7128 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 26 / Tuesday, February 8, 2022 / Notices 

GMT meeting is an estimate, the 

meeting will adjourn when business for 

the day is 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: 

Todd Phillips, Staff Officer, Pacific 

Council; telephone: (503) 820–2426. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

primary purpose of the GMT webinar is 

to prepare for the Pacific Council’s 

March 2022 agenda items. The GMT 

will discuss items related to groundfish 

management, administrative, and 

potentially ecosystem matters on the 

Pacific Council agenda. A detailed 

agenda for the webinar will be available 

on the Pacific Council’s website prior to 

the meeting. The GMT may also address 

other assignments relating to groundfish 

management. No management actions 

will be decided by the GMT. 

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. 

Dated: February 3, 2022. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–02608 Filed 2–7–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB713] 

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to 

Specified Activities; Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to the NOAA Port 

Facility Project in Ketchikan, Alaska 

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 

NOAA to incidentally harass, by Level 

B harassment only, marine mammals 

during construction activities associated 

with the NOAA Port Facility Project in 

Ketchikan, Alaska. 

DATES: This Authorization is effective 

from February 3, 2022 through February 

2, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben 

Laws, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, (301) 427–8401. 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/permit/ 

incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act. In case 

of problems accessing these documents, 

please call the contact listed above. 

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 

issued or, if the taking is limited to 

harassment, a notice of a proposed IHA 

may be 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 26, 2021, NMFS received 

an application from NOAA’s Office of 

Marine and Aviation Operations 

requesting an IHA to take small 

numbers of nine species (Dall’s porpoise 

(Phocoenoides dalli), Steller sea lions 

(Eumetopias jubatus), Pacific whitesided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus 

obliquidens), killer whale (Orcinus 

orca), gray whale (Eschrichtius 

robustus), minke whale (Balaenoptera 

acutorostrata), harbor seal (Phoca 

vitulina), harbor porpoise (Phocoena 

phocoena) and humpback whale 

(Megaptera novaeangliae)) of marine 

mammals incidental to vibratory and 

impact pile driving and down-the-hole 

(DTH) system use associated with the 

project. The application was deemed 

adequate and complete on November 

16, 2021. NOAA’s request is for take of 

a small number of these species by 

Level A or Level B harassment. Neither 

NOAA nor NMFS expects serious injury 

or mortality to result from this activity 

and, therefore, an IHA is appropriate. 

Description of the Specified Activity 

Overview 

The purpose of the project is to 

remove an obsolete dock facility and 

construct a new facility including a 240 

feet (ft) × 50 ft floating pier connected 

to land by a transfer bridge. A small boat 

dock would be connected to the large 

ship pier and a small boat launch ramp 

will be constructed adjacent to the other 

structures. Table 1 provides a summary 

of the pile driving activities. Since the 

proposed authorization the applicant 

has decided that they may also remove 

the old steel piles with a vibratory 

hammer or direct pull. Because the steel 

piles being removed could be removed 

using either a vibratory hammer, pile 

clipper or hydraulic saw, we use the 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 26 / Tuesday, February 8, 2022 / Notices 7129 

loudest, most precautionary source level 

for those piles which are pile clippers. 

That change has no effect however on 

estimated take (see below). In summary, 

the project period includes 47 days of 

pile or DTH activities for which this 

IHA is requested. A detailed description 

of the planned project is provided in the 

Federal Register notice for the proposed 

IHA (86 FR 68223; December 1, 2021). 

Since that time, no additional changes 

have been made to the planned 

activities beyond adding voluntary 

acoustic monitoring and recognizing 

that there may be some 18-inch 

diameter steel piles, intermediate in size 

to the already identified 14 to 24-inch 

diameter steel piles as described below. 

Therefore, a detailed description is not 

provided here. Please refer to that 

Federal Register notice for the 

description of the specific activity. 

TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF PILE DRIVING ACTIVITIES AND USER SPREADSHEET INPUTS

Method Pile type Number of 

piles 

Minutes/strikes 

per pile Piles per day 

DTH ................................................................. 24-inch Steel .................................................. 18 25,000 1.5 

Impact ............................................................. ......................................................................... ........................ 48 1.5 

Vibratory .......................................................... 14-inch Timber ............................................... 130 2 10 

Vibratory .......................................................... 14 to 16-inch Steel ......................................... 28 5 5 

Vibratory .......................................................... 18 to 24-inch Steel ......................................... 42 5 5 

Small Pile Clipper ........................................... 14 to 16-inch Steel ......................................... 28 10 10 

Large Pile Clipper ........................................... 18 to 24-inch Steel ......................................... 42 10 10 

Totals ....................................................... ......................................................................... 218 ........................ ........................

All User spreadsheet calculations use Transmission Loss = 15 and standard weighting factor adjustments 

Mitigation, monitoring, and reporting 

measures are described in detail later in 

this document (please see Mitigation 

and Monitoring and Reporting). 

Comments and Responses 

A notice of NMFS’s proposal to issue 

an IHA to NOAA was published in the 

Federal Register on December 1, 2021 

(86 FR 68223). That notice described, in 

detail, NOAA’s activity, the marine 

mammal species that may be affected by 

the activity, and the anticipated effects 

on marine mammals. During the 30-day 

public comment period, NMFS received 

no public comments or comments from 

the Marine Mammal Commission. 

Changes From the Proposed IHA to 

Final IHA 

While we are not requiring acoustic 

monitoring or sound source verification 

studies for this project because the 

construction equipment and pile types 

and sizes are common ones for which 

we have significant data, the applicant 

has requested the possibility of altering 

shutdown and/or harassment zones 

based on voluntary acoustic monitoring, 

so we have added our standard term for 

this to the IHA (see below). 

Since the proposed authorization the 

applicant has decided that they may 

also remove the old steel piles with a 

vibratory hammer or direct pull, but as 

mentioned above, the source levels for 

these are quieter than the loudest 

possible tool that could be used to 

remove these piles, large pile clippers, 

so there is no effect on take (see above). 

They have also discovered that there 

may be some 18-inch diameter steel 

piles as part of the mix of pile sizes 

already described that vary from 14- to 

24-inch diameter. That change also has 

no effect however on estimated take. 

Direct pulling does not generate sounds 

exceeding the regulatory thresholds so 

need not be discussed further. 

The applicant has decided they would 

rather have hearing-group-specific 

shutdown zone sizes. Therefore the idea 

discussed in the proposed IHA of 

implementing fewer taxa-based 

shutdown ones has been rejected as 

described below. 

Some source level references in Table 

4 were incorrect and have been fixed. A 

few minor typographic errors were 

corrected. 

Description of Marine Mammals in the 

Area of Specified Activities 

Sections 3 and 4 of the application 

summarize available information 

regarding status and trends, distribution 

and habitat preferences, and behavior 

and life history, of the potentially 

affected species. Additional information 

regarding population trends and threats 

may be found in NMFS’s Stock 

Assessment Reports (SARs; https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/marinemammal-stock-assessments) and more 

general information about these species 

(e.g., physical and behavioral 

descriptions) may be found on NMFS’s 

website (https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/find-species). 

Table 2 lists all species with expected 

potential for occurrence in the project 

area and summarizes information 

related to the population or stock, 

including regulatory status under the 

MMPA and Endangered Species Act 

(ESA) and potential biological removal 

(PBR), where known. For taxonomy, we 

follow Committee on Taxonomy (2021). 

PBR is defined by the MMPA as the 

maximum number of animals, not 

including natural mortalities, that may 

be removed from a marine mammal 

stock while allowing that stock to reach 

or maintain its optimum sustainable 

population (as described in NMFS’s 

SARs). While no mortality is anticipated 

or authorized here, PBR and annual 

serious injury and mortality from 

anthropogenic sources are included here 

as gross indicators of the status of the 

species and other threats. 

Marine mammal abundance estimates 

presented in this document represent 

the total number of individuals that 

make up a given stock or the total 

number estimated within a particular 

study or survey area. NMFS’s stock 

abundance estimates for most species 

represent the total estimate of 

individuals within the geographic area, 

if known, that comprises that stock. For 

some species, this geographic area may 

extend beyond U.S. waters. All managed 

stocks in this region are assessed in 

NMFS’s U.S. Alaska or Pacific SARs, 

including the 2021 draft SARs. 


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TABLE 2—SPECIES THAT SPATIALLY CO-OCCUR WITH THE ACTIVITY TO THE DEGREE THAT TAKE IS REASONABLY LIKELY

TO OCCUR

Common name Scientific name Stock 

ESA/ 

MMPA 

status; 

strategic 

(Y/N) 1

Stock abundance 

(CV, Nmin, most recent 

abundance survey) 2

PBR Annual 

M/SI 3

Order Cetartiodactyla—Cetacea—Superfamily Mysticeti (baleen whales) 

Family Balaenopteridae 

(rorquals): 

Humpback whale ................ Megaptera novaeangliae .......... Central North Pacific ...... -,-; Y 10,103 (0.3, 7,890, 2006) ......... 83 26 

Minke Whale ....................... Balaenoptera acutorostrata ...... Alaska ............................. -,-; N N/A (see SAR, N/A, see SAR) UND 0 

Family Eschrichtiidae (gray 

whale): 

Gray Whale ......................... Eschrichtius robustus ................ Eastern North Pacific ..... -,-; N 26,960 (0.05, 25,849, 2016) ..... 801 131 

Superfamily Odontoceti (toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises) 

Family Delphinidae: 

Pacific white-sided dolphin Lagenorhynchus obliquidens .... North Pacific ................... -,-; N 26,880 (N/A, N/A, 1990) ........... UND 0 

Killer Whale ........................ Orcinus orca ............................. Northern Resident .......... -,-; N 302 (N/A, 302, 2018) ................ 2.2 0.2 

Alaska Resident ............. -,-; N 2,347 (N/A, 2347, 2012) ........... 24 1 

West Coast Transient ..... -,-; N 349 (N/A, 349, 2018) ................ 3.5 0.4 

Family Phocoenidae (porpoises): 

Harbor porpoise .................. Phocoena phocoena ................. Southeast Alaska ........... -, -; N see SAR (see SAR, see SAR, 

2012).

See SAR 34 

Dall’s porpoise .................... Phocoenoides dalli .................... Entire Alaska Stock ........ -, -; N 83,400 (0.097, N/A, 1991) ........ UND 38 

Order Carnivora—Superfamily Pinnipedia 

Family Otariidae (sea lions and 

fur seals): 

Steller sea lion ........................... Eumetopias jubatus .................. Eastern Stock ................. -, -; N 43,201 a (see SAR, 43,201, 

2017).

2592 112 

Family Phocidae (earless seals): 

Harbor seal ......................... Phoca vitulina ........................... Clarence Strait ................ -; N 27,659 (see SAR, 24,854, 

2015).

746 40 

1Endangered Species Act (ESA) status: Endangered (E), Threatened (T)/MMPA status: Depleted (D). A dash (-) indicates that the species is not listed under the 

ESA or designated as depleted under the MMPA. Under the MMPA, a strategic stock is one for which the level of direct human-caused mortality exceeds PBR or 

which is determined to be declining and likely to be listed under the ESA within the foreseeable future. Any species or stock listed under the ESA is automatically 

designated under the MMPA as depleted and as a strategic stock. 2 NMFS marine mammal stock assessment reports online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-stock-assessmentreports. CV is coefficient of variation; Nmin is the minimum estimate of stock abundance. 3These values, found in NMFS’s SARs, represent annual levels of human-caused mortality plus serious injury from all sources combined (e.g., commercial fisheries, ship strike). Annual Mortality/Serious Injury (M/SI) often cannot be determined precisely and is in some cases presented as a minimum value or range. A CV 

associated with estimated mortality due to commercial fisheries is presented in some cases. 

Humpback whales, minke whales, 

gray whales, Pacific white-sided 

dolphin, killer whale, harbor porpoise, 

Dall’s porpoise, harbor seal, and Steller 

sea lions spatially co-occur with the 

activity to the degree that take is 

reasonably likely to occur, and we have 

proposed authorizing take of these 

species. Fin whale could potentially 

occur in the area, however there are no 

known sightings nearby so the species is 

very rare, is readily observed, and the 

applicant would shut down pile driving 

if they enter the project area. Thus take 

is not expected to occur, and they are 

not discussed further. 

A detailed description of the of the 

species likely to be affected by the 

project, including brief introductions to 

the species and relevant stocks as well 

as available information regarding 

population trends and threats, and 

information regarding local occurrence, 

were provided in the Federal Register 

notice for the proposed IHA (86 FR 

68223; December 1, 2021); since that 

time, we are not aware of any changes 

in the status of these species and stocks; 

therefore, detailed descriptions are not 

provided here. Please refer to that 

Federal Register notice for these 

descriptions. Please also refer to NMFS’ 

website (https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/find-species) for 

generalized species accounts. 

Potential Effects of Specified Activities 

on Marine Mammals and Their Habitat 

The effects of underwater noise from 

NOAA’s construction activities have the 

potential to result in behavioral 

harassment of marine mammals in the 

vicinity of the survey area. The notice 

of proposed IHA (86 FR 68223; 

December 1, 2021) included a 

discussion of the effects of 

anthropogenic noise on marine 

mammals and the potential effects of 

underwater noise from NOAA’s 

construction on marine mammals and 

their habitat. That information and 

analysis is incorporated by reference 

into this final IHA determination and is 

not repeated here; please refer to the 

notice of proposed IHA (86 FR 68223; 

December 1, 2021). 

Estimated Take 

This section provides an estimate of 

the number of incidental takes 

authorized through this IHA, which will 

inform both NMFS’ consideration of 

‘‘small numbers’’ and the negligible 

impact determination. 

Harassment is the only type of take 

expected to result from these activities. 

Except with respect to certain activities 

not pertinent here, section 3(18) of 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). 


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Authorized takes would primarily be 

by Level B harassment, as use of the 

acoustic sources (i.e., vibratory or 

impact pile driving and DTH) have the 

potential to result in disruption of 

behavioral patterns for individual 

marine mammals. There is also some 

potential for auditory injury (Level A 

harassment) to result for porpoises and 

harbor seals because predicted auditory 

injury zones are larger. The mitigation 

and monitoring measures are expected 

to minimize the severity of the taking to 

the extent practicable. 

As described previously, no mortality 

is anticipated or authorized for this 

activity. Below we describe how the 

take is estimated. 

Generally speaking, we estimate take 

by considering: (1) Acoustic thresholds 

above which marine mammals will be 

behaviorally harassed or incur some 

degree of permanent hearing 

impairment; (2) the area or volume of 

water that will be ensonified above 

these levels in a day; (3) the density or 

occurrence of marine mammals within 

these ensonified areas; and, (4) the 

number of days of activities. We note 

that while these basic factors can 

contribute to a basic calculation to 

provide an initial prediction of takes, 

additional information that can 

qualitatively inform take estimates is 

also sometimes available (e.g., previous 

monitoring results or average group 

size). Due to the lack of marine mammal 

density, NMFS relied on local 

occurrence data and group size to 

estimate take for some species. Below, 

we describe the factors considered here 

in more detail and present the proposed 

take estimate. 

Acoustic Thresholds 

NMFS recommends the use of 

acoustic thresholds that identify the 

received level of underwater sound 

above which exposed marine mammals 

would be reasonably expected to be 

behaviorally harassed (equated to Level 

B harassment) or to incur PTS of some 

degree (equated to Level A harassment). 

Level B Harassment for non-explosive 

sources—Though significantly driven by 

received level, the onset of behavioral 

disturbance from anthropogenic noise 

exposure is also informed to varying 

degrees by other factors related to the 

source (e.g., frequency, predictability, 

duty cycle), the environment (e.g., 

bathymetry), and the receiving animals 

(hearing, motivation, experience, 

demography, behavioral context) and 

can be difficult to predict (Southall et 

al., 2007, Ellison et al., 2012). Based on 

what the available science indicates and 

the practical need to use a threshold 

based on a factor that is both predictable 

and measurable for most activities, 

NMFS uses a generalized acoustic 

threshold based on received level to 

estimate the onset of behavioral 

harassment. NMFS predicts that marine 

mammals are likely to be behaviorally 

harassed in a manner we consider Level 

B harassment when exposed to 

underwater anthropogenic noise above 

received levels of 120 dB re 1 

microPascal (mPa) (root mean square 

(rms)) for continuous (e.g., vibratory 

pile-driving) and above 160 dB re 1 mPa 

(rms) for non-explosive impulsive (e.g., 

impact pile driving) or intermittent (e.g., 

scientific sonar) sources. 

NOAA’s proposed activity includes 

the use of continuous (vibratory 

hammer and DTH) and impulsive (DTH 

and impact pile-driving) sources, and 

therefore the 120 and 160 dB re 1 mPa 

(rms) thresholds are applicable. 

Level A harassment for non-explosive 

sources—NMFS’ Technical Guidance 

for Assessing the Effects of 

Anthropogenic Sound on Marine 

Mammal Hearing (Version 2.0) 

(Technical Guidance, 2018) identifies 

dual criteria to assess auditory injury 

(Level A harassment) to five different 

marine mammal groups (based on 

hearing sensitivity) as a result of 

exposure to noise from two different 

types of sources (impulsive or nonimpulsive). NOAA’s activity includes 

the use of impulsive (impact piledriving and DTH) and non-impulsive 

(vibratory hammer and DTH) sources. 

These thresholds are provided in 

Table 3. The references, analysis, and 

methodology used in the development 

of the thresholds are described in NMFS 

2018 Technical Guidance, which may 

be accessed at https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/marinemammal-acoustic-technical-guidance. 

TABLE 3—THRESHOLDS IDENTIFYING THE ONSET OF PERMANENT THRESHOLD SHIFT

Hearing group 

PTS onset acoustic thresholds * 

(received level) 

Impulsive Non-impulsive 

Low-Frequency (LF) Cetaceans ...................................... Cell 1: Lpk,flat: 219 dB; LE,LF,24h: 183 dB ......................... Cell 2: LE,LF,24h: 199 dB. 

Mid-Frequency (MF) Cetaceans ...................................... Cell 3: Lpk,flat: 230 dB; LE,MF,24h: 185 dB ........................ Cell 4: LE,MF,24h: 198 dB. 

High-Frequency (HF) Cetaceans ..................................... Cell 5: Lpk,flat: 202 dB; LE,HF,24h: 155 dB ........................ Cell 6: LE,HF,24h: 173 dB. 

Phocid Pinnipeds (PW) (Underwater) ............................. Cell 7: Lpk,flat: 218 dB; LE,PW,24h: 185 dB ....................... Cell 8: LE,PW,24h: 201 dB. 

Otariid Pinnipeds (OW) (Underwater) ............................. Cell 9: Lpk,flat: 232 dB; LE,OW,24h: 203 dB ....................... Cell 10: LE,OW,24h: 219 dB. 

* Dual metric acoustic thresholds for impulsive sounds: Use whichever results in the largest isopleth for calculating PTS onset. If a non-impulsive sound has the potential of exceeding the peak sound pressure level thresholds associated with impulsive sounds, these thresholds should 

also be considered. 

Note: Peak sound pressure (Lpk) has a reference value of 1 μPa, and cumulative sound exposure level (LE) has a reference value of 1μPa2s. 

In this Table, thresholds are abbreviated to reflect American National Standards Institute standards (ANSI 2013). However, peak sound pressure 

is defined by ANSI as incorporating frequency weighting, which is not the intent for this Technical Guidance. Hence, the subscript ‘‘flat’’ is being 

included to indicate peak sound pressure should be flat weighted or unweighted within the generalized hearing range. The subscript associated 

with cumulative sound exposure level thresholds indicates the designated marine mammal auditory weighting function (LF, MF, and HF 

cetaceans, and PW and OW pinnipeds) and that the recommended accumulation period is 24 hours. The cumulative sound exposure level 

thresholds could be exceeded in a multitude of ways (i.e., varying exposure levels and durations, duty cycle). When possible, it is valuable for 

action proponents to indicate the conditions under which these acoustic thresholds will be exceeded. 

Ensonified Area 

Here, we describe operational and 

environmental parameters of the activity 

that will feed into identifying the area 

ensonified above the acoustic 

thresholds, which include source levels 

and transmission loss coefficient. 

The sound field in the project area is 

the existing background noise plus 

additional construction noise from the 

proposed project. Marine mammals are 

expected to be affected via sound 

generated by the primary components of 

the project (i.e., impact and vibratory 

pile driving, and DTH). 

In order to calculate distances to the 

Level A harassment and Level B 

harassment sound thresholds for the 

methods and piles being used in this 


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project, NMFS used acoustic monitoring 

data from other locations to develop 

source levels for the various pile types, 

sizes and methods (Table 4). Because 

the steel piles being removed could be 

removed using either a vibratory 

hammer, pile clipper or hydraulic saw, 

we use the loudest, most precautionary 

source level for our analysis of the 

removal of those piles. 

TABLE 4—PROJECT SOUND SOURCE LEVELS

Method Estimated noise levels 

(dB) Source 

24-inch DTH—impulsive ................................................... 154 SELss ....................................................................... Reyff & Heyvaert (2019). 

24-inch DTH—non-impulsive ............................................ 166 dB RMS .................................................................... Denes et al. (2016). 

24-inch Steel Impact ......................................................... 211.2 Pk, 182.1 SEL, 197 RMS ..................................... Denes et al. (2016) max. 

14-inch Timber Vibratory .................................................. 157 RMS ......................................................................... WADOT (2011) plus 4 dB. 

Small Pile Clipper ............................................................. 154 RMS ......................................................................... NAVFAC SW (2020). 

Large Pile Clipper ............................................................. 161 RMS ......................................................................... NAVFAC SW (2020). 

Note: SEL = single strike sound exposure level; RMS = root mean square. 

Level B Harassment Zones 

Transmission loss (TL) is the decrease 

in acoustic intensity as an acoustic 

pressure wave propagates out from a 

source. TL parameters vary with 

frequency, temperature, sea conditions, 

current, source and receiver depth, 

water depth, water chemistry, and 

bottom composition and topography. 

The general formula for underwater TL 

is: 

TL = B * Log10 (R1/R2), 

where 

TL = transmission loss in dB 

B = transmission loss coefficient; for practical 

spreading equals 15 

R1 = the distance of the modeled SPL from 

the driven pile, and 

R2 = the distance from the driven pile of the 

initial measurement 

The recommended TL coefficient for 

most nearshore environments is the 

practical spreading value of 15. This 

value results in an expected propagation 

environment that would lie between 

spherical and cylindrical spreading loss 

conditions, which is the most 

appropriate assumption for NOAA’s 

proposed activity in the absence of 

specific modelling. 

NOAA determined underwater noise 

would fall below the behavioral effects 

threshold of 160 dB RMS for impact 

driving at 2,530 m and the 120 dB rms 

threshold for the other methods at 

between 1848 and 11,659 m (Table 5). 

It should be noted that based on the 

bathymetry and geography of the project 

area, sound will not reach the full 

distance of the harassment isopleths in 

all directions. 

Level A Harassment Zones 

When the NMFS Technical Guidance 

(2016) was published, in recognition of 

the fact that ensonified area/volume 

could be more technically challenging 

to predict because of the duration 

component in the new thresholds, we 

developed a User Spreadsheet that 

includes tools to help predict a simple 

isopleth that can be used in conjunction 

with marine mammal density or 

occurrence to help predict takes. We 

note that because of some of the 

assumptions included in the methods 

used for these tools, we anticipate that 

isopleths produced are typically going 

to be overestimates of some degree, 

which may result in some degree of 

overestimate of take by Level A 

harassment. However, these tools offer 

the best way to predict appropriate 

isopleths when more sophisticated 3D 

modeling methods are not available, and 

NMFS continues to develop ways to 

quantitatively refine these tools, and 

will qualitatively address the output 

where appropriate. For stationary 

sources such as pile driving or removal 

and DTH using any of the methods 

discussed above, NMFS User 

Spreadsheet predicts the closest 

distance at which, if a marine mammal 

remained at that distance the whole 

duration of the activity, it would not 

incur PTS. We used the User 

Spreadsheet to determine the Level A 

harassment isopleths. Inputs used in the 

User Spreadsheet or models are reported 

in Table 1 and the resulting isopleths 

are reported in Table 5 for each of the 

construction methods and scenarios. 

TABLE 5—LEVEL A AND LEVEL B ISOPLETHS (METERS) FOR EACH METHOD

Method Pile type Low 

frequency 

Midfrequency High 

frequency Phocids Otariids Level B 

DTH ................................... 24-inch steel ..................... 130 5 155 70 5 11,659 

Impact ............................... 24-inch steel ..................... 151 5 179 81 6 2,530 

Vibratory ............................ 14-inch Timber ................. 2 0 3 1 0 2,929 

Small Pile Clipper ............. 14 to 20-inch Steel ........... 3.3 0 5 2 0 1,848 

Large Pile Clipper ............. 14- to 24-inch Steel .......... 9.6 1 14 6 0 5,412 

Marine Mammal Occurrence and Take 

Calculation and Estimation 

In this section we provide the 

information about the presence or group 

dynamics of marine mammals that will 

inform the take calculations. No density 

data are available for species in the 

project area. Here we describe how the 

information provided above is brought 

together to produce a quantitative take 

estimate. The estimates below are 

similar to and informed by prior 

projects in the Ketchikan area as 

discussed above. A summary of 

proposed take is in Table 6. 

Humpback Whale 

Humpback whales are expected to 

occur in the project area no more than 

twice per five-day work week. Typical 

group size for humpback whales in the 

project area is two animals. The project 

involves 47 days (10 work weeks) of inwater work where take could occur. 

Therefore, we estimate total take at 2 

whales x 2/week x 10 weeks = 40 takes. 

All of these takes are expected to be 

Level B harassment takes as we believe 

the Level A shutdown zones can be 


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fully implemented by Protected Species 

Observers (PSO) because of the large 

size, short dive duration, and obvious 

behaviors of humpback whales. 

Given the data in Wade (2021) 

discussed above on the relative 

frequencies of Hawaii and Mexico DPS 

humpback whales in the project area the 

40 takes is expected to comprise 39 

Hawaii DPS animals and 1 Mexico DPS 

animal. 

Minke Whale 

As discussed above minke whales 

have not been seen in the project area 

but could occur there. They are often 

solitary. Therefore we conservatively 

authorize a single take of minke whales. 

This one estimated take is expected to 

be by Level B harassment as we believe 

the Level A shutdown zones can be 

fully implemented by PSOs because of 

the large size, short dive duration, and 

obvious behaviors of minke whales. 

Gray Whale 

Gray whales are expected to occur in 

the project area no more than once per 

month. Typical group size for gray 

whales in the project area is two 

animals. The project involves 47 days of 

in-water work where take could occur. 

Therefore, we estimate total take at two 

whales × two full months = four takes. 

All of these takes are expected to be 

Level B harassment takes as we believe 

the Level A shutdown zones can be 

fully implemented by PSOs because of 

the large size, short dive duration, and 

obvious behaviors of gray whales. 

Killer Whale 

Killer whales are expected to occur in 

the project area no more than once per 

month. Typical group size for killer 

whales in the project area is 

conservatively estimated at 10 animals. 

The project involves 47 days of in-water 

work where take could occur. Therefore, 

we estimate total take at 10 whales × 2 

full months = 20 takes. All of these takes 

are expected to be Level B harassment 

takes as we believe the Level A 

shutdown zones can be fully 

implemented by PSOs because of the 

large size, short dive duration, and 

obvious behaviors of killer whales and 

the smaller size of the shutdown zones. 

Pacific White-Sided Dolphin 

Pacific white-sided dolphins are 

expected to occur in the project area no 

more than once per week. Typical group 

size for Pacific white-sided dolphins in 

the project area is 20 animals. The 

project involves 10 work weeks of inwater work where take could occur. 

Therefore, we estimate total take at 20 

dolphins × 10 weeks = 200 takes. All of 

these takes are expected to be Level B 

harassment takes as we believe the 

Level A shutdown zones can be fully 

implemented by PSOs because of the 

large group size, short dive duration, 

and obvious behaviors of Pacific whitesided dolphins and the smaller size of 

the shutdown zones. 

Harbor Porpoise 

Harbor porpoises are expected to 

occur in the project area no more than 

three times per month. Typical group 

size for harbor porpoises in the project 

area is 5 animals. The project involves 

47 days (2 months) of in-water work 

where take could occur. Therefore, we 

estimate total take at 5 porpoises × 6/ 

month = 30 takes. Twenty of these takes 

are expected to be Level B harassment 

takes. Because harbor porpoises are 

small and cryptic and could sometimes 

remain undetected within the estimated 

harassment zones for a duration 

sufficient to experience PTS, we 

authorize 10 takes by Level A 

harassment. 

Dall’s Porpoise 

Dall’s porpoises are expected to occur 

in the project area no more than three 

times. Typical group size for Dall’s 

porpoises in the project area is 20 

animals. The project involves two 

months of in-water work where take 

could occur. Therefore, we estimate 

total take at 20 porpoises × 3 = 60 takes. 

Forty of these takes are expected to be 

Level B harassment takes. Because 

Dall’s porpoises are small and cryptic 

and could sometimes remain undetected 

within the estimated harassment zones 

for a duration sufficient to experience 

PTS, we authorize 20 takes by Level A 

harassment. 

Harbor Seal 

Harbor seals are expected to occur in 

the project area once per day. The 

typical number of harbor seals per day 

in the project area is up to 12 animals. 

The project involves 47 days of in-water 

work where take could occur. Therefore, 

we estimate total take at 12 seals × 47 

days = 564 takes. Seventy-five percent 

or 423 of these takes are expected to be 

Level B harassment takes. Because 

harbor seals are small and cryptic and 

could sometimes remain undetected 

within the estimated harassment zones 

for a duration sufficient to experience 

PTS, we authorize 141 takes by Level A 

harassment. 

Steller Sea Lion 

Steller sea lions are expected to occur 

in the project area once per day. The 

typical number of Steller sea lions per 

day in the project area is up to 10 

animals. The project involves 47 days of 

in-water work where take could occur. 

Therefore, we estimate total take at 10 

sea lions × 47 days = 470 takes. Because 

the shutdown zone is small and Steller 

sea lions are not cryptic we believe the 

Level A shutdown zones can be fully 

implemented by PSOs and no Level A 

harassment take is authorized. 

TABLE 6—PROPOSED AUTHORIZED AMOUNT OF TAKING, BY LEVEL A HARASSMENT AND LEVEL B HARASSMENT, BY

SPECIES AND STOCK AND PERCENT OF TAKE BY STOCK

Common name Stock Level B 

harassment 

Level A 

harassment 

Percent 

of stock 

Humpback whale * .......................................... Central North Pacific ...................................... 40 0 0.4 

Minke whale .................................................... Alaska ............................................................. 1 0 <0.1 

Gray whale ...................................................... Eastern North Pacific ..................................... 4 0 <0.1 

Killer whale ...................................................... Northern Resident, Alaska Resident, West 

Coast Transient.

20 0 <6.7 

Pacific White-sided dolphin ............................. North Pacific ................................................... 200 0 0.7 

Dall’s porpoise ................................................ Alaska ............................................................. 40 20 <0.1 

Harbor porpoise .............................................. Southeast Alaska ........................................... 20 10 0.3 

Harbor seal ..................................................... Clarence Strait ............................................... 423 141 2.1 

Steller sea lion ................................................ Eastern DPS .................................................. 470 0 1.1 

* 1 take from the ESA listed Mexico DPS. 


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Mitigation 

In order to issue an IHA under section 

101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA, NMFS must 

set forth the permissible methods of 

taking pursuant to the activity, and 

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 certain subsistence uses 

(latter not applicable for this action). 

NMFS regulations require applicants for 

IHAs to include information about the 

availability and feasibility (economic 

and technological) of equipment, 

methods, and manner of conducting the 

activity or other means of effecting the 

least practicable adverse impact upon 

the affected species or stocks and their 

habitat (50 CFR 216.104(a)(11)). 

In evaluating how mitigation may or 

may not be appropriate to ensure the 

least practicable adverse impact on 

species or stocks and their habitat, as 

well as subsistence uses where 

applicable, we carefully consider two 

primary factors: 

(1) The manner in which, and the 

degree to which, the successful 

implementation of the measure(s) is 

expected to reduce impacts to marine 

mammals, marine mammal species or 

stocks, and their habitat. This considers 

the nature of the potential adverse 

impact being mitigated (likelihood, 

scope, range). It further considers the 

likelihood that the measure will be 

effective if implemented (probability of 

accomplishing the mitigating result if 

implemented as planned), the 

likelihood of effective implementation 

(probability implemented as planned); 

and 

(2) The practicability of the measures 

for applicant implementation, which 

may consider such things as cost, 

impact on operations, and, in the case 

of a military readiness activity, 

personnel safety, practicality of 

implementation, and impact on the 

effectiveness of the military readiness 

activity. 

Because of the need for an ESA 

Section 7 consultation for effects of the 

project on ESA listed humpback whales, 

there are a number of mitigation 

measures that go beyond or are in 

addition to typical mitigation measures 

we would otherwise require for this sort 

of project. The measures are however 

typical for actions in the Ketchikan area. 

The following mitigation measures are 

in the IHA: 

• Avoid direct physical interaction 

with marine mammals during 

construction activity. If a marine 

mammal comes within 10 m of such 

activity, operations must cease and 

vessels must reduce speed to the 

minimum level required to maintain 

steerage and safe working conditions; 

• Conduct training between 

construction supervisors and crews and 

the marine mammal monitoring team 

and relevant NOAA staff prior to the 

start of all pile driving and DTH activity 

and when new personnel join the work, 

so that responsibilities, communication 

procedures, monitoring protocols, and 

operational procedures are clearly 

understood; 

• Pile driving activity must be halted 

upon observation of either a species for 

which incidental take is not authorized 

or a species for which incidental take 

has been authorized but the authorized 

number of takes has been met, entering 

or within the harassment zone. If an 

ESA listed marine mammal is 

determined by the PSO to have been 

disturbed, harassed, harmed, injured, or 

killed (e.g., a listed marine mammal is 

observed entering a shutdown zone 

before operations can be shut down, or 

is injured or killed as a direct or indirect 

result of this action), the PSO will report 

the incident to within one business day 

to akr.section7@noaa.gov; 

• NOAA will establish and 

implement the shutdown zones 

indicated in Table 7. The purpose of a 

shutdown zone is generally to define an 

area within which shutdown of the 

activity would occur upon sighting of a 

marine mammal (or in anticipation of an 

animal entering the defined area). 

Shutdown zones typically vary based on 

the activity type and marine mammal 

hearing group. At the applicant’s 

request we will not implement the 

single shutdown zone size per activity 

discussed in the proposed IHA; 

• Employ PSOs and establish 

monitoring locations as described in the 

Marine Mammal Monitoring Plan and 

Section 5 of the IHA. The Holder must 

monitor the project area to the 

maximum extent possible based on the 

required number of PSOs, required 

monitoring locations, and 

environmental conditions. For all pile 

driving and removal at least three PSOs 

must be used; 

• The placement of the PSOs during 

all pile driving and removal and DTH 

activities will ensure that the entire 

shutdown zone is visible during pile 

installation. Should environmental 

conditions deteriorate such that marine 

mammals within the entire shutdown 

zone will not be visible (e.g., fog, heavy 

rain), pile driving and removal must be 

delayed until the PSO is confident 

marine mammals within the shutdown 

zone could be detected; 

• Monitoring must take place from 30 

minutes prior to initiation of pile 

driving activity through 30 minutes 

post-completion of pile driving activity. 

Pre-start clearance monitoring must be 

conducted during periods of visibility 

sufficient for the lead PSO to determine 

the shutdown zones clear of marine 

mammals. Pile driving may commence 

following 30 minutes of observation 

when the determination is made; 

• If pile driving is delayed or halted 

due to the presence of a marine 

mammal, the activity may not 

commence or resume until either the 

animal has voluntarily exited and been 

visually confirmed beyond the 

shutdown zone or 15 minutes have 

passed without re-detection of the 

animal (30 minutes for humpback 

whales); 

• For humpback whales, if the 

boundaries of the harassment zone have 

not been monitored continuously during 

a work stoppage, the entire harassment 

zone will be surveyed again to ensure 

that no humpback whales have entered 

the harassment zone that were not 

previously accounted for; 

• In-water activities will take place 

only: Between civil dawn and civil dusk 

when PSOs can effectively monitor for 

the presence of marine mammals; 

during conditions with a Beaufort Sea 

State of 4 or less; when the entire 

shutdown zone and adjacent waters are 

visible (e.g., monitoring effectiveness is 

not reduced due to rain, fog, snow, etc.). 

Pile driving activities may continue for 

up to 30 minutes after sunset during 

evening civil twilight, as necessary to 

secure a pile for safety prior to 

demobilization for the evening. PSO(s) 

will continue to observe shutdown and 

monitoring zones during this time. The 

length of the post-activity monitoring 

period may be reduced if darkness 

precludes visibility of the shutdown and 

monitoring zones; 

• Vessel operators will maintain a 

watch for marine mammals at all times 

while underway; stay at least 91 m (100 

yards (yd)) away from listed marine 

mammals; travel at less than 5 knots (9 

km/hr) when within 274 m (300 yd) of 

a whale; avoid changes in direction and 

speed when within 274 m (300 yd) of 

whales, unless doing so is necessary for 

maritime safety; not position vessel(s) in 

the path of whales, and will not cut in 

front of whales in a way or at a distance 

that causes the whales to change their 

direction of travel or behavior 

(including breathing/surfacing pattern); 

check the waters immediately adjacent 

to the vessel(s) to ensure that no whales 

will be injured when the propellers are 

engaged; reduce vessel speed to 10 

knots or less when weather conditions 


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reduce visibility to 1.6 km (1 mi) or less; 

adhere to the Alaska Humpback Whale 

Approach Regulations when transiting 

to and from the project site (see 50 CFR 

216.18, 223.214, and 224.103(b)); not 

allow lines to remain in the water, and 

no trash or other debris will be thrown 

overboard, thereby reducing the 

potential for marine mammal 

entanglement; follow established transit 

routes and will travel <10 knots while 

in the harassment zones; the speed limit 

within Tongass Narrows is 7 knots for 

vessels over 23 ft in length. If a whale’s 

course and speed are such that it will 

likely cross in front of a vessel that is 

underway, or approach within 91 m 

(100 yards (yd)) of the vessel, and if 

maritime conditions safely allow, the 

engine will be put in neutral and the 

whale will be allowed to pass beyond 

the vessel; and 

• NOAA must use soft start 

techniques when impact pile driving. 

Soft start requires contractors to provide 

an initial set of three strikes at reduced 

energy, followed by a 30-second waiting 

period, then two subsequent reducedenergy strike sets. A soft start must be 

implemented at the start of each day’s 

impact pile driving and at any time 

following cessation of impact pile 

driving for a period of 30 minutes or 

longer. 

TABLE 7—MINIMUM REQUIRED SHUTDOWN ZONES (METERS) BY HEARING GROUP FOR EACH METHOD

Method Pile type Low 

frequency 

Midfrequency High 

frequency Phocids Otariids 

DTH ..................................... 24-inch steel ....................... 130 10 160 70 10 

Impact ................................. 24-inch steel ....................... 160 10 180 90 10 

Vibratory .............................. 14-inch Timber ................... 10 10 10 10 10 

Small Pile Clipper ............... 14 to 16-inch Steel ............. 10 10 10 10 10 

Large Pile Clipper ............... 18- to 24-inch Steel ............ 10 10 20 10 10 

Based on our evaluation of the 

applicant’s proposed measures, as well 

as other measures considered by NMFS, 

NMFS has determined that the 

mitigation measures provide the means 

effecting the least practicable impact on 

the affected species or stocks and their 

habitat, paying particular attention to 

rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of 

similar significance. 

Monitoring and Reporting 

In order to issue an IHA for an 

activity, section 101(a)(5)(D) of the 

MMPA states that NMFS must set forth 

requirements pertaining to the 

monitoring and reporting of such taking. 

The MMPA implementing regulations at 

50 CFR 216.104(a)(13) indicate that 

requests for authorizations must include 

the suggested means of accomplishing 

the necessary monitoring and reporting 

that will result in increased knowledge 

of the species and of the level of taking 

or impacts on populations of marine 

mammals that are expected to be 

present in the proposed action area. 

Effective reporting is critical both to 

compliance as well as ensuring that the 

most value is obtained from the required 

monitoring. 

Monitoring and reporting 

requirements prescribed by NMFS 

should contribute to improved 

understanding of one or more of the 

following: 

• Occurrence of marine mammal 

species or stocks in the area in which 

take is anticipated (e.g., presence, 

abundance, distribution, density); 

• Nature, scope, or context of likely 

marine mammal exposure to potential 

stressors/impacts (individual or 

cumulative, acute or chronic), through 

better understanding of: (1) Action or 

environment (e.g., source 

characterization, propagation, ambient 

noise); (2) affected species (e.g., life 

history, dive patterns); (3) co-occurrence 

of marine mammal species with the 

action; or (4) biological or behavioral 

context of exposure (e.g., age, calving or 

feeding areas); 

• Individual marine mammal 

responses (behavioral or physiological) 

to acoustic stressors (acute, chronic, or 

cumulative), other stressors, or 

cumulative impacts from multiple 

stressors; 

• How anticipated responses to 

stressors impact either: (1) Long-term 

fitness and survival of individual 

marine mammals; or (2) populations, 

species, or stocks; 

• Effects on marine mammal habitat 

(e.g., marine mammal prey species, 

acoustic habitat, or other important 

physical components of marine 

mammal habitat); and 

• Mitigation and monitoring 

effectiveness. 

Visual Monitoring 

Monitoring must be conducted by 

qualified, NMFS-approved PSOs, in 

accordance with the following: 

• PSOs must be independent (i.e., not 

construction personnel) and have no 

other assigned tasks during monitoring 

periods. At least one PSO must have 

prior experience performing the duties 

of a PSO during construction activity 

pursuant to a NMFS-issued IHA. Other 

PSOs may substitute other relevant 

experience, education (degree in 

biological science or related field), or 

training. PSOs must be approved by 

NMFS prior to beginning any activity 

subject to this IHA; and 

• PSOs must record all observations 

of marine mammals as described in the 

Section 5 of the IHA and the Marine 

Mammal Monitoring Plan, regardless of 

distance from the pile being driven. 

PSOs shall document any behavioral 

reactions in concert with distance from 

piles being driven or removed; 

PSOs must have the following 

additional qualifications: 

• Ability to conduct field 

observations and collect data according 

to assigned protocols; 

• Experience or training in the field 

identification of marine mammals, 

including the identification of 

behaviors; 

• Sufficient training, orientation, or 

experience with the construction 

operation to provide for personal safety 

during observations; 

• Writing skills sufficient to prepare a 

report of observations including but not 

limited to the number and species of 

marine mammals observed; dates and 

times when in-water construction 

activities were conducted; dates, times, 

and reason for implementation of 

mitigation (or why mitigation was not 

implemented when required); and 

marine mammal behavior; and 

• Ability to communicate orally, by 

radio or in person, with project 

personnel to provide real-time 

information on marine mammals 

observed in the area as necessary; 

NOAA must establish the following 

monitoring locations. For all pile 

driving and DTH activities, a minimum 

of one PSO must be assigned to the 

active pile driving or DTH location to 

monitor the shutdown zones and as 

much of the Level B harassment zones 

as possible. For all pile driving and DTH 

activities, two additional PSOs are 


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required. The additional PSOs will start 

at the project site and travel along 

Tongass Narrows, counting all 

humpback whales present, until they 

have reached the edge of the respective 

harassment zone. At this point, the 

PSOs will identify suitable observation 

points from which to observe the width 

of Tongass Narrows for the duration of 

pile driving activities. For the largest 

DTH zones these are expected to be on 

South Tongass Highway near Mountain 

Point and North Tongass Highway just 

northwest of the intersection with 

Carlanna Creek. See application Figure 

11–1 for map of PSO locations. If 

visibility deteriorates so that the entire 

width of Tongass Narrows at the 

harassment zone boundary is not 

visible, additional PSOs may be 

positioned so that the entire width is 

visible, or work will be halted until the 

entire width is visible to ensure that any 

humpback whales entering or within the 

harassment zone are detected by PSOs. 

Acoustic Monitoring 

While we are not requiring acoustic 

monitoring or sound source verification 

studies for this project because the 

construction equipment and pile types 

and sizes are common ones for which 

we have significant data, the applicant 

has requested the possibility of altering 

shutdown and/or harassment zones 

based on voluntary acoustic monitoring, 

so we have added our standard term for 

this to the IHA: The harassment and/or 

shutdown zones may be modified with 

NMFS’ approval following NMFS’ 

acceptance of an acoustic monitoring 

report. 

Reporting 

A draft marine mammal monitoring 

report will be submitted to NMFS 

within 90 days after the completion of 

pile driving and removal activities, or 

60 days prior to a requested date of 

issuance of any future IHAs for projects 

at the same location, whichever comes 

first. The report will include an overall 

description of work completed, a 

narrative regarding marine mammal 

sightings, and associated PSO data 

sheets. Specifically, the report must 

include: 

• Dates and times (begin and end) of 

all marine mammal monitoring; 

• Construction activities occurring 

during each daily observation period, 

including the number and type of piles 

driven or removed and by what method 

(i.e., impact, vibratory or DTH) and the 

total equipment duration for vibratory 

removal or DTH for each pile or hole or 

total number of strikes for each pile 

(impact driving); 

• PSO locations during marine 

mammal monitoring; 

• Environmental conditions during 

monitoring periods (at beginning and 

end of PSO shift and whenever 

conditions change significantly), 

including Beaufort sea state and any 

other relevant weather conditions 

including cloud cover, fog, sun glare, 

and overall visibility to the horizon, and 

estimated observable distance; 

• Upon observation of a marine 

mammal, the following information: 

Name of PSO who sighted the animal(s) 

and PSO location and activity at time of 

sighting; Time of sighting; Identification 

of the animal(s) (e.g., genus/species, 

lowest possible taxonomic level, or 

unidentified), PSO confidence in 

identification, and the composition of 

the group if there is a mix of species; 

Distance and bearing of each marine 

mammal observed relative to the pile 

being driven for each sighting (if pile 

driving was occurring at time of 

sighting); Estimated number of animals 

(min/max/best estimate); Estimated 

number of animals by cohort (adults, 

juveniles, neonates, group composition, 

etc.); Animal’s closest point of approach 

and estimated time spent within the 

harassment zone; Description of any 

marine mammal behavioral observations 

(e.g., observed behaviors such as feeding 

or traveling), including an assessment of 

behavioral responses thought to have 

resulted from the activity (e.g., no 

response or changes in behavioral state 

such as ceasing feeding, changing 

direction, flushing, or breaching); 

• Number of marine mammals 

detected within the harassment zones, 

by species; 

• Detailed information about any 

implementation of any mitigation 

triggered (e.g., shutdowns and delays), a 

description of specific actions that 

ensued, and resulting changes in 

behavior of the animal(s), if any; and 

• If visibility degrades to where the 

PSO(s) cannot view the entire impact or 

vibratory harassment zones, take of 

humpback whales will be extrapolated 

based on the estimated percentage of the 

monitoring zone that remains visible 

and the number of marine mammals 

observed. 

If no comments are received from 

NMFS within 30 days, the draft final 

report will constitute the final report. If 

comments are received, a final report 

addressing NMFS comments must be 

submitted within 30 days after receipt of 

comments. 

Reporting Injured or Dead Marine 

Mammals 

In the event that personnel involved 

in the construction activities discover 

an injured or dead marine mammal, the 

IHA-holder must immediately cease the 

specified activities and report the 

incident to the Office of Protected 

Resources (OPR) 

(PR.ITP.MonitoringReports@noaa.gov), 

NMFS and to the Alaska Regional 

Stranding Coordinator as soon as 

feasible. If the death or injury was 

clearly caused by the specified activity, 

NOAA must immediately cease the 

specified activities until NMFS is able 

to review the circumstances of the 

incident and determine what, if any, 

additional measures are appropriate to 

ensure compliance with the terms of the 

IHA. The IHA-holder must not resume 

their activities until notified by NMFS. 

The report must include the following 

information: 

• Time, date, and location (latitude/ 

longitude) of the first discovery (and 

updated location information if known 

and applicable); 

• Species identification (if known) or 

description of the animal(s) involved; 

• Condition of the animal(s) 

(including carcass condition if the 

animal is dead); 

• Observed behaviors of the 

animal(s), if alive; 

• If available, photographs or video 

footage of the animal(s); and 

• General circumstances under which 

the animal was discovered. 

Negligible Impact Analysis and 

Determination 

NMFS has defined negligible impact 

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 

(50 CFR 216.103). A negligible impact 

finding is based on the lack of likely 

adverse effects on annual rates of 

recruitment or survival (i.e., populationlevel effects). An estimate of the number 

of takes alone is not enough information 

on which to base an impact 

determination. In addition to 

considering estimates of the number of 

marine mammals that might be ‘‘taken’’ 

through harassment, NMFS considers 

other factors, such as the likely nature 

of any responses (e.g., intensity, 

duration), the context of any responses 

(e.g., critical reproductive time or 

location, migration), as well as effects 

on habitat, and the likely effectiveness 

of the mitigation. We also assess the 

number, intensity, and context of 

estimated takes by evaluating this 

information relative to population 

status. Consistent with the 1989 

preamble for NMFS’s implementing 

regulations (54 FR 40338; September 29, 


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1989), the impacts from other past and 

ongoing anthropogenic activities are 

incorporated into this analysis via their 

impacts on the environmental baseline 

(e.g., as reflected in the regulatory status 

of the species, population size and 

growth rate where known, ongoing 

sources of human-caused mortality, or 

ambient noise levels). 

Pile driving and removal and DTH 

activities have the potential to disturb or 

displace marine mammals. Specifically, 

the project activities may result in take, 

in the form of Level A and Level B 

harassment from underwater sounds 

generated from pile driving and removal 

and DTH. Potential takes could occur if 

individuals are present in the ensonified 

zone when these activities are 

underway. 

The takes from Level A and Level B 

harassment would be due to potential 

behavioral disturbance, TTS, and PTS. 

No serious injury or mortality is 

anticipated given the nature of the 

activity and measures designed to 

minimize the possibility of injury to 

marine mammals. The potential for 

harassment is minimized through the 

construction method and the 

implementation of the planned 

mitigation measures (see Mitigation 

section). 

The Level A harassment zones 

identified in Table 5 are based upon an 

animal exposed to impact pile driving 

multiple piles per day. Considering the 

short duration to impact drive or vibe 

each pile and breaks between pile 

installations (to reset equipment and 

move pile into place), this means an 

animal would have to remain within the 

area estimated to be ensonified above 

the Level A harassment threshold for 

multiple hours. This is highly unlikely 

given marine mammal movement 

throughout the area. If an animal was 

exposed to accumulated sound energy, 

the resulting PTS would likely be small 

(e.g., PTS onset) at lower frequencies 

where pile driving energy is 

concentrated, and unlikely to result in 

impacts to individual fitness, 

reproduction, or survival. 

The nature of the pile driving project 

precludes the likelihood of serious 

injury or mortality. For all species and 

stocks, take would occur within a 

limited, confined area (adjacent to the 

project site) of the stock’s range. Level 

A and Level B harassment will be 

reduced to the level of least practicable 

adverse impact through use of 

mitigation measures described herein. 

Further the amount of take proposed to 

be authorized is extremely small when 

compared to stock abundance. 

Behavioral responses of marine 

mammals to pile driving at the project 

site, if any, are expected to be mild and 

temporary. Marine mammals within the 

Level B harassment zone may not show 

any visual cues they are disturbed by 

activities (as noted during modification 

to the Kodiak Ferry Dock) or could 

become alert, avoid the area, leave the 

area, or display other mild responses 

that are not observable such as changes 

in vocalization patterns. Given the short 

duration of noise-generating activities 

per day, any harassment would be 

temporary. There are no other areas or 

times of known biological importance 

for any of the affected species. 

In addition, it is unlikely that minor 

noise effects in a small, localized area of 

habitat would have any effect on the 

stocks’ ability to recover. In 

combination, we believe that these 

factors, as well as the available body of 

evidence from other similar activities, 

demonstrate that the potential effects of 

the specified activities will have only 

minor, short-term effects on individuals. 

The specified activities are not expected 

to impact rates of recruitment or 

survival and will therefore not result in 

population-level impacts. 

In summary and as described above, 

the following factors primarily support 

our determination that the impacts 

resulting from this activity are not 

expected to adversely affect the species 

or stock through effects on annual rates 

of recruitment or survival: 

• No mortality is anticipated or 

authorized; 

• Authorized Level A harassment 

would be very small amounts and of 

low degree; 

• No important habitat areas have 

been identified within the project area; 

• For all species, Tongass Narrows is 

a very small and peripheral part of their 

range; 

• NOAA would implement mitigation 

measures such as soft-starts, and shut 

downs; and 

• Monitoring reports from similar 

work in Tongass Narrows have 

documented little to no effect on 

individuals of the same species 

impacted by the specified activities. 

Based on the analysis contained 

herein of the likely effects of the 

specified activity on marine mammals 

and their habitat, and taking into 

consideration the implementation of the 

monitoring and mitigation measures, 

NMFS finds that the total marine 

mammal take from the proposed activity 

will have a negligible impact on all 

affected marine mammal species or 

stocks. 

Small Numbers 

As noted above, only small numbers 

of incidental take may be authorized 

under section 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA 

for specified activities other than 

military readiness activities. The MMPA 

does not define small numbers and so, 

in practice, where estimated numbers 

are available, NMFS compares the 

number of individuals taken to the most 

appropriate estimation of abundance of 

the relevant species or stock in our 

determination of whether an 

authorization is limited to small 

numbers of marine mammals. When the 

predicted number of individuals to be 

taken is fewer than one third of the 

species or stock abundance, the take is 

considered to be of small numbers. 

Additionally, other qualitative factors 

may be considered in the analysis, such 

as the temporal or spatial scale of the 

activities. 

The amount of take NMFS authorizes 

is below one third of the estimated stock 

abundance for all species (in fact, take 

of individuals is less than 10 percent of 

the abundance of the affected stocks, see 

Table 6). This is likely a conservative 

estimate because we assume all takes 

are of different individual animals, 

which is likely not the case. Some 

individuals may return multiple times 

in a day, but PSOs would count them as 

separate takes if they cannot be 

individually identified. The Alaska 

stock of Dall’s porpoise has no official 

NMFS abundance estimate for this area 

as the most recent estimate is greater 

than eight years old. Nevertheless, the 

most recent estimate was 83,400 

animals and it is highly unlikely this 

number has drastically declined. 

Therefore, the 60 authorized takes of 

this stock clearly represent small 

numbers of this stock. Likewise, the 

Southeast Alaska stock of harbor 

porpoise has no official NMFS 

abundance estimate as the most recent 

estimate is greater than eight years old. 

Nevertheless, the most recent estimate 

was 11,146 animals (Muto et al., 2021) 

and it is highly unlikely this number 

has drastically declined. Therefore, the 

30 authorized takes of this stock clearly 

represent small numbers of this stock. 

There is no current or historical 

estimate of the Alaska minke whale 

stock, but there are known to be over 

1,000 minke whales in the Gulf of 

Alaska (Muto et al., 2018) so the 1 

authorized take clearly represents small 

numbers of this stock. 

Based on the analysis contained 

herein of the proposed activity 

(including the proposed mitigation and 

monitoring measures) and the 

anticipated take of marine mammals, 

NMFS finds that small numbers of 

marine mammals will be taken relative 

to the population size of the affected 

species or stocks. 


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7138 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 26 / Tuesday, February 8, 2022 / Notices 

Unmitigable Adverse Impact Analysis 

and Determination 

In order to issue an IHA, NMFS must 

find that the specified activity will not 

have an ‘‘unmitigable adverse impact’’ 

on the subsistence uses of the affected 

marine mammal species or stocks by 

Alaskan Natives. NMFS has defined 

‘‘unmitigable adverse impact’’ in 50 CFR 

216.103 as 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. 

Alaska Native hunters in the 

Ketchikan vicinity do not traditionally 

harvest cetaceans (Muto et al., 2021). 

Harbor seals are the most commonly 

targeted marine mammal that is hunted 

by Alaska Native subsistence hunters 

within the Ketchikan area. In 2012 an 

estimated 595 harbor seals were taken 

for subsistence uses, with 22 of those 

occurring in Ketchikan (Wolfe et al., 

2013). This is the most recent data 

available. The harbor seal harvest per 

capita in both communities was low, at 

0.02 for Ketchikan. ADF&G subsistence 

data for Southeast Alaska shows that 

from 1992 through 2008, plus 2012, 

from zero to 19 Steller sea lions were 

taken by Alaska Native hunters per year 

with typical harvest years ranging from 

zero to five animals (Wolfe et al., 2013). 

In 2012, it is estimated 9 sea lions were 

taken in all of Southeast Alaska and 

only from Hoonah and Sitka. There are 

no known haulout locations in the 

project area. Both the harbor seal and 

the Steller sea lion may be temporarily 

displaced from the action area. 

However, neither the local population 

nor any individual pinnipeds are likely 

to be adversely impacted by the 

proposed action beyond noise-induced 

harassment or slight injury. The 

proposed project is anticipated to have 

no long-term impact on Steller sea lion 

or harbor seal populations, or their 

habitat no long term impacts on the 

availability of marine mammals for 

subsistence uses is anticipated. 

Based on the description of the 

specified activity, the measures 

described to minimize adverse effects 

on the availability of marine mammals 

for subsistence purposes, and the 

proposed mitigation and monitoring 

measures, NMFS has determined that 

there will not be an unmitigable adverse 

impact on subsistence uses from 

NOAA’s proposed activities. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

To comply with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and 

NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) 

216–6A, NMFS must review our 

proposed action (i.e., the issuance of an 

IHA) with respect to potential impacts 

on the human environment. 

This action is consistent with 

categories of activities identified in 

Categorical Exclusion B4 (IHAs with no 

anticipated serious injury or mortality) 

of the Companion Manual for NOAA 

Administrative Order 216–6A, which do 

not individually or cumulatively have 

the potential for significant impacts on 

the quality of the human environment 

and for which we have not identified 

any extraordinary circumstances that 

would preclude this categorical 

exclusion. Accordingly, NMFS has 

determined that the issuance of the 

proposed IHA qualifies to be 

categorically excluded from further 

NEPA review. 

Endangered Species Act 

Section 7(a)(2) of the 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, in this 

case with the Alaska Regional Office, 

whenever we propose to authorize take 

for endangered or threatened species. 

NMFS is authorizing take of Mexico 

DPS of humpback whales which are 

listed under the ESA. The NMFS Alaska 

Regional Office Protected Resources 

Division issued a Biological Opinion 

under section 7 of the ESA, on the 

issuance of an IHA to NOAA under 

section 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA by the 

NMFS Permits and Conservation 

Division. The Biological Opinion 

concluded that the proposed action is 

not likely to jeopardize the continued 

existence of Mexico DPS of humpback 

whales, and is not likely to destroy or 

adversely modify Mexico DPS of 

humpback whales critical habitat. 

Authorization 

NMFS has issued an IHA to NOAA for 

the potential harassment of small 

numbers of nine marine mammal 

species incidental to the NOAA Port 

Facility Project in Ketchikan, provided 

the previously mentioned mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting requirements 

are followed. 

Dated: February 3, 2022. 

Kimberly Damon-Randall, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–02633 Filed 2–7–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

Review and Approval; Comment 

Request; Collection of High Resolution 

Spatial and Temporal Fishery To 

Support Scientific Research 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit the following information 

collection request to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and clearance in accordance 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995, on or after the date of publication 

of this notice. We invite the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

comment on proposed, and continuing 

information collections, which helps us 

assess the impact of our information 

collection requirements and minimize 

the public’s reporting burden. Public 

comments were previously requested 

via the Federal Register on October 29, 

2021 during a 60-day comment period. 

This notice allows for an additional 30 

days for public comments. 

Agency: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

Title: Collection of High Resolution 

Spatial and Temporal Fishery 

Dependent Data to Support Scientific 

Research. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–XXXX. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular Submission 

(new information collection). 

Number of Respondents: 39. 

Average Hours per Response: 30 

minutes to complete registration, and 35 

minutes per day for vessels collecting 

trip level data. 

Total Annual Burden Hours: 908. 

Needs and Uses: Commercial fishers 

from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic 

will collaborate with NOAA Fisheries, 

Northeast Fisheries Science Center 

(NEFSC) Cooperative Research Branch 

to voluntarily collect detailed fishery 

dependent data during commercial 

fishing trips. Collection of information 

regarding fishing for commercial 


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