATES: The IHA is valid from May 14, 

2018 through May 13, 2019. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jaclyn Daly, Office of Protected 

Resources, NMFS, (301) 427–8438. 

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 

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). 

National Environmental Policy Act 

In compliance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), as implemented by 

the regulations published by the 

Council on Environmental Quality (40 

CFR parts 1500–1508), the Navy 

prepared an Environmental Assessment 

(EA) to consider the direct, indirect and 

cumulative effects to the human 

environment resulting from the Bravo 

Wharf recapitalization project. NMFS 

made the Navy’s EA available to the 

public for review and comment, in 

relation to its suitability for adoption by 

NMFS in order to assess the impacts to 

the human environment of issuance of 

an IHA to the Navy. Also in compliance 

with NEPA and the CEQ regulations, as 

well as NOAA Administrative Order 

216–6, NMFS has reviewed the Navy’s 

EA, determined it to be sufficient, and 

adopted that EA and signed a Finding 

of No Significant Impact (FONSI) in 

July, 2016. The 2016 NEPA documents 

are available at https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/node/23111. 

Since the IHA covers a subset of the 

same work covered in a former IHA, 

NMFS is relying on this same EA and 

FONSI document. 

History of Request 

On July 21, 2015, we received a 

request from the Navy for authorization 

of the taking, by Level B harassment 

only, of marine mammals incidental to 

pile driving (predominantly vibratory 

pile driving, with a small amount of 

impact pile driving as a contingency 

plan in case of difficult piles) in 

association with the Bravo Wharf 

Recapitalization Project at Naval Station 

Mayport, Florida. A final version of the 

application, which we deemed adequate 

and complete, was submitted on 

November 17, 2015. We published a 

notice of a proposed IHA and request for 

comments on December 7, 2015 (80 FR 

75978), and subsequently published 

final notice of our issuance of the IHA 

on August 9, 2016 (81 FR 52637). Inwater work associated with the project 

was expected to be completed within 

the one-year timeframe of the IHA 

(effective dates originally December 1, 

2016 through November 30, 2017). The 

specified activities were, and are, 

expected to result in the take of 

individuals from four stocks of 

bottlenose dolphins. 

On January 23, 2017, the Navy 

informed NMFS that no work had been 

performed relevant to the specified 


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38126 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 150 / Friday, August 3, 2018 / Notices 

activity considered in the MMPA 

analysis. On February 22, 2017, we 

published a notice of a revision of the 

IHA (82 FR 11344), revising the effective 

authorization dates from March 13, 

2017, through March 12, 2018. 

On December 5, 2017, the Navy 

informed NMFS that construction had 

not yet begun on one of two 

construction phases authorized under 

the revised IHA. The Navy attributed 

delays in progress and inaccuracies in 

original construction planning due to a 

combination of: (1) Rain delays, 

hurricane preparation, and Hurricane 

Irma, (2) inefficiencies by the contractor, 

and (3) activities influenced by tides, 

originally unaccounted for in the 

schedule. 

On January 9, 2018, the Navy formally 

requested that NMFS issue an IHA for 

one year from May 14, 2018, to May 13, 

2019 in order to complete a subset of the 

construction activity previously covered 

by the 2017 IHA. We issued a notice of 

proposed IHA on April 4, 2018 (83 FR 

1443) primarily referring back to our 

previous documents and analysis but 

fully describing updates to acoustic 

analysis, take numbers (due to 

decreased amount of work), and stock 

abundances. 

Comments and Responses 

A notice of NMFS’ proposal to issue 

an IHA to the Navy for the Bravo Wharf 

Recapitalization Project was published 

in the Federal Register on April 4, 2018 

(83 FR 14443). During the 30-day public 

comment period, we received one letter, 

dated April 30, 2018, from the Marine 

Mammal Commission (Commission). 

The Commission concurs with NMFS’s 

preliminary findings and recommends 

that NMFS issue the incidental 

harassment authorization, subject to 

inclusion of the proposed mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting measures. 

Description of the Proposed Activity 

and Anticipated Impacts 

The 2017 IHA covered the installation 

of 880 single sheet piles installed with 

a vibratory hammer over 110 days and 

20 days of contingency impact driving, 

for a total of up to 130 construction 

days. The 2017 IHA authorized the 

Level B harassment of 370 bottlenose 

dolphins (330 takes from vibratory pile 

driving, 40 from impact pile driving), 

which could occur to any of the four 

stocks in the area. The Navy did not 

complete that work, and requested that 

a second IHA cover the installation of 

the remaining 356 steel sheet piles over 

the course of 43 pile-driving days, plus 

10 contingency impact driving days, for 

a total of 53 days. Other documents that 

fully describe the project include the 

Federal Register notice of the issuance 

of the 2017 IHA for the Navy’s Bravo 

Wharf (82 FR 11344, February 22, 2017), 

the Navy’s application, the Federal 

Register notice of the proposed IHA (81 

FR 52637; December 1, 2016), and all 

associated references and documents. 

Detailed Description of the Action—A 

detailed description of the proposed 

vibratory and impact pile driving 

activities at Bravo Wharf is found in the 

aforementioned documents. The 

location, timing (e.g., lack of 

seasonality), and nature of the pile 

driving operations, including the type 

and size of piles and the methods of pile 

driving, are identical to those described 

in the previous notices, except that only 

a subset of the number of piles are 

proposed to be driven under the 

recently issued IHA (356 piles over 53 

days, versus 880 over 130 days). 

Description of Marine Mammals—A 

description of the marine mammals in 

the area of the activities is also found in 

the aforementioned documents, which 

remains applicable to this IHA except 

for new information in the 2016 stock 

assessment reports where abundance for 

the Northern Florida coastal stock was 

reduced from 1,219 to 877 individuals 

and southern migratory coastal stock 

was decreased from 9,137 to 3,751 

individuals. 

Potential Effects on Marine 

Mammals—A description of the 

potential effects of the specified 

activities on marine mammals and their 

habitat is found in these previous 

documents, which remains applicable to 

this IHA. There is no new information 

on potential effects. 

Estimated Take—A description of the 

methods and inputs used to estimate 

take anticipated to occur and, 

ultimately, the take that was authorized 

is found in these previous documents. 

The methods of estimating take are 

identical to those used in the previous 

IHA, as is the density of marine 

mammals. One input into the take 

estimate, the source levels, was changed 

to reflect newer information. The 

original IHA reflected a vibratory pile 

driving source level of 151 decibels (dB) 

root mean square (rms), but more recent 

measurements (measurements of 

vibratory driving of steel sheet piles 

during the first year of construction at 

nearby Wharf C–2 at Naval Station 

Mayport (DoN 2015) support a higher 

source level (156 dB rms). The impact 

pile driving source level was also 

corrected from 189 dB rms to 190 rms 

(CalTrans, 2015). The Navy modified 

their take estimates to reflect these 

newer values, which NMFS used for 

issuance of another IHA at Bravo Wharf 

(83 FR 9287; March 5, 2018). Using the 

same take estimate methodology 

described in the 2017 IHA and the 

updated source levels (which extends 

the vibratory pile driving Level B 

harassment isopleth from 1,166 meters 

(m) to 2,512 m, and the impact pile 

driving Level B harassment isopleth 

from 858 m to 1000 m), we are 

authorizing 242 Level B harassment 

takes of bottlenose dolphins during 

vibratory driving and 22 during impact 

driving, for a total of 264 requested 

Level B bottlenose dolphin takes. There 

are four stocks of bottlenose dolphins to 

which takes could accrue: Jacksonville 

Estuarine System; Western North 

Atlantic, northern Florida coastal; 

Western North Atlantic, offshore; and 

Western North Atlantic, southern 

migratory coastal. No Level A take is 

authorized. 

Description of Proposed Mitigation, 

Monitoring and Reporting Measures—A 

description of proposed mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting measures is 

found in the previous documents, 

which are identical in this proposed 

IHA and provided in our April 4, 2018 

notice of proposed IHA. In summary, 

mitigation includes soft start 

techniques, as well as a 15-m shutdown 

zone for vibratory pile driving and 40- 

m shutdown for impact pile driving. 

Two trained observers will monitor to 

implement shutdowns and collect 

information. 

On January 9, 2018, the Navy 

submitted a monitoring report for 

construction that had been completed 

under the 2017 IHA. The Navy 

complied with all mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting protocols. 

Recorded takes were below the number 

authorized for the corresponding 

amount of work. The monitoring report 

can be viewed on NMFS’s website at 

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/node/ 

23111. 

Determinations 

The Navy proposes to conduct a 

subset of activities identical to those 

covered in the previous 2017 IHA. As 

described above, the number of 

estimated takes of the same stocks of 

bottlenose dolphins (Jacksonville 

Estuarine System; northern Florida 

coastal; Western North Atlantic, 

offshore; and southern migratory 

coastal) is significantly lower than the 

330 Level B harassment takes from 

vibratory pile driving and 40 Level B 

harassment takes from impact pile 

driving that were found to meet the 

negligible impact and small numbers 

standards and authorized under the 

2017 IHA. The IHA includes identical 

required mitigation, monitoring, and 

reporting measures as the 2017 IHA 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 150 / Friday, August 3, 2018 / Notices 38127 

(with the exception of harassment 

distances, as described above), 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) the Navy’s 

activities will not have an unmitigable 

adverse impact on taking for subsistence 

purposes as no relevant subsistence uses 

of marine mammals are implicated by 

this action. 

Endangered Species Act 

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. 

No incidental take of ESA-listed 

species is authorized or expected to 

result from this activity. Therefore, 

NMFS has determined that formal 

consultation under section 7 of the ESA 

is not required for this action. 

Authorization 

As a result of these determinations, 

NMFS has issued an IHA to the Navy for 

the harassment of small numbers of 

bottlenose dolphins incidental to 

construction activities related to the 

Bravo Wharf Recapitalization Project, 

Naval Base Mayport, Florida, provided 

the previously mentioned mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting requirements 

are incorporated. 

Dated: July 30, 2018. 

Donna S. Wieting, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–16599 Filed 8–2–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; Southeast Region 

Aquaculture Program 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted on or before October 2, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 

14th and Constitution Avenue NW, 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

internet at pracomments@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument and instructions should be 

directed to Jessica Beck-Stimpert, NMFS 

Southeast Regional Office, 263 13th 

Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, 

phone: 727–824–5305, or email: 

jess.beck@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

This request is for an extension and 

revision of a currently approved 

information collection under the Office 

of Management and Budget’s (OMB) 

Control Number 0648–0703, Southeast 

Region Aquaculture Program. NMFS 

manages aquaculture operations in 

Federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico 

(Gulf) under the Fishery Management 

Plan for Regulating Offshore Marine 

Aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico 

(Aquaculture FMP). The final rule for 

the Aquaculture FMP published in the 

Federal Register on January 13, 2016 

(81 FR 1762; RIN 0648–AS65). 

This collection of information tracks 

the administrative functions associated 

with the aquaculture program (e.g., 

registration and account setup, landing 

transactions, and most reporting 

requirements). 

The NMFS Southeast Regional Office 

also proposes to revise parts of the 

information collection approved under 

OMB Control Number 0648–0703 to 

account for updates to burden time and 

cost estimates, inclusion of new forms 

to fulfill rule requirements and 

administrative updates to online and 

paper forms. NMFS intends the 

revisions would make instructions and 

data collection requirements clearer and 

easier to understand, resulting in more 

accurate and efficient information 

available for use by fishery managers. 

II. Method of Collection 

Information for the Southeast Region 

Aquaculture Program is collected online 

via the aquaculture website (http://

sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_

fisheries/gulf_fisheries/aquaculture/); 

therefore, a participant must have access 

to a computer and internet access, and 

must set up an appropriate online 

aquaculture account to participate. 

Assistance with online functions will be 

available from customer service Monday 

through Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 

p.m., eastern time. If some online 

reporting functions are not available at 

the time of initial implementation of the 

aquaculture program, participants may 

comply by submitting the required 

information via email to the NMFS 

Southeast Region using the appropriate 

forms that are available on the website. 

Once online functions are available to 

the public, participants must comply by 

using the online system unless 

alternative methods are specified. 

Operators of aquaculture facilities 

would be required to submit all 

information requirements to NMFS, 

with the exception of the bill of lading 

information, which will accompany 

each shipment of cultured product. 

Currently, all submissions would be via 

the online website, unless otherwise 

noted. Additionally, dealers who 

purchase aquaculture product from 

facilities would be required to submit 

information on those purchases. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0703. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Review: Regular submission 

(extension and revision of a currently 

approved information collection). 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 40 

(20 operators, 20 dealers). 

Estimated Time per Response: 

• Federal Permit Application for 

Offshore Aquaculture in the Gulf of 

Mexico, 3 hours. 

• Notification to Delay Permit 

Issuance, Annual Report for Gulf 

Aquaculture Permittees, Certification for 

Broodstock and Juveniles, Marine 

Mammal Authorization Form, 


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