Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 225 / Friday, November 24, 2023 / Notices 82325 

promulgated at 50 CFR 222.306 and at 

50 CFR 222.307. 

Background 

NMFS issued Permit No. 21516 to 

Dominion on December 10, 2020 (86 FR 

1945). NMFS published notice in the 

Federal Register on August 2, 2022 (87 

FR 47190), that Dominion had requested 

modification of their ITP to allow for the 

incidental take of Atlantic sturgeon eggs 

from the Chesapeake Bay Distinct 

Population Segment through December 

30, 2025, and to modify permit 

conditions based on anticipated 

operational changes at the CPS. 

However, new information regarding 

take of Atlantic sturgeon eggs at CPS 

was received after the close of the 

public comment period. Therefore, 

Dominion’s request for modification of 

the ITP to allow for the incidental take 

of Atlantic sturgeon eggs remains in 

progress. 

In the interim, based on the 

information provided by Dominion and 

the public comment received, NMFS 

has modified Permit No. 21516 to: allow 

entrainment sampling for monitoring to 

occur at the furthest upriver cooling 

water intake structure that is operational 

at CPS at the time monitoring occurs; 

allow entrainment sampling for 

monitoring to be paused on the rare 

occasion that all CPS river circulating 

pumps are not operating provided that 

NMFS is notified within 24 hours of 

Dominion shutting down all water 

intake at the circulating water pumps, 

and provided the notification includes 

information describing the reason(s) for 

the shutdown and the expected duration 

of the shutdown; require visual 

inspections of the cooling water intake 

structure trash racks (and the immediate 

area upstream) from September 1 

through October 31; require Dominion 

to annually inspect (i.e., by divers) the 

intake guards at CPS cooling water 

intake structures no earlier than March 

1 and no later than August 15 to confirm 

that the guards are intact and capable of 

excluding any adult Atlantic sturgeon as 

designed, and make repairs to the 

guards, as needed, prior to September 1; 

and require Dominion to clean the trash 

racks via a mechanical trash rake only 

as operationally necessary or, in the 

event a specific intake guard is found to 

be in jeopardy of not functioning as 

designed, the trash racks associated 

with that intact guard must be cleaned 

via a mechanical trash rake twice per 

day (once per 12-hour shift during 

daylight hours) during the fall sturgeon 

spawning window of September 1 

through October 31. Prior to September 

1, trash raking must occur at a specific 

intake guard if it is found to be at risk 

of not functioning as designed and adult 

Atlantic sturgeon are present in the 

vicinity of CPS as indicated by the realtime telemetry system. Permit condition 

IV.C.4.g. has also been corrected to 

reflect the 8-week period from 

September through October for each 

year of the permit. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

Issuing an ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) 

permit constitutes a Federal action 

requiring NMFS to comply with the 

National Environmental Policy Act (42 

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

40 CFR parts 1500–1508 and NOAA 

Administrative Order 216–6A, 

Compliance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act (2016). NMFS 

prepared a Supplemental Information 

Report explaining why the potential 

impacts to sturgeon and other resources 

fall within the scope of the 2020 

Environmental Assessment (EA) and 

Finding of No Significant Impact 

developed in support of the original 

permit. We concluded that there would 

be little change in the impacts from this 

action, relative to those described in the 

original EA. Further, we concluded that 

there are no significant new 

circumstances or information that 

would result in changes to the impacts 

of the permit requirements as 

considered in the previous analyses. 

Authority: This notice is provided 

pursuant to section 10(c) of the ESA (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and NEPA 

regulations (40 CFR 1506.6). 

Dated: November 20, 2023. 

Angela Somma, 

Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office 

of Protected Resources, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25984 Filed 11–22–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XD554] 

Pacific Fishery Management Council; 

Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of a public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Pacific Fishery 

Management Council’s (Pacific Council) 

Coastal Pelagic Species Management 

Team (CPSMT), Coastal Pelagic Species 

Advisory Subpanel (CPSAS), and 

Ecosystem Work Group (EWG) will hold 

an online public meeting. 

DATES: The online meeting will be held 

Monday, January 22, 2024, from 1 p.m. 

to 3 p.m., Pacific Standard Time or until 

business for the day has been 

completed. 

ADDRESSES: This meeting will be held 

online. Specific meeting information, 

including directions on how to join the 

meeting and system requirements will 

be provided in the meeting 

announcement on the Pacific Council’s 

website (see www.pcouncil.org). You 

may send an email to Mr. Kris 

Kleinschmidt (kris.kleinschmidt@

noaa.gov) or contact him at (503) 820– 

2412 for technical assistance. 

Council address: Pacific Fishery 

Management Council, 7700 NE 

Ambassador Place, Suite 101, Portland, 

OR 97220–1384. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessi 

Doerpinghaus, Staff Officer, Pacific 

Council; telephone: (503) 820–2415. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

primary purpose of this online meeting 

is a work session of the CPSMT, CPSAS, 

and EWG to discuss matters related to 

the Pacific Council’s fishery ecosystem 

plan initiative. No management actions 

will be decided by the CPSMT, CPSAS, 

or EWG. CPSMT, CPSAS, or EWG 

recommendations will be considered by 

the Pacific Council at the March Pacific 

Council meeting. The meeting agenda 

will be available on the Pacific 

Council’s website in advance of the 

meeting. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in the meeting agenda may be 

discussed, those issues may not be the 

subject of formal action during this 

meeting. Action will be restricted to 

those issues specifically listed in this 

document and any issues arising after 

publication of this document that 

require emergency action under section 

305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act, 

provided the public has been notified of 

the intent to take final action to address 

the emergency. 

Special Accommodations 

Requests for sign language 

interpretation or other auxiliary aids 

should be directed to Mr. Kris 

Kleinschmidt (kris.kleinschmidt@

noaa.gov; (503) 820–2412) at least 10 

days prior to the meeting date. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
82326 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 225 / Friday, November 24, 2023 / Notices 

Dated: November 20, 2023. 

Rey Israel Marquez, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25964 Filed 11–22–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XC980] 

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to 

Specified Activities; Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers Unalaska (Dutch 

Harbor) Channel Deepening Project 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance of an 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 

United States Army Corps of Engineers 

(Alaska District) (USACE) for 

authorization to take marine mammals 

incidental to Unalaska (Dutch Harbor) 

Channel Deepening in Iliuliuk Bay, 

Unalaska, Alaska. 

DATES: This Authorization is effective 

from January 1, 2024 through December 

31, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of the 

application and supporting documents, 

as well as a list of the references cited 

in this document, may be obtained 

online at https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/ 

incidental-take-authorization-us-armycorps-engineers-unalaska-dutch-harborchannel. In case of problems accessing 

these documents, please call the contact 

listed below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cara 

Hotchkin, 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 IHA 

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) and will not have 

an 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 mitigation, monitoring 

and reporting of the takings are set forth. 

The definitions of all applicable MMPA 

statutory terms cited above are included 

in the relevant sections below. 

Summary of Request 

On October 31, 2022, NMFS received 

a request from the United States Army 

Corps of Engineers—Alaska District 

(USACE) for an IHA to take marine 

mammals incidental to deepening the 

entrance to Iliuliuk Bay, adjacent to 

Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Following NMFS’ 

review of the application, USACE 

submitted supplemental information on 

November 28, 2022 and January 5, 2023. 

The application was deemed adequate 

and complete on March 2, 2023. The 

notice of the proposed IHA and request 

for comments was published on April 

11, 2023 (88 FR 21630). USACE’s 

request is for take of harbor seals (Phoca 

vitulina richardsi), Steller sea lions 

(Eumetopias jubatus), harbor porpoise 

(Phocoena phocoena), and humpback 

whales (Megaptera novaengliae) by 

Level A harassment and Level B 

Harassment. Neither USACE nor NMFS 

expect serious injury or mortality to 

result from this activity and, therefore, 

an IHA is appropriate. 

Description of the Specified Activity 

The USACE plans to deepen the 

entrance channel of Iliuliuk Bay by 

means of dredging and (if necessary) 

confined blasting of a 42-foot (ft) (12.8 

meter (m)) deep ‘‘bar’’ which currently 

restricts access to the port of Dutch 

Harbor, Alaska. Dutch Harbor is the 

only deep draft, year-round ice-free port 

along the 1,200-mile (1,931 km) 

Aleutian Island chain, providing vital 

services to vessels operating in both the 

North Pacific and the Bering Sea, and 

the depth of the bar currently restricts 

access for large vessels that may need to 

enter the port, particularly during 

extreme weather. The purpose of the 

project is to increase navigational safety 

and improve economic efficiencies into 

and out of Dutch Harbor via Iliuliuk 

Bay. 

Removal of the bar will involve 

dredging (via clamshell dredge or longreach excavator) an area approximately 

600 ft (182.9 m) by 600 ft (182.9 m), 

moving approximately 182,000 cubic 

yards (139,150 cubic meters) of 

sediment. Dredged material will be 

placed in the water immediately 

adjacent to the inside of the bar in 

approximately 100 ft (33.3 m) of water. 

If required to enable dredging, confined 

blasting (hereafter ‘‘blasting’’) involving 

drilled boreholes and multiple charges 

with microdelays between blasts will be 

used to break up the sediment. 

Safety restrictions impose some limits 

on blasting activity and potential 

mitigations available to protect marine 

mammals. The explosives cannot 

‘‘sleep’’ after being placed for longer 

than 24 hours without becoming a risk 

to private property and human health, 

and they cannot be detonated in the 

dark. If a marine mammal enters the 

blast area following the emplacement of 

charges, detonation will be delayed as 

long as possible. All other legal 

measures to avoid injury will be 

utilized; however, the charges will be 

detonated when delay is no longer 

feasible. As discussed in the mitigation 

section, in order to minimize the 

chances the charges need to be 

detonated while animals are present in 

the vicinity, the IHA includes a 

mitigation measure requiring explosives 

to be set as early in the day as possible, 

and detonated as soon as the preclearance zone is clear for 30 minutes. 

Sounds resulting from confined 

blasting may result in the incidental 

take of marine mammals by Level A and 

Level B harassment in the form of slight 

injury (auditory and non-auditory) and 

behavioral harassment. Dredging and 

disposal of dredged material are not 

expected to result in either Level A or 

Level B harassment due to the low 

source level and mid-channel location 

of the dredging activities. If dredging is 

sufficient to deepen the channel to the 

required depth, reduced or no blasting 

may be necessary. The notice for the 

proposed IHA (88 FR 21630, April 11, 

2023) analyzed a conservative scenario 

requiring blasting approximately 50 

percent of the bar area, resulting in 


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