33682 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 120 / Friday, June 25, 2021 / Notices 

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 whenever NMFS proposes to 

authorize take for endangered or 

threatened species, in this case with 

NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional 

Fisheries Office (GARFO). 

The NMFS OPR is authorizing the 

incidental take of four species of marine 

mammals which are listed under the 

ESA: North Atlantic right, fin, sei, and 

sperm whales. The OPR requested 

initiation of Section 7 consultation with 

NMFS GARFO on April 19, 2021, for the 

issuance of the IHA. On June 1, 2021, 

NMFS GARFO determined that issuance 

of the IHA to Garden State is not likely 

to adversely affect the North Atlantic, 

fin, sei, or sperm whale or result in take 

of any marine mammals that would 

violate the ESA. 

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 NMFS have not identified 

any extraordinary circumstances that 

would preclude this categorical 

exclusion. Accordingly, NMFS has 

determined that the issuance of the IHA 

qualifies to be categorically excluded 

from further NEPA review. 

Authorization 

NMFS has issued an IHA to Garden 

State for the potential harassment of 

small numbers of 16 marine mammal 

species (with 17 managed stocks) 

incidental to conducting marine site 

characterization surveys offshore of 

Delaware and New Jersey in the area of 

the Commercial Lease of Submerged 

Lands for Renewable Energy 

Development on the Outer Continental 

Shelf (OCS–A 0482) and along potential 

export cable routes to landfall locations 

in Delaware and New Jersey, provided 

the previously mentioned mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting requirements 

are followed. 

Dated: June 14, 2021. 

Catherine Marzin, 

Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–13530 Filed 6–24–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB168] 

Taking and Importing Marine 

Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 

Incidental to U.S. Navy Marine 

Structure Maintenance and Pile 

Replacement in Washington 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of issuance of letters of 

authorization. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA), as amended, and 

implementing regulations, notification 

is hereby given that two Letters of 

Authorization (LOA) have been issued 

to the U.S. Navy (Navy) for the take of 

marine mammals incidental to 

maintenance construction activities at 

facilities in Washington. 

DATES: The LOAs are effective from July 

16, 2021, through January 15, 2022, and 

from July 16, 2021, through February 15, 

2022. 

ADDRESSES: The LOAs and supporting 

documentation are available online at: 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/ 

incidental-take-authorization-us-navymarine-structure-maintenance-and-pilereplacement-wa. In case of problems 

accessing these documents, please call 

the contact listed below (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben 

Laws, 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). 

Summary of Request 

On April 17, 2019, we issued a final 

rule upon request from the Navy for 

authorization to take marine mammals 

incidental to maintenance construction 

activities at six facilities in Washington 

(84 FR 15963). The Navy plans to 

conduct construction necessary for 

maintenance of existing in-water 

structures at the following facilities: 

Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) Bangor, NBK 

Bremerton, NBK Keyport, NBK 

Manchester, Zelatched Point, and Naval 

Station Everett (NS Everett). These 

repairs include use of impact and 

vibratory pile driving, including 

installation and removal of steel, 

concrete, plastic, and timber piles. The 

use of both vibratory and impact pile 

driving is expected to produce 

underwater sound at levels that have the 

potential to result in harassment of 

marine mammals. 

For the 2021–22 in-water work 

season, the Navy requested issuance of 

LOAs for work planned at NBK 

Manchester and NBK Bangor. The Navy 

submitted site-specific monitoring 

plans. Following NMFS review and 

approval of the required plans, we have 

issued the requested LOAs. The 

approved plans are available online at: 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 120 / Friday, June 25, 2021 / Notices 33683 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/ 

incidental-take-authorization-us-navymarine-structure-maintenance-and-pilereplacement-wa. 

For the 2020–21 in-water work 

season, the Navy requested issuance of 

LOAs for work planned at NBK 

Manchester and Zelatched Point. The 

work planned for NBK Manchester was 

delayed and will now occur during the 

2021–22 work season. The Navy 

submitted a monitoring report for work 

conducted at Zelatched Point, which is 

available online at: 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/ 

incidental-take-authorization-us-navymarine-structure-maintenance-and-pilereplacement-wa. 

Authorization 

We have issued two LOAs to the Navy 

authorizing the take of marine mammals 

incidental to maintenance construction 

activities, as described above. Take of 

marine mammals will be minimized 

through the implementation of the 

following planned mitigation measures: 

(1) Required monitoring of the 

construction areas to detect the presence 

of marine mammals before beginning 

construction activities; (2) shutdown of 

construction activities under certain 

circumstances to avoid injury of marine 

mammals; and (3) soft start for impact 

pile driving to allow marine mammals 

the opportunity to leave the area prior 

to beginning impact pile driving at full 

power. Additionally, the rule includes 

an adaptive management component 

that allows for timely modification of 

mitigation or monitoring measures 

based on new information, when 

appropriate. The Navy will submit 

reports as required. 

Based on these findings and the 

information discussed in the preamble 

to the final rule, the activities described 

under these LOAs will have a negligible 

impact on marine mammal stocks and 

will not have an unmitigable adverse 

impact on the availability of the affected 

marine mammal stock for subsistence 

uses. 

Dated: June 22, 2021. 

Catherine Marzin, 

Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–13566 Filed 6–24–21; 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; NOAA Customer Surveys 

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 March 2, 

2021 (86 FR 12179), during a 60-day 

comment period. This notice allows for 

an additional 30 days for public 

comments. 

Agency: National Oceanic & 

Atmospheric Administration, 

Commerce. 

Title: NOAA Customer Surveys. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0342. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular submission 

[Revision and extension of a current 

information collection.]. 

Number of Respondents: 65,860 

(197,580 for 3-year period). 

Average Hours per Response: 

Response time varies from 5 minutes for 

most web surveys to two hours for focus 

groups or interviews. 

Total Annual Burden Hours: 9,298 

(27,894 for 3-year period). 

Needs and Uses: This request is for a 

revision and extension of a currently 

approved generic information 

collection. 

This collection follows the guidelines 

contained in the OMB Resource Manual 

for Customer Surveys. In accordance 

with Executive Order 12862, the 

National Performance Review, and good 

management practices, National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) offices seek 

approval to continue to gather customer 

feedback on services and/or products 

which can be used in planning for 

service/product modification and 

prioritization. Under this generic 

clearance, individual offices would use 

approved questionnaires and develop 

new questionnaires, as needed, by 

selecting subsets of the approved set of 

collection questions and tailoring those 

specific questions to be meaningful for 

their particular programs. Surveys 

currently typically include IT and 

website satisfaction surveys, Weather 

Service product surveys, and National 

Marine Sanctuary participation surveys, 

among others. 

This generic clearance will not be 

used to survey any bodies NOAA 

regulates unless precautions are taken to 

ensure that the respondents believe that 

they are not under any risk for not 

responding or for the contents of their 

responses, e.g., in no survey to such a 

population will the names and 

addresses of respondents be required. 

Two sets of survey questions are used 

for generation of program-level 

questionnaires. Quantitative questions 

seek to obtain numerical ratings from 

respondents on their satisfaction with 

various aspects of the product or service 

they obtained—satisfaction with the 

quality of the product, the courtesy of 

the staff, the format of and 

documentation for data received, and 

similar standard types of questions. The 

offices using such questions are able to 

determine which aspects of their 

program need improvement or have 

improved. Qualitative questions are 

more focused on who is using the 

product and service, how it is being 

used, and the medium or format in 

which the respondent would like to see 

data provided. 

NOAA seeks to add new questions to 

the approved question bank in order to 

more accurately reflect information 

required by NOAA in order to carry out 

its mission. Additionally, the number of 

anticipated respondents, responses, and 

burden hours have been updated to 

more accurately reflect the burden 

imposed by this collection. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households; Business or other for-profit 

organizations; Not-for-profit 

institutions; State, Local, or Tribal 

government; Federal government; 

Farms. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Legal Authority: Executive Order 

12862, Circular A–11. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. 

Follow the instructions to view the 

Department of Commerce collections 

currently under review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be 

submitted within 30 days of the 

publication of this notice on the 

following website www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1