Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 234 / Thursday, December 5, 2024 / Notices 96643 

harvest rates, which may result in 

allocations being exceeded. 

The Aleut Corporation is required by 

Federal regulations at 50 CFR 

679.4(m)(2) to provide its selected 

harvesters and processors to NMFS for 

approval. The Aleut Corporation must 

submit its selections to NMFS each year 

at least 14 days before harvesting 

pollock or processing pollock in the AI 

directed pollock fishery. The 

information submitted by The Aleut 

Corporation consists of the names of the 

harvesting vessels and processors it has 

selected, the Federal fisheries permit 

numbers or Federal processor permit 

numbers of these participants, and the 

fishing year for which approval is 

requested. No information is submitted 

in years that the Aleut Corporation will 

not be harvesting or processing pollock 

in the AI directed fishery. 

On approval, NMFS sends The Aleut 

Corporation a letter that includes a list 

of the approved participants. A copy of 

this letter must be retained on board 

each participating vessel and on site 

each shoreside processor at all times. 

More information on the AI pollock 

fishery is provided on the NMFS Alaska 

Region website at https://www.fisheries.

noaa.gov/alaska/sustainable-fisheries/ 

aleutian-islands-pollock-fishery-alaska. 

II. Method of Collection 

The participant letter may be 

submitted to NMFS by mail, delivery, 

email, or fax. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0513. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Review: Regular submission 

(extension of a current information 

collection). 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 1. 

Estimated Time per Response: Annual 

Aleutian Islands Fishery Participant 

Letter, 16 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 16 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $5 in recordkeeping and 

reporting costs. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

Obtain or Retain Benefits. 

Legal Authority: Consolidated 

Appropriations Act of 2004; MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act. 

IV. Request for Comments 

We are soliciting public comments to 

permit the Department/Bureau to: (a) 

Evaluate whether the proposed 

information collection is necessary for 

the proper functions of the Department, 

including whether the information will 

have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the 

accuracy of our estimate of the time and 

cost burden for this proposed collection, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and (d) Minimize the 

reporting burden on those who are to 

respond, including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

Comments that you submit in 

response to this notice are a matter of 

public record. We will include or 

summarize each comment in our request 

to OMB to approve this information 

collection request. Before including 

your address, phone number, email 

address, or other personal identifying 

information in your comment, you 

should be aware that your entire 

comment—including your personal 

identifying information—may be made 

publicly available at any time. While 

you may ask us in your comment to 

withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office 

of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, 

Commerce Department. 

[FR Doc. 2024–28460 Filed 12–4–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XE478] 

Taking and Importing Marine 

Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 

Incidental to Geophysical Surveys 

Related to Oil and Gas Activities in the 

Gulf of Mexico 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of modification to 

expiration date of letter of authorization. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA), as amended, its implementing 

regulations, and NMFS’ MMPA 

Regulations for Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to Geophysical 

Surveys Related to Oil and Gas 

Activities in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), 

notification is hereby given that NMFS 

has modified the expiration date of a 

Letter of Authorization (LOA) issued to 

Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell) for the taking 

of marine mammals incidental to 

geophysical survey activity in the GOM. 

DATES: This LOA is effective through 

October 31, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: The LOA, LOA request, and 

supporting documentation are available 

online at: https://www.fisheries.

noaa.gov/marine-mammal-protection/ 

issued-letters-authorization-oil-and-gasindustry-geophysical-survey. In case of 

problems accessing these documents, 

please call the contact listed below FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jenna Harlacher, 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 


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96644 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 234 / Thursday, December 5, 2024 / Notices 

unintentional taking of marine 

mammals incidental to geophysical 

survey activities conducted by oil and 

gas industry operators, and those 

persons authorized to conduct activities 

on their behalf (collectively ‘‘industry 

operators’’), in U.S. waters of the GOM 

over the course of 5 years (86 FR 5322, 

January 19, 2021). The rule was based 

on our findings that the total taking 

from the specified activities over the 5- 

year period will have a negligible 

impact on the affected species or 

stock(s) of marine mammals and will 

not have an unmitigable adverse impact 

on the availability of those species or 

stocks for subsistence uses. The rule 

became effective on April 19, 2021. 

Our regulations at 50 CFR 217.180 et 

seq. allow for the issuance of LOAs to 

industry operators for the incidental 

take of marine mammals during 

geophysical survey activities and 

prescribe the permissible methods of 

taking and other means of effecting the 

least practicable adverse impact on 

marine mammal species or stocks and 

their habitat (often referred to as 

mitigation), as well as requirements 

pertaining to the monitoring and 

reporting of such taking. Under 50 CFR 

217.186(e), issuance of an LOA shall be 

based on a determination that the level 

of taking will be consistent with the 

findings made for the total taking 

allowable under these regulations and a 

determination that the amount of take 

authorized under the LOA is of no more 

than small numbers. 

NMFS subsequently discovered that 

the 2021 rule was based on erroneous 

take estimates. We conducted another 

rulemaking using correct take estimates 

and other newly available and pertinent 

information relevant to the analyses 

supporting some of the findings in the 

2021 final rule and the taking allowable 

under the regulations. We issued a final 

rule in April 2024, effective May 24, 

2024 (89 FR 31488, April 24, 2024). 

The 2024 final rule made no changes 

to the specified activities or the 

specified geographical region in which 

those activities would be conducted, nor 

to the original 5-year period of 

effectiveness. In consideration of the 

new information, the 2024 rule 

presented new analyses supporting 

affirmance of the negligible impact 

determinations for all species, and 

affirmed that the existing regulations, 

which contain mitigation, monitoring, 

and reporting requirements, are 

consistent with the ‘‘least practicable 

adverse impact’’ (LPAI) standard of the 

MMPA. 

NMFS issued a LOA to Shell on April 

19, 2024, for the take of marine 

mammals incidental to a fourdimensional (4D) ocean bottom node 

survey in the Mississippi Canyon 941 

and portions of the surrounding 80 lease 

blocks, effective July 1, 2024, through 

June 30, 2025. Please see the Federal 

Register notice of issuance (89 FR 

25577, April 11, 2024) for additional 

detail regarding the LOA and the survey 

activity. 

Shell has requested that the June 30, 

2025, expiration date be extended to 

October 31, 2025, due to changes in 

survey timing. Since we issued the LOA 

to Shell, we have updated the final rule 

to include corrected take estimates and 

new information as discussed above; 

therefore, we have updated the 

authorized take numbers accordingly 

based on this new information. There 

are no changes to the planned survey, as 

described in the previous notice of 

issuance (89 FR 25577, April 11, 2024), 

including the planned location and 

duration of the survey. 

As discussed in the previous notice of 

issuance (89 FR 25577, April 11, 2024), 

no 4D ocean bottom node (OBN) surveys 

were included in the modeled survey 

types, thus the coil proxy was selected. 

Shell plans to cover approximately 15.7 

square kilometers (km2) per day 

compared to the 144 km2 in the coil 

proxy, and although Shell is not 

proposing to perform a survey using the 

coil geometry, the coil proxy is most 

representative of the effort planned by 

Shell in terms of predicted Level B 

harassment exposures. Additionally, 

Shell plans to use a 32-element, 5,110 

cubic inch (in3) airgun array and 

therefore the 5,110 in3 proxy was 

selected. 

The survey will take place over 

approximately 90 days with 60 days of 

sound source operation, all planned in 

zone 5. The monthly distribution of 

survey days is not known in advance, 

though we assume that the planned 60 

days of source operation would occur 

contiguously. Take estimates for each 

species are based on the time period 

that produces the greatest value. There 

are no other changes to Shell’s planned 

activity. 

For the Rice’s whale, take estimates 

based solely on the modeling yielded 

results that are not realistically likely to 

occur when considered in light of other 

relevant information available during 

the rulemaking process regarding 

marine mammal occurrence in the 

GOM. The approach used in the 

acoustic exposure modeling, in which 

seven modeling zones were defined over 

the U.S. GOM, necessarily averages finescale information about marine mammal 

distribution over the large area of each 

modeling zone. Thus, although the 

modeling conducted for the rule is a 

natural starting point for estimating 

take, the rule acknowledged that other 

information could be considered (see, 

e.g., 86 FR 5442, January 19, 2021, 

discussing the need to provide 

flexibility and make efficient use of 

previous public and agency review of 

other information and identifying that 

additional public review is not 

necessary unless the model or inputs 

used differ substantively from those that 

were previously reviewed by NMFS and 

the public). For this survey, NMFS has 

other relevant information reviewed 

during the rulemaking that indicates use 

of the acoustic exposure modeling to 

generate a take estimate may produce 

results inconsistent with what is known 

regarding their occurrence in the GOM. 

Accordingly, we have adjusted the 

calculated take estimates as described 

below. 

NMFS’ 2024 final rule provided 

detailed discussion regarding Rice’s 

whale habitat (see, e.g., 89 FR 31508, 

31519). In summary, recent survey data, 

sightings, and acoustic data support 

Rice’s whale occurrence in waters 

throughout the GOM between 

approximately 100 m and 400 m depth 

along the continental shelf break, and 

associated habitat-based density 

modeling has identified similar habitat 

(i.e., approximately 100 to 400 m water 

depths along the continental shelf 

break) as being Rice’s whale habitat 

(Garrison et al., 2023; Soldevilla et al., 

2022, 2024). 

Although Rice’s whales may occur 

outside of the general depth range 

expected to provide suitable habitat, we 

expect that any such occurrence would 

be rare. Shell’s planned activities will 

occur in water depths of approximately 

1,500 to 3,000 m in the central GOM. 

Thus, NMFS does not expect there to be 

the reasonable potential for take of 

Rice’s whale in association with this 

survey and, accordingly, does not 

authorize take of Rice’s whale through 

the LOA. 

Based on the results of our analysis, 

NMFS has determined that the level of 

taking expected for this survey and 

authorized through the LOA is 

consistent with the findings made for 

the total taking allowable under the 

regulations. See table 1 in this notice 

and table 6 of the rule (89 FR 31488, 

April 24, 2024). 

Small Numbers Determination 

Under the GOM rule, NMFS may not 

authorize incidental take of marine 

mammals in an LOA if it will exceed 

‘‘small numbers.’’ In short, when an 

acceptable estimate of the individual 

marine mammals taken is available, if 

the estimated number of individual 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 234 / Thursday, December 5, 2024 / Notices 96645 

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 (see 89 FR 31535, May 24, 2024). 

For more information please see NMFS’ 

discussion of small numbers in the 2021 

final rule (86 FR 5438, January 19, 

2021). 

The take numbers for authorization 

are determined as described above. 

Subsequently, the total incidents of 

harassment for each species are 

multiplied by scalar ratios to produce a 

derived product that better reflects the 

number of individuals likely to be taken 

within a survey (as compared to the 

total number of instances of take), 

accounting for the likelihood that some 

individual marine mammals may be 

taken on more than 1 day (see 86 FR 

5404, January 19, 2021). The output of 

this scaling, where appropriate, is 

incorporated into adjusted total take 

estimates that are the basis for NMFS’ 

small numbers determinations, as 

depicted in table 1. 

This product is used by NMFS in 

making the necessary small numbers 

determinations through comparison 

with the best available abundance 

estimates (see discussion at 86 FR 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; https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

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

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

Duke/GOM/). Information supporting 

the small numbers determinations is 

provided in table 1. 

TABLE 1—TAKE ANALYSIS

Species Authorized 

take 

Scaled 

take 1 Abundance 2 Percent 

abundance 

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

Sperm whale .................................................................................................... 543 230 3,007 7.6 

Kogia spp. ........................................................................................................ 3 172 52 980 6.2 

Beaked whales ................................................................................................ 1,882 190 803 23.7

Rough-toothed dolphin .................................................................................... 1,399 401 4,853 8.3 

Bottlenose dolphin ........................................................................................... 1,684 483 165,125 0.3 

Clymene dolphin .............................................................................................. 869 168 4,619 3.6 

Atlantic spotted dolphin ................................................................................... 496 142 21,506 0.7 

Pantropical spotted dolphin ............................................................................. 11,845 3,400 67,225 5.1

Spinner dolphin ................................................................................................ 258 74 5,548 1.3

Striped dolphin ................................................................................................. 2,441 701 5,634 12.4 

Fraser’s dolphin ............................................................................................... 512 98 1,665 5.9

Risso’s dolphin ................................................................................................. 421 124 1,974 6.3 

Blackfish 4 ......................................................................................................... 3,012 888 6,113 14.5 

Short-finned pilot whale ................................................................................... 698 206 2,741 7.5 

1Scalar ratios were applied to ‘‘Authorized Take’’ values as described at 86 FR 5322 and 86 FR 5404 (January 19, 2021) to derive scaled take 

numbers shown here. 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 (Garrison et al., 2023). For Rice’s whale, Atlantic spotted dolphin, and Risso’s dolphin, the larger SAR abundance estimate is used. 3 Includes 9 takes by Level A harassment and 163 takes by Level B harassment. Scalar ratio is applied to takes by Level B harassment only; 

small numbers determination made on basis of scaled Level B harassment take plus authorized Level A harassment take. 4The ‘‘blackfish’’ guild includes melon-headed whales, false killer whales, pygmy killer whales, and killer whales. 

Authorization 

NMFS has changed the expiration 

date of the LOA from June 30, 2025, to 

October 31, 2025 and updated 

authorized take numbers based on the 

corrected information in the updated 

rule. There are no other changes to the 

LOA as described in the April 11, 2024, 

Federal Register notice of issuance (89 

FR 25577); the specified survey activity, 

and small numbers analysis and 

determination remain unchanged and 

are incorporated here by reference. 

Dated: November 27, 2024. 

Kimberly Damon-Randall, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–28455 Filed 12–4–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XE452 

Taking and Importing Marine 

Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 

Incidental to Rocky Intertidal 

Monitoring Surveys Along the Oregon 

and California Coasts 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for 

letter of authorization; request for 

comments and information. 

SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request 

from the University of California Santa 

Cruz for authorization to take small 

numbers of marine mammals incidental 

to rocky intertidal monitoring along the 

coasts of Oregon and California over the 

course of 5 years from the date of 

issuance. Pursuant to regulations 

implementing the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is 

announcing receipt of the University of 

California Santa Cruz’s request for the 

development and implementation of 

regulations governing the incidental 

taking of marine mammals. NMFS 

invites the public to provide 

information, suggestions, and comments 

on the University of California Santa 

Cruz’s application and request. 

DATES: Comments and information must 

be received no later than January 6, 

2025. 

ADDRESSES: Comments on the 

applications should be addressed to 

Jolie Harrison, Chief, Permits and 

Conservation Division, Office of 

Protected Resources, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. Comments should be 


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