Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 47 / Thursday, March 10, 2022 / Notices 13717 

1For purposes of acoustic exposure modeling, the 

GOM was divided into seven zones. Zone 1 is not 

included in the geographic scope of the rule. 

2For purposes of acoustic exposure modeling, 

seasons include Winter (December–March) and 

Summer (April–November). 

Department of the Air Force for 

conducting Long Range Cannon testing 

at Vandenberg Space Force Base, 

California from October 1, 2023 to 

September 30, 2024 (Year 1) and from 

October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025 

(Year 2) provided the previously 

mentioned mitigation, monitoring, and 

reporting requirements are incorporated. 

Dated: March 3, 2022. 

Kimberly Damon-Randall, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05045 Filed 3–9–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB813] 

Taking and Importing Marine 

Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 

Incidental to Geophysical Surveys 

Related to Oil and Gas Activities in the 

Gulf of Mexico 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of issuance of Letter of 

Authorization. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA), as amended, its implementing 

regulations, and NMFS’ MMPA 

Regulations for Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to Geophysical 

Surveys Related to Oil and Gas 

Activities in the Gulf of Mexico, 

notification is hereby given that a Letter 

of Authorization (LOA) has been issued 

to BHP Billiton Petroleum (Deepwater) 

Inc. for the take of marine mammals 

incidental to geophysical survey activity 

in the Gulf of Mexico. 

DATES: The LOA is effective from March 

7, 2022 through September 7, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: The LOA, LOA request, and 

supporting documentation are available 

online at: www.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

action/incidental-take-authorization-oiland-gas-industry-geophysical-surveyactivity-gulf-mexico. In case of problems 

accessing these documents, please call 

the contact listed below (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kim 

Corcoran, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, (301) 427–8401. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the 

MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) direct 

the Secretary of Commerce to allow, 

upon request, the incidental, but not 

intentional, taking of small numbers of 

marine mammals by U.S. citizens who 

engage in a specified activity (other than 

commercial fishing) within a specified 

geographical region if certain findings 

are made and either regulations are 

issued or, if the taking is limited to 

harassment, a notice of a proposed 

authorization is provided to the public 

for review. 

An authorization for incidental 

takings shall be granted if NMFS finds 

that the taking will have a negligible 

impact on the species or stock(s), will 

not have an unmitigable adverse impact 

on the availability of the species or 

stock(s) for subsistence uses (where 

relevant), and if the permissible 

methods of taking and requirements 

pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring 

and reporting of such takings are set 

forth. NMFS has defined ‘‘negligible 

impact’’ in 50 CFR 216.103 as an impact 

resulting from the specified activity that 

cannot be reasonably expected to, and is 

not reasonably likely to, adversely affect 

the species or stock through effects on 

annual rates of recruitment or survival. 

Except with respect to certain 

activities not pertinent here, the MMPA 

defines ‘‘harassment’’ as: Any act of 

pursuit, torment, or annoyance which (i) 

has the potential to injure a marine 

mammal or marine mammal stock in the 

wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has 

the potential to disturb a marine 

mammal or marine mammal stock in the 

wild by causing disruption of behavioral 

patterns, including, but not limited to, 

migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, 

feeding, or sheltering (Level B 

harassment). 

On January 19, 2021, we issued a final 

rule with regulations to govern the 

unintentional taking of marine 

mammals incidental to geophysical 

survey activities conducted by oil and 

gas industry operators, and those 

persons authorized to conduct activities 

on their behalf (collectively ‘‘industry 

operators’’), in Federal waters of the 

U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) over the 

course of 5 years (86 FR 5322; January 

19, 2021). The rule was based on our 

findings that the total taking from the 

specified activities over the 5-year 

period will have a negligible impact on 

the affected species or stock(s) of marine 

mammals and will not have an 

unmitigable adverse impact on the 

availability of those species or stocks for 

subsistence uses. The rule became 

effective on April 19, 2021. 

Our regulations at 50 CFR 217.180 et 

seq. allow for the issuance of LOAs to 

industry operators for the incidental 

take of marine mammals during 

geophysical survey activities and 

prescribe the permissible methods of 

taking and other means of effecting the 

least practicable adverse impact on 

marine mammal species or stocks and 

their habitat (often referred to as 

mitigation), as well as requirements 

pertaining to the monitoring and 

reporting of such taking. Under 50 CFR 

217.186(e), issuance of an LOA shall be 

based on a determination that the level 

of taking will be consistent with the 

findings made for the total taking 

allowable under these regulations and a 

determination that the amount of take 

authorized under the LOA is of no more 

than small numbers. 

Summary of Request and Analysis 

BHP Billiton Petroleum (Deepwater) 

Inc. (BHP) plans to conduct a zero offset 

vertical seismic profile (VSP) survey 

and borehole seismic survey within the 

Green Canyon Block 124, Well number 

002. See attachment 5 of BHP’s 

application for a map. BHP plans to use 

a 6-element, 2,400 cubic inch (in3) 

airgun array. Please see BHP’s 

application for additional detail. 

Consistent with the preamble to the 

final rule, the survey effort proposed by 

BHP in its LOA request was used to 

develop LOA-specific take estimates 

based on the acoustic exposure 

modeling results described in the 

preamble (86 FR 5322, 5398; January 19, 

2021). In order to generate the 

appropriate take number for 

authorization, the following information 

was considered: (1) Survey type; (2) 

location (by modeling zone 1); (3) 

number of days; and (4) season.2 The 

acoustic exposure modeling performed 

in support of the rule provides 24-hour 

exposure estimates for each species, 

specific to each modeled survey type in 

each zone and season. 

No VSP surveys were included in the 

modeled survey types, and use of 

existing proxies (i.e., 2D, 3D NAZ, 3D 

WAZ, Coil) is generally conservative for 

use in evaluation of these survey types. 

Summary descriptions of these modeled 

survey geometries are available in the 

preamble to the proposed rule (83 FR 

29212, 29220; June 22, 2018). Coil was 

selected as the best available proxy 

survey type for BHP’s survey because 

the spatial coverage of the planned 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
13718 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 47 / Thursday, March 10, 2022 / Notices 

3Species include: Short-finned pilot whale, 

sperm whale, Clymene dolphin, melon-headed 

whale, pantropical spotted dolphin, spinner 

dolphin and striped dolphin. 

survey is most similar to the coil survey 

pattern. For the planned zero offset VSP 

survey, the source will be hung off of 

the drilling rig with a crane at a depth 

of 10 feet (3.05 meters) underwater, with 

seismic receivers (i.e., geophones) being 

deployed within the borehole on 

wireline at specified depth intervals. 

The offset source will be deployed from 

the vessel in a fixed position and will 

alternate firing with the zero offset 

source. Both sources will be stationary 

and thus cover no area. The coil survey 

pattern was assumed to cover 

approximately 144 kilometers squared 

(km2) per day (compared with 

approximately 795 km2, 199 km2, and 

845 km2 per day for the 2D, 3D NAZ, 

and 3D WAZ survey patterns, 

respectively). Among the different 

parameters of the modeled survey 

patterns (e.g., area covered, line spacing, 

number of sources, shot interval, total 

simulated pulses), NMFS considers area 

covered per day to be most influential 

on daily modeled exposures exceeding 

Level B harassment criteria. BHP’s 

planned survey will utilize a stationary 

source and, therefore, the coil proxy is 

most representative of the effort planned 

by BHP in terms of predicted Level B 

harassment exposures. 

In addition, all available acoustic 

exposure modeling results assume use 

of a 72-element, 8,000 in3 array. Thus, 

estimated take numbers for this LOA are 

considered conservative due to the 

differences in both the airgun array (6 

elements, 2,400 in3), and in daily survey 

area planned by BHP (as mentioned 

above), as compared to those modeled 

for the rule. 

The survey is planned to occur for 2 

days in Zone 5. The survey may occur 

in either season. Therefore, the take 

estimates for each species are based on 

the season that has the greater value for 

the species (i.e., winter or summer). 

In this case, use of exposure modeling 

produces results that are substantially 

smaller than average GOM group sizes 

for multiple species 3 (i.e., estimated 

exposure values are less than 10 percent 

of assumed average group size for the 

majority of species) (Maze-Foley and 

Mullin, 2006). NMFS’ typical practice in 

such a situation is to increase exposure 

estimates to the assumed average group 

size for a species in order to ensure that, 

if the species is encountered, exposures 

will not exceed the authorized take 

number. However, other relevant 

considerations here lead to a 

determination that increasing the 

estimated exposures to average group 

sizes would likely lead to an 

overestimate of actual potential take. In 

this circumstance, the very short survey 

duration and relatively small Level B 

harassment isopleths produced through 

use of the VSP and borehole survey 

means that it is unlikely that certain 

species would be encountered at all, 

much less that the encounter would 

result in exposure of a greater number 

of individuals than is estimated through 

use of the exposure modeling results. As 

a result, NMFS has not increased the 

estimated exposure values to assumed 

group sizes in authorizing take in this 

case. 

Based on the results of our analysis, 

NMFS has determined that the level of 

taking authorized through the LOA is 

consistent with the findings made for 

the total taking allowable under the 

regulations. See Table 1 in this notice 

and Table 9 of the rule (86 FR 5322; 

January 19, 2021). 

Small Numbers Determination 

Under the GOM rule, NMFS may not 

authorize incidental take of marine 

mammals in an LOA if it will exceed 

‘‘small numbers.’’ In short, when an 

acceptable estimate of the individual 

marine mammals taken is available, if 

the estimated number of individual 

animals taken is up to, but not greater 

than, one-third of the best available 

abundance estimate, NMFS will 

determine that the numbers of marine 

mammals taken of a species or stock are 

small. For more information please see 

NMFS’ discussion of the MMPA’s small 

numbers requirement provided in the 

final rule (86 FR 5322, 5438; January 19, 

2021). 

The take numbers for authorization, 

which are determined as described 

above, are used by NMFS in making the 

necessary small numbers 

determinations, through comparison 

with the best available abundance 

estimates (see discussion at 86 FR 5322, 

5391; January 19, 2021). For this 

comparison, NMFS’ approach is to use 

the maximum theoretical population, 

determined through review of current 

stock assessment reports (SAR; 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/marinemammal-stock-assessments) and modelpredicted abundance information 

(https://seamap.env.duke.edu/models/ 

Duke/GOM/). For the latter, for taxa 

where a density surface model could be 

produced, we use the maximum mean 

seasonal (i.e., 3-month) abundance 

prediction for purposes of comparison 

as a precautionary smoothing of monthto-month fluctuations and in 

consideration of a corresponding lack of 

data in the literature regarding seasonal 

distribution of marine mammals in the 

GOM. Information supporting the small 

numbers determinations is provided in 

Table 1. 

TABLE 1—TAKE ANALYSIS

Species Authorized 

take 1 Abundance 2 Percent 

abundance 

Rice’s whale 3 .............................................................................................................................. 0 51 n/a 

Sperm whale ................................................................................................................................ 2 2,207 0.1 

Kogia spp ..................................................................................................................................... 4 0 4,373 n/a 

Beaked whales ............................................................................................................................ 32 3,768 0.8 

Rough-toothed dolphin ................................................................................................................ 4 0 4,853 n/a 

Bottlenose dolphin ....................................................................................................................... 3 176,108 0.0 

Clymene dolphin .......................................................................................................................... 2 11,895 0.0 

Atlantic spotted dolphin ............................................................................................................... 1 74,785 0.0 

Pantropical spotted dolphin ......................................................................................................... 7 102,361 0.0 

Spinner dolphin ............................................................................................................................ 2 25,114 0.0 

Striped dolphin ............................................................................................................................. 1 5,229 0.0 

Fraser’s dolphin ........................................................................................................................... 4 0 1,665 n/a 

Risso’s dolphin ............................................................................................................................. 4 0 3,764 n/a 

Melon-headed whale ................................................................................................................... 1 7,003 0.0 

Pygmy killer whale ....................................................................................................................... 4 0 2,126 n/a 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 47 / Thursday, March 10, 2022 / Notices 13719 

TABLE 1—TAKE ANALYSIS—Continued 

Species Authorized 

take 1 Abundance 2 Percent abundance 

False killer whale ......................................................................................................................... 4 0 3,204 n/a 

Killer whale .................................................................................................................................. 4 0 267 n/a 

Short-finned pilot whale ............................................................................................................... 4 0 1,981 n/a 

1Scalar ratios were not applied in this case due to brief survey duration. 

2Best abundance estimate. For most taxa, the best abundance estimate for purposes of comparison with take estimates is considered here to 

be the model-predicted abundance (Roberts et al., 2016). For those taxa where a density surface model predicting abundance by month was 

produced, the maximum mean seasonal abundance was used. For those taxa where abundance is not predicted by month, only mean annual 

abundance is available. For the killer whale, the larger estimated SAR abundance estimate is used. 3The final rule refers to the GOM Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni). These whales were subsequently described as a new species, Rice’s 

whale (Balaenoptera ricei) (Rosel et al., 2021). 4 Modeled take produced a non-zero number which was rounded down to zero. 

Based on the analysis contained 

herein of BHP’s proposed survey 

activity described in its LOA 

application and the anticipated take of 

marine mammals, NMFS finds that 

small numbers of marine mammals will 

be taken relative to the affected species 

or stock sizes and therefore is of no 

more than small numbers. 

Authorization 

NMFS has determined that the level 

of taking for this LOA request is 

consistent with the findings made for 

the total taking allowable under the 

incidental take regulations and that the 

amount of take authorized under the 

LOA is of no more than small numbers. 

Accordingly, we have issued an LOA to 

BHP authorizing the take of marine 

mammals incidental to its geophysical 

survey activity, as described above. 

Dated: March 7, 2022. 

Kimberly Damon-Randall, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05104 Filed 3–9–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB871] 

North Pacific Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of webconference. 

SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council)’s 

Enforcement Committee will hold a 

webconference March 29, 2022. 

DATES: The Enforcement Committee will 

begin on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, from 

1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Alaska Time. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be by 

webconference. Join online through the 

link at https://meetings.npfmc.org/ 

Meeting/Details/2873. 

Council address: North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council, 1007 W 

3rd Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501–2252; 

telephone: (907) 271–2809. Instructions 

for attending the meeting via 

webconference are given under 

Connection Information, below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jon 

McCracken, Council staff; email: 

jon.mccracken@noaa.gov. For technical 

support, please contact our 

administrative staff, email: 

npfmc.admin@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Agenda 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 

The Enforcement Committee will 

review Council agenda item C1 IFQ 

Omnibus Amendments. This analysis 

considers several elements intended to 

increase operational flexibility for those 

using pot and jig gear to harvest IFQ, as 

well as a separate alternative to remove 

the Adak CQE residency requirement for 

five years to provide more opportunity 

for the Adak CQE to fully harvest its 

allocation. The agenda is subject to 

change, and the latest version will be 

posted at https://meetings.npfmc.org/ 

Meeting/Details/2873 prior to the 

meeting, along with meeting materials. 

Connection Information 

You can attend the meeting online 

using a computer, tablet, or smart 

phone; or by phone only. Connection 

information will be posted online at: 

https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/ 

Details/2873. For technical support, 

please contact our administrative staff, 

email: npfmc.admin@noaa.gov. 

Public Comment 

Public comment letters will be 

accepted and should be submitted 

electronically to https://

meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details/ 

2873. 

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

Dated: March 7, 2022. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05048 Filed 3–9–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB872] 

North Pacific Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of webconference. 

SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (NPFMC) 

Ecosystem Committee will meet March 

29, 2022 through March 30, 2022. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022, through 

Wednesday, March 30, 2022, from 8 

a.m. to 4 p.m. Alaska Time. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be a 

webconference. Join online through the 

link at https://meetings.npfmc.org/ 

Meeting/Details/2856. 

Council address: North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council, 1007 W 

3rd Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501–2252; 

telephone: (907) 271–2809. Instructions 

for attending the meeting are given 

under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, 

below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Diana Evans, Council staff; phone: (907) 

271–2809 and email: diana.evans@

noaa.gov. For technical support, please 

contact administrative Council staff, 

email: npfmc.admin@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES