38686 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Notices 

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; National Marine Sanctuary 

Permits 

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 February 19, 

2021 (86 FR 10249) during a 60-day 

comment period. This notice allows for 

an additional 30 days for public 

comments. 

Agency: National Oceanic & 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

Title: National Marine Sanctuary 

Permits. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0141. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular submission 

(revision and extension of a current 

information collection). 

Number of Respondents: 424. 

Average Hours per Response: General 

permits and authorizations, 1 hour and 

30 minutes; special use permits, 8 

hours; archaeological research permits, 

13 hours; baitfish permits, 40 minutes; 

permit amendments and certifications, 

30 minutes; voluntary registrations, 15 

minutes; appeals, 24 hours; Tortugas 

access permits, 15 minutes. 

Total Annual Burden Hours: 2149.25. 

Needs and Uses: This request is for 

revision and extension of a currently 

approved information collection by the 

Office of National Marine Sanctuaries 

(ONMS). ONMS manages national 

marine sanctuaries pursuant to the 

purposes and policies of the National 

Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA, 16 

U.S.C. 1431 et seq.). 

National marine sanctuary regulations 

at 15 CFR part 922 list specific activities 

that are prohibited in national marine 

sanctuaries. These regulations also state 

that otherwise prohibited activities may 

be conducted if a permit is issued by 

ONMS. For most types of permits, 

persons desiring a permit must submit 

an application, and anyone obtaining a 

permit is generally required to submit 

one or more reports on the activity 

allowed under the permit. The 

recordkeeping and reporting 

requirements at 15 CFR part 922 form 

the basis for this collection of 

information. 

This information is required by 

ONMS to protect and manage sanctuary 

resources. The permit application 

collects information about the proposed 

activities, the methods proposed to be 

used, the potential effects to sanctuary 

resources, and information on the 

regulatory review criteria at 15 CFR part 

922. ONMS uses this information to 

evaluate whether the proposed activities 

are consistent with the purposes and 

policies of the NMSA, the purposes for 

which the sanctuary was designated, 

and the implementing regulations at 15 

CFR part 922. 

Changes to this information collection 

include revisions to the permit 

application and instructions to improve 

clarity. The estimated number of 

permits issued per year also changed 

from 555 to 424. This is based on an 

estimated five additional permits from 

the designation of the Mallows Bay— 

Potomac River National Marine 

Sanctuary (84 FR 50736; Sept. 26, 2019), 

five additional permits from the 

designation of Wisconsin Shipwreck 

Coast National Marine Sanctuary 

(WSCNMS) (86 FR 32737, June 23, 

2021); the correction of a mathematical 

error that increased the total burden 

hours for baitfish permits; and a 

reduction of 141 permits per year 

because ONMS is no longer issuing 

lionfish removal permits in Florida Keys 

National Marine Sanctuary. Other 

revisions made to the application and 

applicant instructions were to improve 

the quality of information initially 

collected and to make the permit 

process more efficient. 

Affected Public: Individuals; Business 

or other for-profit organizations; Not-forprofit institutions; State, Local, or Tribal 

government; Federal government. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

Obtain or Retain Benefits. 

Legal Authority: National Marine 

Sanctuaries Act, 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq. 

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 

selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function and 

entering either the title of the collection 

or the OMB Control Number 0648–0141. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Chief Information Officer, Commerce 

Department. 

[FR Doc. 2021–15560 Filed 7–21–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–NK–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB235] 

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to 

Specified Activities; Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to Seattle 

Multimodal Project at Colman Dock in 

Washington State 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance of Renewal 

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 a Renewal 

incidental harassment authorization 

(IHA) to the Washington State 

Department of Transportation (WSDOT) 

to incidentally harass, by Level B 

harassment only, marine mammals 

incidental to construction activities 

associated with the Seattle Multimodal 

Project at Colman Dock in Seattle, 

Washington State. 

DATES: This Renewal IHA is valid from 

August 1, 2021 through July 31, 2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amy Fowler, Office of Protected 

Resources, NMFS, (301) 427–8401. 

Electronic copies of the original 

application, Renewal request, and 

supporting documents (including NMFS 

Federal Register notices of the original 

proposed and final authorizations, and 

the previous IHA), 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: 


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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 

proposed or, if the taking is limited to 

harassment, a notice of a proposed 

incidental take authorization is 

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 such species or stocks for 

taking for certain subsistence uses 

(referred to here as ‘‘mitigation 

measures’’). Monitoring and reporting of 

such takings are also required. The 

meaning of key terms such as ‘‘take,’’ 

‘‘harassment,’’ and ‘‘negligible impact’’ 

can be found in section 3 of the MMPA 

(16 U.S.C. 1362) and the agency’s 

regulations at 50 CFR 216.103. 

NMFS’ regulations implementing the 

MMPA at 50 CFR 216.107(e) indicate 

that IHAs may be renewed for 

additional periods of time not to exceed 

one year for each reauthorization. In the 

notice of proposed IHA for the initial 

authorization, NMFS described the 

circumstances under which we would 

consider issuing a Renewal for this 

activity, and requested public comment 

on a potential Renewal under those 

circumstances. Specifically, on a caseby-case basis, NMFS may issue a onetime one-year Renewal IHA following 

notice to the public providing an 

additional 15 days for public comments 

when (1) up to another year of identical 

or nearly identical activities as 

described in the ‘‘Detailed Description 

of Specified Activities’’ section of the 

initial IHA issuance notice is planned or 

(2) the activities as described in the 

‘‘Detailed Description of Specified 

Activities’’ section of the initial IHA 

issuance notice would not be completed 

by the time the initial IHA expires and 

a Renewal would allow for completion 

of the activities beyond that described 

in the ‘‘Dates’’ section of the initial IHA 

issuance, provided all of the following 

conditions are met: 

(1) A request for renewal is received 

no later than 60 days prior to the needed 

Renewal IHA effective date (recognizing 

that the Renewal IHA expiration date 

cannot extend beyond one year from 

expiration of the initial IHA). 

(2) The request for renewal must 

include the following: 

• An explanation that the activities to 

be conducted under the requested 

Renewal IHA are identical to the 

activities analyzed under the initial 

IHA, are a subset of the activities, or 

include changes so minor (e.g., 

reduction in pile size) that the changes 

do not affect the previous analyses, 

mitigation and monitoring 

requirements, or take estimates (with 

the exception of reducing the type or 

amount of take). 

• A preliminary monitoring report 

showing the results of the required 

monitoring to date and an explanation 

showing that the monitoring results do 

not indicate impacts of a scale or nature 

not previously analyzed or authorized. 

(3) Upon review of the request for 

Renewal, the status of the affected 

species or stocks, and any other 

pertinent information, NMFS 

determines that there are no more than 

minor changes in the activities, the 

mitigation and monitoring measures 

will remain the same and appropriate, 

and the findings in the initial IHA 

remain valid. 

An additional public comment period 

of 15 days (for a total of 45 days), with 

direct notice by email, phone, or postal 

service to commenters on the initial 

IHA, is provided to allow for any 

additional comments on the proposed 

Renewal. A description of the Renewal 

process may be found on our website at: 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/incidentalharassment-authorization-renewals. 

History of Request 

On September 3, 2020, NMFS issued 

an IHA to WSDOT to take marine 

mammals incidental to the fourth year 

of work associated with the Seattle 

Multimodal Project at Colman Dock in 

Seattle, Washington (85 FR 59737; 

September 23, 2020), effective from 

September 10, 2020 through September 

9, 2021. The initial IHA covered one 

year of the larger project for which 

WSDOT obtained prior IHAs (82 FR 

31579, July 7, 2017; 83 FR 35226, July 

25, 2018; 84 FR 36581, July 29, 2019). 

On March 18, 2021, NMFS received an 

application for the Renewal of that 

initial IHA. As described in the 

application for Renewal, the activities 

for which incidental take is requested 

consist of activities that are covered by 

the initial authorization but will not be 

completed prior to its expiration. As 

required, the applicant also provided a 

preliminary monitoring report (available 

at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

national/marine-mammal-protection/ 

incidental-take-authorizationsconstruction-activities) which confirms 

that the applicant has implemented the 

required mitigation and monitoring, and 

which also shows that no impacts of a 

scale or nature not previously analyzed 

or authorized have occurred as a result 

of the activities conducted. The notice 

of the proposed Renewal incidental 

harassment authorization was published 

on June 23, 2021 (86 FR 32895). 

Description of the Specified Activities 

and Anticipated Impacts 

WSDOT has requested incidental take 

for construction activities related to the 

Seattle Multimodal Project at Colman 

Dock in Seattle, Washington State. The 

activities addressed in this request 

represent a subset of the activities 

analyzed in the initial IHA, consisting of 

vibratory pile removal only, and are 

identical to the activities described in 

the initial IHA. 

Accordingly the authorized take is for 

the same 11 species authorized in the 

initial IHA (see Table 4), and the 

amount of take is reflective of the take 

estimation methods described in the 

initial IHA applied to the remaining 

work described below. 

The following documents are 

referenced in this notice and include 

important supporting information: 

• Initial 2020 final IHA (85 FR 59737; 

September 23, 2020); 

• Initial 2020 proposed IHA (85 FR 

40992; July 8, 2020); and 

• Initial IHA application, references 

cited, marine mammal monitoring plan, 

preliminary monitoring report, and 

previous public comments received 

(available at https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/incidentaltake-authorizations-constructionactivities). 

Detailed Description of the Activity 

A detailed description of the pile 

installation and removal activities for 

which take was authorized in the initial 

IHA may be found in the Federal 

Register notices of the proposed and 

final IHA for the initial authorization 

(85 FR 40992, July 8, 2020; 85 FR 59737, 

September 23, 2020). Only a subset of 

the construction activities remain to be 


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conducted, and the location, timing, and 

nature of the activities, including the 

types of equipment planned for use, are 

identical to those described in the 

previous notices. 

Below and in Table 1 we describe the 

specific in-water pile driving and pile 

removal activities that were planned 

and already occurred under the initial 

IHA and those that remain to be 

completed under this renewal IHA: 

• Vibratory driving followed by 

impact proofing (driving) of 36-inch 

steel piles. A total of 73 piles were 

installed using the vibratory hammer 

over 9 days, with an average of 

approximately 8 piles installed per day. 

Vibratory pile driving and impact 

proofing occurred on different days; 

• Vibratory driving and then removal 

of 24-inch temporary steel piles. A total 

of 30 piles were planned be installed 

and later removed, with an average of 8 

piles installed/removed per day; 

• Vibratory removal of 355 14-inch 

timber piles over 18 days, with 

approximately 20 piles removed per 

day; and 

• Vibratory removal of 30 12-inch 

steel piles over 3 days, with 10 piles 

removed per day. 

All vibratory and impact pile 

installation was completed. Only 

vibratory removal of timber and 

temporary steel piles remains to be 

completed (Table 1). 

TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF PLANNED IN-WATER PILE DRIVING

Pile size and type Method 

Number of 

piles planned 

to be 

completed in 

initial IHA 

Number of 

piles 

completed 

under initial 

IHA 

Number of 

piles to be 

completed in 

IHA renewal 

36-inch Steel ................................................... Impact drive (proof) ........................................ * 73 73 0 

36-inch Steel ................................................... Vibratory drive ................................................ * 73 73 0 

24-inch Steel (temporary) ............................... Vibratory drive ................................................ * 30 30 0

24-inch Steel (temporary) ............................... Vibratory remove ............................................ * 30 5 25 

14-inch Timber ................................................ Vibratory remove ............................................ 355 316 39 

12-inch Steel ................................................... Vibratory remove ............................................ 30 30 0 

* These are same piles. 

The total estimated duration of pile 

driving activities planned in the initial 

IHA was 47 days. In consideration of the 

time required to remove each pile using 

a vibratory hammer and the number of 

piles that may be removed per day, a 

total of 8 days of work remain to remove 

the rest of the timber piles and 

temporary steel piles (Table 2). 

Due to NMFS and U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (USFWS) in-water 

work timing restrictions to protect 

Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed 

salmonids, planned WSDOT in-water 

construction is limited each year to July 

15 through February 15 at this location. 

For this project, in-water construction is 

planned to take place between August 1, 

2021 and February 15, 2022. This IHA 

Renewal is effective from August 1, 

2021 through July 31, 2022. 

TABLE 2—ESTIMATED DURATION OF REMAINING IN-WATER VIBRATORY PILE REMOVAL

Pile size and type 

Number of 

piles 

remaining 

Piles 

per day 

Minutes 

per pile 

Duration 

(days) 

24-inch steel .................................................................................................................... 25 8 20 4 

14-inch timber .................................................................................................................. 39 10 15 4 

Description of Marine Mammals 

A description of the marine mammals 

in the area of the activities for which 

authorization of take is authorized here, 

including information on abundance, 

status, distribution, and hearing, may be 

found in the Federal Register notice of 

proposed IHA for the initial 

authorization (85 FR 40992; July 8, 

2020) and the Federal Register notice of 

proposed IHA for the Year 3 Seattle 

Multimodal Project at Colman Dock (84 

FR 25757; June 4, 2019). NMFS has 

reviewed the monitoring data from the 

initial IHA, recent draft Stock 

Assessment Reports, information on 

relevant Unusual Mortality Events, and 

other scientific literature, and 

determined that neither this nor any 

other new information affects which 

species or stocks have the potential to 

be affected or the pertinent information 

in the ‘‘Description of the Marine 

Mammals in the Area of Specified 

Activities’’ contained in the supporting 

documents for the initial IHA. 

Potential Effects on Marine Mammals 

and Their Habitat 

A description of the potential effects 

of the specified activity on marine 

mammals and their habitat for the 

activities for which take is authorized 

here may be found in the Federal 

Register notice of proposed IHA for the 

initial authorization (85 FR 40992; July 

8, 2020). NMFS has reviewed the 

monitoring data from the initial IHA, 

recent draft Stock Assessment Reports, 

information on relevant Unusual 

Mortality Events, other scientific 

literature, and the public comments, 

and determined that neither this nor any 

other new information affects our initial 

analysis of impacts on marine mammals 

and their habitat. 

Estimated Take 

A detailed description of the methods 

and inputs used to estimate take for the 

specified activity are found in the 

Federal Register notices of proposed 

IHA (85 FR 40992; July 8, 2020) and 

final IHA (85 FR 59737; September 23, 

2020) for the initial authorization. 

Specifically, the source levels, 

corresponding Level A and Level B 

harassment zones (in m) and ensonified 

areas (in square kilometers (km2); Table 

3), and marine mammal density/ 

occurrence data applicable to this 

authorization remain unchanged from 

the previously issued IHA. Similarly, 

the stocks taken, methods of take, and 

types of take remain unchanged from 


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the previously issued IHA. The only 

change from the methods used to 

estimate take in the initial IHA is the 

total duration (days) of pile driving 

activities, which has been reduced from 

a total of 47 days of activities, occurring 

over the course of 7 months, in the 

initial IHA to 8 days of remaining 

activities estimated to occur within one 

month. 

TABLE 3—LEVEL A AND LEVEL B HARASSMENT ZONES AND ENSONIFIED AREAS

Pile type, size & pile driving method 

Level A harassment distance (m)/area (km2) Level B 

harassment 

distance (m)/ 

area (km2) 

LF 

cetacean 

MF 

cetacean 

HF 

cetacean Phocid Otariid 

Vibratory drive/removal, 24 inch steel 

piles ...................................................... 96.6/0.03 8.6/0.00 142.8/0.06 58.7/0.01 4.1/0.00 8,690/40.53 

Vibratory removal 14 inch timber pile ...... 8.0/0.00 0.7/0.00 11.8/0.00 4.8/0.00 0.3/0.00 2,154/5.47 

LF = low-frequency; MF = mid-frequency; HF = high-frequency. 

Authorized takes are by Level B 

harassment only, as use of the vibratory 

hammer has the potential to result in 

disruption of behavioral patterns for 

individual marine mammals. The initial 

IHA authorized take of harbor seals and 

harbor porpoises by Level A harassment 

from impact pile driving. However, as 

described in the initial IHA, based on 

the nature of the activity remaining in 

this Renewal (vibratory pile driving) 

and the anticipated effectiveness of the 

mitigation measures (i.e., shutdown, see 

Proposed Mitigation below), Level A 

harassment is neither anticipated from 

vibratory pile driving and is not 

authorized here. 

As described in the initial IHA, the 

initial approach for take calculation was 

to use the information aggregated in the 

U.S. Navy Marine Species Density 

Database (U.S. Navy, 2019) with the 

following equation: 

Total Take = marine mammal density × 

ensonified area × pile driving days 

However, also as described in the 

initial IHA, adjustments were made to 

all of these initial estimates based on 

prior observation of marine mammals in 

the project area and account for group 

numbers, and in fact most estimates 

were based on a predicted number of 

individuals entering the Level B 

harassment zone per month, with 

several estimates also based on a 

predicted number entering per day. 

Take estimates for the activities 

remaining in this renewal IHA were 

developed using the identical methods 

as the initial IHA, in consideration of 

the remaining 8 days of work, and 

equated to one month where monthly 

estimates were used. Table 4 indicates 

the number of each species or stock 

proposed for authorization. 

TABLE 4—AUTHORIZED TAKE BY SPECIES AND STOCK

Species 

Total 

proposed 

take 

Stock Stock 

abundance 

Percent 

of stock 

Gray whale ................................... 1 Eastern North Pacific ........................................................................ 26,960 0.004 

Humpback whale ......................... 3 California/Oregon/Washington .......................................................... 2,900 0.103 

Minke whale ................................. 1 California/Oregon/Washington .......................................................... 636 0.157 

Killer whale ................................... 10 West Coast transient ......................................................................... 349 2.865 

Bottlenose dolphin ....................... 7 California/Oregon/Washington offshore ............................................ 1,924 0.364 

Harbor porpoise ........................... 100 Washington inland waters ................................................................. 11,233 0.890 

Dall’s porpoise ............................. 5 California/Oregon/Washington .......................................................... 25,750 0.019 

Harbor seal .................................. 720 Washington northern inland waters .................................................. 11,036 6.524 

Northern elephant seal ................ 1 California breeding ............................................................................ 179,000 0.001 

California sea lion ........................ 232 U.S. ................................................................................................... 257,606 0.090 

Steller sea lion ............................. 8 Eastern U.S. ...................................................................................... 43,201 0.019 

We have reviewed the preliminary 

monitoring report submitted by WSDOT 

and the monitoring results do not 

indicate impacts of a scale or nature not 

previously analyzed or authorized and, 

therefore, these estimates are 

appropriate. 

Description of Mitigation, Monitoring 

and Reporting Measures 

The mitigation, monitoring, and 

reporting measures included as 

requirements in this authorization are 

identical to those included in the 

Federal Register notice announcing the 

issuance of the initial IHA (85 FR 59737; 

September 23, 2020), with the exception 

of mitigation measures specific to 

impact pile driving, which will not 

occur under this IHA. The discussion of 

the least practicable adverse impact 

included in that document remains 

accurate. The following measures are 

required in this Renewal: 

Proposed Mitigation 

Time Restriction—The applicant 

stated that work would occur only 

during daylight hours, when visual 

monitoring of marine mammals can be 

conducted. In addition, all in-water 

construction will be limited to the 

period between August 1, 2021, and 

February 15, 2022. 

Establishing and Monitoring Level A, 

Level B Harassment Zones, and 

Exclusion Zones—Before the 

commencement of in-water construction 

activities, which include vibratory pile 

removal, WSDOT must establish Level 

A harassment zones where received 

underwater sound pressure levels 

(SPLs) or cumulative sound exposure 

levels (SELcum) could cause permanent 

threshold shift (PTS). 

WSDOT must also establish Level B 

harassment zones where received 

underwater SPLs are higher than 120 

decibels root-mean-square (dBrms) re 1 

microPascal (mPa) for continuous noise 

sources (e.g., vibratory pile removal). 

WSDOT must establish exclusion 

zones as shown in Table 5 to prevent 


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Level A harassment takes of all marine 

mammal hearing groups. 

For in-water heavy machinery work 

other than pile driving (e.g., standard 

barges, etc.), if a marine mammal comes 

within 10 m, operations must cease and 

vessels must reduce speed to the 

minimum level required to maintain 

steerage and safe working conditions. 

This type of work could include the 

following activities: (1) Movement of the 

barge to the pile location; or (2) 

positioning of the pile on the substrate 

via a crane. 

WSDOT must establish exclusion 

zones for Southern Resident killer 

whales (SRKW) and all marine 

mammals for which takes are not 

authorized at the Level B harassment 

distances. Specifically, for vibratory 

removal of 24-inch steel piles, an 8.7 km 

exclusion zone must be established. For 

vibratory removal of 14-inch timber 

piles, a 2.2 km exclusion zone must be 

established. 

A summary of exclusion zones is 

provided in Table 5. 

TABLE 5—EXCLUSION ZONES BY SPECIES AND HEARING GROUP

Pile type and size 

Exclusion distance (m) 

LF MF HF Phocid Otariid SRKW 

24-inch steel ............................................................................................. 100 10 150 60 10 8,700 

14-inch timber .......................................................................................... 10 10 15 10 10 2,200 

NMFS-approved protected species 

observers (PSOs) must conduct an 

initial survey of the exclusion zones to 

ensure that no marine mammals are 

seen within the zones beginning 30 

minutes before removal of a pile 

segment begins. If marine mammals are 

found within the exclusion zone, pile 

driving of the segment must be delayed 

until they move out of the area. If a 

marine mammal is seen above water and 

then dives below, the contractor must 

wait 15 minutes. If no marine mammals 

are seen by the observer in that time it 

can be assumed that the animal has 

moved beyond the exclusion zone. 

If pile driving of a segment ceases for 

30 minutes or more and a marine 

mammal is sighted within the 

designated exclusion zone prior to 

commencement of pile removal, the 

observer(s) must notify the pile driving 

operator (or other authorized 

individual) immediately and continue 

to monitor the exclusion zone. 

Operations may not resume until the 

marine mammal has exited the 

exclusion zone or 15 minutes have 

elapsed since the last sighting. 

Shutdown Measures—WSDOT must 

implement shutdown measures if a 

marine mammal is detected within or 

entering an exclusion zone listed in 

Table 5. 

WSDOT must also implement 

shutdown measures if SRKW are sighted 

within the vicinity of the project area 

and are approaching the Level B 

harassment zone during in-water 

construction activities. 

If a killer whale approaches the Level 

B harassment zone during pile driving 

or removal, and it is unknown whether 

it is a SRKW or a transient killer whale, 

it must be assumed to be a SRKW and 

WSDOT must implement the shutdown 

measure. 

If a SRKW or an unidentified killer 

whale enters the Level B harassment 

zone undetected, in-water pile driving 

or pile removal must be suspended until 

the whale exits the Level B harassment 

zone, or 15 minutes have elapsed with 

no sighting of the animal, to avoid 

further Level B harassment. 

Further, WSDOT must implement 

shutdown measures if the number of 

authorized takes for any particular 

species reaches the limit under the IHA 

and if such marine mammals are sighted 

within the vicinity of the project area 

and are approaching the Level B 

harassment zone during in-water 

construction activities. 

Coordination with Local Marine 

Mammal Research Network—Prior to 

the start of pile driving for the day, 

WSDOT must contact the Orca Network 

and/or Center for Whale Research to 

find out the location of the nearest 

marine mammal sightings. The Local 

Marine Mammal Research Network 

consists of a list of over 600 (and 

growing) residents, scientists, and 

government agency personnel in the 

United States and Canada. Sightings are 

called or emailed into the Orca Network 

and immediately distributed to other 

sighting networks including: The NMFS 

Northwest Fisheries Science Center, the 

Center for Whale Research, Cascadia 

Research, the Whale Museum Hotline 

and the British Columbia Sightings 

Network. 

Sightings information collected by the 

Orca Network includes detection by 

hydrophone. The SeaSound Remote 

Sensing Network is a system of 

interconnected hydrophones installed 

in the marine environment of Haro 

Strait (west side of San Juan Island) to 

study orca communication, in-water 

noise, bottom fish ecology and local 

climatic conditions. A hydrophone at 

the Port Townsend Marine Science 

Center measures average in-water sound 

levels and automatically detects 

unusual sounds. These passive acoustic 

devices allow researchers to hear when 

different marine mammals come into 

the region. This acoustic network, 

combined with the volunteer 

(incidental) visual sighting network 

allows researchers to document 

presence and location of various marine 

mammal species. 

Proposed Monitoring and Reporting 

Monitoring Measures—WSDOT must 

employ NMFS-approved PSOs to 

conduct marine mammal monitoring for 

its Seattle Multimodal Project at Colman 

Dock. The PSOs must observe and 

collect data on marine mammals in and 

around the project area for 30 minutes 

before, during, and for 30 minutes after 

all pile removal and pile installation 

work. NMFS-approved PSOs must meet 

the following requirements: 

1. Independent observers (i.e., not 

construction personnel) are required; 

2. At least one observer must have 

prior experience working as an observer; 

3. Other observers may substitute 

education (undergraduate degree in 

biological science or related field) or 

training for experience; 

4. Where a team of three or more 

observers are required, one observer 

should be designated as lead observer or 

monitoring coordinator. The lead 

observer must have prior experience 

working as an observer; and 

5. NMFS will require submission and 

approval of observer Curriculum Vitas. 

Monitoring of marine mammals 

around the construction site must be 

conducted using high-quality binoculars 

(e.g., Zeiss, 10 × 42 power). Due to the 

different sizes of zones of influence 

(ZOIs) from different pile sizes, several 

different ZOIs and different monitoring 

protocols corresponding to a specific 

pile size will be established. During 

vibratory removal of 24-inch steel piles, 

four land-based PSOs and one ferrybased PSO must monitor the zone. 

During vibratory removal of 14-inch 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Notices 38691 

timber piles, four land-based PSOs must 

monitor the zone. Locations of the landbased PSOs and routes of monitoring 

vessels are shown in WSDOT’s Marine 

Mammal Monitoring Plan, which is 

available online at https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/ 

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

To verify the required monitoring 

distance, the exclusion zones and zones 

of influence must be determined by 

using a range finder or hand-held global 

positioning system device. 

Reporting Measures—WSDOT is 

required to submit a draft report on all 

marine mammal monitoring conducted 

under the IHA (if issued) within 90 

calendar days of the completion of the 

project. A final report must be prepared 

and submitted within 30 days following 

resolution of comments on the draft 

report from NMFS. 

The marine mammal report must 

contain the informational elements 

described in the Marine Mammal 

Monitoring Plan for the initial IHA, 

dated May 12, 2020, including, but not 

limited to: 

1. Dates and times (begin and end) of 

all marine mammal monitoring; 

2. Construction activities occurring 

during each daily observation period, 

including how many and what type of 

piles were driven or removed; 

3. Weather parameters and water 

conditions during each monitoring 

period (e.g., wind speed, percent cover, 

visibility, sea state); 

4. The number of marine mammals 

observed, by species, relative to the pile 

location and if pile driving or removal 

was occurring at time of sighting; 

5. Age and sex class, if possible, of all 

marine mammals observed; 

6. PSO locations during marine 

mammal monitoring; 

7. Distances and bearings of each 

marine mammal observed to the pile 

being driven or removed for each 

sighting (if pile driving or removal was 

occurring at time of sighting); 

8. Description of any marine mammal 

behavior patterns during observation, 

including direction of travel and 

estimated time spent within the Level B 

harassment zones while the source was 

active; 

9. Number of individuals of each 

species (differentiated by month as 

appropriate) detected within the 

monitoring zone; 

10. Detailed information about any 

implementation of any mitigation 

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

description of specific actions that 

ensued, and resulting behavior of the 

animal, if any; 

11. Description of attempts to 

distinguish between the number of 

individual animals taken and the 

number of incidences of take, such as 

ability to track groups or individuals; 

and 

12. Submit all PSO datasheets and/or 

raw sighting data (in a separate file from 

the Final Report referenced immediately 

above). 

In the event that personnel involved 

in the construction activities discover 

an injured or dead marine mammal, 

WSDOT must report the incident to the 

Office of Protected Resources (OPR) 

(301–427–8401), NMFS and to the West 

Coast Region (WCR) regional stranding 

coordinator (1–866–767–6114) as soon 

as feasible. If the death or injury was 

clearly caused by the specified activity, 

WSDOT 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. WSDOT must not resume their 

activities until notified by NMFS. 

The report must include the following 

information: 

1. Time, date, and location (latitude/ 

longitude) of the first discovery (and 

updated location information if known 

and applicable); 

2. Species identification (if known) or 

description of the animal(s) involved; 

3. Condition of the animal(s) 

(including carcass condition if the 

animal is dead); 

4. Observed behaviors of the 

animal(s), if alive; 

5. If available, photographs or video 

footage of the animal(s); and 

6. General circumstances under which 

the animal was discovered. 

Comments and Responses 

A notice of NMFS’ proposal to issue 

a Renewal IHA to WSDOT was 

published in the Federal Register on 

June 23, 2021 (86 FR 32895). That notice 

either described, or referenced 

descriptions of, WSDOT’s activity, the 

marine mammal species that may be 

affected by the activity, the anticipated 

effects on marine mammals and their 

habitat, estimated amount and manner 

of take, and proposed mitigation, 

monitoring and reporting measures. 

NMFS received no public comments. 

Determinations 

The construction activities planned 

by WSDOT are a subset of, and identical 

to, those analyzed in the initial IHA, 

and the method of taking and the effects 

of the action are identical to the initial 

IHA (though the amount of proposed 

authorized take is notably lower). The 

potential effects of WSDOT’s activities 

are limited to Level B harassment in the 

form of behavioral disturbance. In 

analyzing the effects of the activities in 

the 2020 IHA, NMFS determined that 

WSDOT’s activities would have a 

negligible impact on the affected species 

or stocks and that the authorized take 

numbers of each species or stock were 

small relative to the relevant stocks (e.g., 

less than one-third of all stocks). The 

mitigation measures and monitoring and 

reporting requirements as described 

above are identical to the initial IHA. 

NMFS has concluded that there is no 

new information suggesting that our 

analysis or findings should change from 

those reached for the initial IHA. Based 

on the information and analysis 

contained here and in the referenced 

documents, NMFS has determined the 

following: (1) The required mitigation 

measures will effect the least practicable 

impact on marine mammal species or 

stocks and their habitat; (2) the 

authorized takes will have a negligible 

impact on the affected marine mammal 

species or stocks; (3) the authorized 

takes represent small numbers of marine 

mammals relative to the affected stock 

abundances; (4) WSDOT’s activities will 

not have an unmitigable adverse impact 

on taking for subsistence purposes as no 

relevant subsistence uses of marine 

mammals are implicated by this action, 

and; (5) appropriate monitoring and 

reporting requirements are included. 

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 evaluate our 

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

IHA Renewal) and alternatives with 

respect to potential impacts on the 

human environment. This action is 

consistent with categories of activities 

identified in Categorical Exclusion B4 of 

the Companion Manual for NAO 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 proposed 

action qualifies to be categorically 

excluded from further NEPA review. 

Endangered Species Act 

Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973 (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 


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38692 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Notices 

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 West Coast Region 

Protected Resources Division, whenever 

we propose to authorize take for 

endangered or threatened species. 

The only species listed under the ESA 

with the potential to be present in the 

action area are the Mexico Distinct 

Population Segment (DPS) and Central 

America DPS of humpback whales. The 

effects of this Federal action were 

adequately analyzed in NMFS’ 

Biological Opinion for the Seattle 

Multimodal Project at Colman Dock, 

Seattle, Washington, dated October 1, 

2018, which concluded that issuance of 

an IHA would not jeopardize the 

continued existence of any endangered 

or threatened species or destroy or 

adversely modify any designated critical 

habitat. 

Renewal 

NMFS has issued a Renewal IHA to 

WSDOT for the take of marine mammals 

incidental to conducting the Seattle 

Multimodal Project at Colman Dock 

Year 4 in Washington State, between 

August 1, 2021 and July 31, 2022. 

Dated: July 16, 2021. 

Catherine Marzin, 

Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–15539 Filed 7–21–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of Defense MedicareEligible Retiree Health Care Board of 

Actuaries; Notice of Federal Advisory 

Committee Meeting 

AGENCY: Under Secretary of Defense for 

Personnel and Readiness, U.S. 

Department of Defense (DoD). 

ACTION: Notice of open Federal 

Advisory Committee meeting. 

SUMMARY: DoD is publishing this notice 

to announce that the following Federal 

Advisory Committee meeting of the 

Department of Defense MedicareEligible Retiree Health Care Board of 

Actuaries, hereafter, ‘‘Board’’ will take 

place. 

DATES: Open to the public Friday, 

August 6, 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 

p.m. 

ADDRESSES: THIS MEETING WILL BE 

HELD VIRTUALLY. For information on 

accessing the meeting, please contact 

Kathleen Ludwig, (703) 438–0223 or 

Kathleen.A.Ludwig.civ@mail.mil before 

July 30, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. EDT. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Inger Pettygrove, (703) 225–8803 

(Voice), inger.m.pettygrove.civ@mail.mil 

(Email). Mailing address is Defense 

Human Resources Activity, DoD Office 

of the Actuary, 4800 Mark Center Drive, 

STE 03E25, Alexandria, VA 22350– 

8000. Website: https://

actuary.defense.gov/. The most up-todate changes to the meeting agenda can 

be found on the website. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

meeting is being held under the 

provisions of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act (FACA) of 1972 (5 

U.S.C., Appendix, as amended), the 

Government in the Sunshine Act of 

1976 (5 U.S.C. 552b, as amended), and 

41 CFR 102–3.140 and 102–3.150. 

Purpose of the Meeting: The purpose 

of the meeting is to execute the 

provisions of 10 U.S.C. chapter 56 (10 

U.S.C. 1114 et. seq). The Board shall 

review DoD actuarial methods and 

assumptions to be used in the valuation 

of benefits under DoD retiree health care 

programs for Medicare-eligible 

beneficiaries. 

Agenda: Discussion includes (1) 

Approved actuarial assumptions and 

methods needed for calculating: The 

September 30, 2020, unfunded liability 

payment (UFL)*, the FY 2023 per capita 

full-time and part-time normal cost 

amounts*, and the October 1, 2021, 

Treasury UFL amortization payment*; 

(2) Approve per capita full-time and 

part-time normal cost amounts for the 

October 1, 2021 (FY 2022) normal cost 

payments*; (3) Trust Fund investment 

experience update; (4) Medicare-Eligible 

Retiree Health Care Fund Update; (5) 

September 30, 2019, Actuarial Valuation 

Results; and (6) September 30, 2020, 

Actuarial Valuation Proposals. For * 

items, Board approval is required. 

Registered participants may obtain the 

most recent public agenda and other 

documentation by emailing the points of 

contact in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section or on the Board’s 

website. 

Meeting Accessibility: Pursuant to 

FACA and 41 CFR 102–3.140, this 

meeting is open to the public. 

Written Statements: In accordance 

with Section 10(a)(3) of the FACA and 

41 CFR 102–3.105(j) and 102–3.140, 

interested persons may submit a written 

statement for consideration at any time, 

but should be received at least 10 

business days prior to the meeting date 

so that the comments may be made 

available to the Board for their 

consideration prior to the meeting. 

Written statements should be submitted 

via email to Kathleen Ludwig at 

Kathleen.A.Ludwig.civ@mail.mil, by 

July 30, 2021, in either Adobe or 

Microsoft Word format. Please note that 

since the Board operates under the 

provisions of the FACA, as amended, all 

submitted comments and public 

presentations will be treated as public 

documents and will be made available 

for public inspection, including, but not 

limited to, being posted on the board 

website. 

Dated: July 16, 2021. 

Aaron T. Siegel, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. 2021–15562 Filed 7–21–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

[Docket ID: DoD–2021–OS–0049] 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of 

Records 

AGENCY: Department of Defense (DoD). 

ACTION: Notice of a new system of 

records. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Privacy Act of 1974, the DoD is 

establishing a new Department-wide 

system of records titled, ‘‘Defense 

Reasonable Accommodation and 

Assistive Technology Records,’’ DoD 

0007. This system of records covers the 

DoD’s maintenance of records about 

DoD civilian personnel and other 

individuals requesting or receiving 

reasonable accommodations or personal 

assistance services, and wounded, ill 

and injured Service Members on Active 

Duty requesting or receiving assistive 

technology solutions, hereafter referred 

to collectively as disability 

accommodation(s). The data includes 

information concerning the type(s) of 

accommodation requested and 

provided; nature of a requestor’s 

condition; manner in which an 

accommodation, personal assistance 

service, or assistive technology solution 

assists a requestor; and acquisition or 

modification of equipment or assistive 

technology solutions, to include 

electronic devices. Additionally, the 

DoD is issuing a direct final rulemaking 

to exempt this system of records from 

certain provisions of the Privacy Act, 

elsewhere in today’s issue of the 

Federal Register. 

DATES: This new system of records is 

effective upon publication; however, 

comments on the Routine Uses will be 

accepted on or before August 23, 2021. 


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