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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 29 (Thursday, February 13, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9537-9538]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02581]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XE620]

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.

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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 bp Exploration and Production, Inc., (bp) 
for the taking of marine mammals incidental to geophysical survey 
activity in the GOM.

DATES: This LOA is effective through March 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-gas-industry-geophysical-survey. In case of problems accessing these documents, 
please call the contact listed below (FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Wachtendonk, 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 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).

[[Page 9538]]

    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'' standard of 
the MMPA.
    NMFS issued a LOA to bp on September 9, 2024, for the take of 
marine mammals incidental to a three-dimensional (3D) ocean bottom node 
(OBN) survey over 325 lease blocks in the Alaminos Canyon, Garden 
Banks, Keathley Canyon, and East Breaks areas, effective September 9, 
2024, through February 14, 2025. Please see the Federal Register notice 
of issuance (89 FR 74921, September 13, 2024) for additional detail 
regarding the LOA and the survey activity.
    Bp has requested that the February 14, 2025, expiration date be 
extended to March 31, 2025, as they are using only one source vessel 
instead of the planned two. There are no other changes to the planned 
survey or our earlier analyses, as described in the previous notice of 
LOA issuance for this survey (89 FR 74921, September 13, 2024).
    Based on the results of our earlier 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 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 (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).
    NMFS made its small numbers determinations in the original notice 
of LOA issuance for the survey (89 FR 74921, September 13, 2024) based 
on the information provided in table 1, which has not changed.

                                             Table 1--Take Analysis
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                                                    Authorized      Scaled take                       Percent
                     Species                           take             \1\        Abundance \2\     abundance
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Rice's whale....................................               0             n/a              51             n/a
Sperm whale.....................................             408           172.5           3,007             5.7
Kogia spp.......................................         \3\ 287            85.3             980            10.8
Beaked whales...................................             547            55.2             803             6.9
Rough-toothed dolphin...........................           1,017           292.0           4,853             6.0
Bottlenose dolphin..............................             363           103.4         165,125             0.1
Clymene dolphin.................................           1,713           491.7           4,619            10.6
Atlantic spotted dolphin........................             108            30.9          21,506             0.1
Pantropical spotted dolphin.....................          13,612         3,906.5          67,225             5.8
Spinner dolphin.................................             185            52.8           5,548             1.0
Striped dolphin.................................           4,849         1,391.6           5,634            24.7
Fraser's dolphin................................             444           127.3           1,665             7.6
Risso's dolphin.................................             210            62.0           1,974             3.1
Blackfish \4\...................................           3,384           998.4           6,113            16.3
Short-finned pilot whale........................             142            42.0           2,741             1.5
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\1\ Scalar 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.
\2\ Best 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 19 takes by Level A harassment and 268 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.
\4\ The ``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 February 14, 
2025, to March 31, 2025. There are no other changes to the LOA as 
described in the September 13, 2024, Federal Register notice of 
issuance (89 FR 74921); the specified survey activity, take estimates, 
and small numbers analysis and determination remain unchanged and are 
incorporated here by reference.

    Dated: February 10, 2025.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-02581 Filed 2-12-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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