38094 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 122 / Monday, June 27, 2022 / Notices 

the scope of activities analyzed in 

NMFS GARFO’s programmatic 

consultation regarding geophysical 

surveys along the U.S. Atlantic coast in 

the three Atlantic Renewable Energy 

Regions (completed June 29, 2021; 

revised September 2021). 

Proposed Authorization 

As a result of these preliminary 

determinations, NMFS proposes to issue 

an IHA to Atlantic Shores Bight for 

conducting site characterization surveys 

off New Jersey and New York from 

August 1, 2022 through July 31, 2023, 

provided the previously mentioned 

mitigation, monitoring, and reporting 

requirements are incorporated. A draft 

of the proposed IHA can be found at: 

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

national/marine-mammal-protection/ 

incidental-take-authorizations-otherenergy-activities.- 

Request for Public Comments 

We request comment on our analyses, 

the proposed authorization, and any 

other aspect of this notice of proposed 

IHA for the proposed site 

characterization surveys. We also 

request comment on the potential 

renewal of this proposed IHA as 

described in the paragraph below. 

Please include with your comments any 

supporting data or literature citations to 

help inform decisions on the request for 

this IHA or a subsequent renewal IHA. 

On a case-by-case basis, NMFS may 

issue a one-time, 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 Description of 

Proposed Activities section of this 

notice is planned or (2) the activities as 

described in the Description of 

Proposed Activities section of this 

notice would not be completed by the 

time the IHA expires and a renewal 

would allow for completion of the 

activities beyond that described in the 

Dates and Duration section of this 

notice, provided all of the following 

conditions are met: 

• 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). 

• The request for renewal must 

include the following: 

(1) 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). 

(2) 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. 

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. 

Dated: June 22, 2022. 

Kimberly Damon-Randall, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–13668 Filed 6–24–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XC024] 

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to 

Specified Activities; Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to Marine Site 

Characterization Surveys Off the Coast 

of New Jersey and New York in the 

New York Bight 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; proposed incidental 

harassment authorization; request for 

comments on proposed authorization 

and possible renewal. 

SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request 

from Attentive Energy LLC (Attentive 

Energy) for authorization to take marine 

mammals incidental to marine site 

characterization surveys off the coast of 

New Jersey and New York in the area of 

Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands 

for Renewable Energy Development on 

the Outer Continental Shelf Lease Area 

OCS–A 0538. Pursuant to the Marine 

Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS 

is requesting comments on its proposal 

to issue an incidental harassment 

authorization (IHA) to incidentally take 

marine mammals during the specified 

activities. NMFS is also requesting 

comments on a possible one-time, oneyear renewal that could be issued under 

certain circumstances and if all 

requirements are met, as described in 

Request for Public Comments at the end 

of this notice. NMFS will consider 

public comments prior to making any 

final decision on the issuance of the 

requested MMPA authorization and 

agency responses will be summarized in 

the final notice of our decision. 

DATES: Comments and information must 

be received no later than July 27, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be 

addressed to Jolie Harrison, Chief, 

Permits and Conservation Division, 

Office of Protected Resources, National 

Marine Fisheries Service and should be 

submitted via email to ITP.harlacher@

noaa.gov. 

Instructions: NMFS is not responsible 

for comments sent by any other method, 

to any other address or individual, or 

received after the end of the comment 

period. Comments, including all 

attachments, must not exceed a 25- 

megabyte file size. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted online at 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/ 

incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act without 

change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit confidential business 

information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jenna Harlacher, Office of Protected 

Resources, NMFS, (301) 427–8401. 

Electronic copies of the application and 

supporting documents, as well as a list 

of the references cited in this document, 

may be obtained online at: https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/incidentaltake-authorizations-other-energyactivities-renewable. In case of problems 

accessing these documents, please call 

the contact listed above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

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 


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harassment, a notice of a proposed 

incidental harassment 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 the species or stocks for 

taking for certain subsistence uses 

(referred to in shorthand as 

‘‘mitigation’’); and requirements 

pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring 

and reporting of the takings are set forth. 

The definitions of all applicable MMPA 

statutory terms cited above are included 

in the relevant sections below. 

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 we have not identified 

any extraordinary circumstances that 

would preclude this categorical 

exclusion. Accordingly, NMFS has 

preliminarily determined that the 

issuance of the proposed IHA qualifies 

to be categorically excluded from 

further NEPA review. 

We will review all comments 

submitted in response to this notice 

prior to concluding our NEPA process 

or making a final decision on the IHA 

request. 

Summary of Request 

On April 11, 2022 NMFS received a 

request from Attentive Energy for an 

IHA to take marine mammals incidental 

to conducting marine site 

characterization surveys off the coast of 

New Jersey and New York in the area of 

the Commercial Lease of Submerged 

Lands for Renewable Energy 

Development on the Outer Continental 

Shelf Lease Area (OCS)–A 0538. The 

application was deemed adequate and 

complete on May 23, 2022. Attentive 

Energy’s request is for take of 15 species 

of marine mammals, by Level B 

harassment only. Neither Attentive 

Energy nor NMFS expect serious injury 

or mortality to result from this activity 

and, therefore, an IHA is appropriate. 

Description of Proposed Activity 

Overview 

Attentive Energy proposes to conduct 

marine site characterization surveys 

using high-resolution geophysical (HRG) 

acoustic sources in the Lease Area OCS– 

A 0538. 

The purpose of the proposed surveys 

is to support the site characterization, 

siting, and engineering design of 

offshore wind project facilities 

including wind turbine generators, 

offshore substations, and submarine 

cables within the Lease Area. One 

survey vessel will operate as part of the 

proposed surveys. Underwater sound 

resulting from Attentive Energy’s 

proposed site characterization survey 

activities, specifically HRG survey 

effort, has the potential to result in 

incidental take of marine mammals in 

the form of behavioral harassment. 

Dates and Duration 

The estimated duration of the surveys 

is expected to be up to 42 to 56 total 

survey days (6 to 8 weeks) within a 

single year in the Lease Area. A survey 

day is defined as a 24-hour survey 

period where 200 kilometer of track line 

is surveyed. This schedule is based on 

24-hours of operations for up to 8- 

weeks. In total there are 3,028 km of 

track line that would be surveyed 

within the Lease Area. The schedule 

presented here for this proposed project 

has accounted for potential down time 

due to inclement weather or other 

project-related delays, therefor actual 

survey time will be less than 8 weeks. 

Proposed activities would occur 

between August 1, 2022 and July 31, 

2023. 

Specific Geographic Region 

Attentive Energy’s proposed activities 

would occur in the Northwest Atlantic 

Ocean within Federal and state waters 

(Figure 1). Surveys would occur in the 

Lease Area off the coast of New York 

and New Jersey in the New York bight. 

Proposed activities would occur within 

the Commercial Lease of Submerged 

Lands for Renewable Energy 

Development in OCS–A 0538. The OCS 

Lease area is approximately 577.6 km2

and is located between 30 and 60 meters 

water depth. 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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BILLING CODE 3510–22–C 

Detailed Description of Specific Activity 

Attentive Energy’s proposed marine 

site characterization surveys include 

HRG and geotechnical survey activities. 

These survey activities would occur 

within the Lease Area off the coasts of 

New York and New Jersey in the New 

York Bight. The proposed HRG and 

geotechnical survey activities are 

described below. 

Proposed Geotechnical Survey 

Activities 

Attentive Energy proposed 

geotechnical survey activities would 

include the drilling of sample boreholes, 

deep cone penetration tests, and 

shallow cone penetration tests. The 

geotechnical survey activity is not 

expected to result in take of marine 

mammals. Similar activities were 

performed before in a nearby lease area 

by Atlantic Shores, and considerations 

of the impacts produced from 

geotechnical activities have been 

previously analyzed and included in the 

proposed 2020 Federal Register notice 

for Atlantic Shores’ HRG activities (85 

FR 7926; February 12, 2020). In that 

notification, NMFS determined that the 

likelihood of the proposed geotechnical 

surveys resulting in harassment of 

marine mammals was to be so low as to 

be discountable. As this information 

remains applicable and NMFS’ 

determination has not changed, these 

activities will not be discussed further 

in this proposed notification. 

Proposed Geophysical Survey Activities 

Attentive Energy has proposed that 

HRG survey operations would be 

conducted continuously 24 hours a day. 

Based on 24-hour operations, the 

estimated total duration of the proposed 

activities would be approximately 8 

weeks. As previously discussed above, 

this schedule does include potential 

down time due to inclement weather or 

other project-related delays. The HRG 

survey will be conducted with primary 

track lines spaced at 150-meter (m) 

intervals and tie-lines spaced at 500-m 

intervals. 

The HRG survey activities will be 

supported by the use of a purpose-built 

survey vessel. These are designed with 

built-in A-frames and davits, 

permanently mounted winches, and 

other items on the deck specifically for 

survey operations. The geophysical 

survey activities proposed by Attentive 

Energy would include the following: 

• Depth sounding to determine water 

depth, site bathymetry, and general 

bottom topography (multibeam 

echosounder); 

• Magnetic intensity measurements 

(gradiometer) for detecting local 

variations in regional magnetic field 

from geological strata and potential 

ferrous objects on and below the bottom; 


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• Seafloor imaging (sidescan sonar 

survey) for seabed sediment 

classification purposes, to identify 

natural and human-made acoustic 

targets resting on the bottom as well as 

any anomalous features; 

• Shallow-bottom penetration subbottom profiler (SBP) to map the near 

surface stratigraphy (top 0 to 10 m [33 

feet] below seabed in sand and 0 to 15 

m [49 feet] in mixed sediments); and 

• Medium penetration SBP (sparker) 

to map deeper subsurface stratigraphy 

as needed (soils down to at least 100 m 

[328 ft] below seabed in sand and at 

least 125 m [410 feet] below seabed in 

mixed sediments). 

The representative survey equipment 

that may be used in support of planned 

geophysical survey activities can be 

found in Table 0–3 of Attentive Energy’s 

Application. The make and model of the 

listed geophysical equipment may vary 

depending on availability and the final 

equipment choices will vary depending 

upon the final survey design, vessel 

availability, and survey contractor 

selection. Geophysical surveys are 

expected to use several equipment types 

concurrently in order to collect multiple 

aspects of geophysical data along one 

transect. Selection of equipment 

combinations is based on specific 

survey objectives. All proposed HRG 

survey equipment is listed in the 

application, including equipment that 

NMFS doesn’t expect to result in take 

due to their higher frequencies and 

extremely narrow beam widths. Because 

of this, these sources were not 

considered when calculating the Level B 

harassment isopleths and are not 

discussed further in this notice. 

Acoustic parameters on this equipment 

can be found in Attentive Energy’s IHA 

application on NMFS’ website (https:// 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/incidentaltake-authorizations-other-energyactivities-renewable). We will only be 

discussing further the equipment listed 

below in Table 1. For equipment source 

level specifications noted in Table 1, a 

proxy representing the closest match in 

composition and operation of the Dual 

Geo-Spark was used from Crocker and 

Fratantonio (2016). 

TABLE 1—PROPOSED ACOUSTIC EQUIPMENT FOR HRG SURVEYS

HRG equipment type Equipment make/model 

Operating 

frequency 

(kHz) 

Source level 

(RMS dB re 1 

uPa @1m) 

Reference for source 

level 

Pulse duration 

(milliseconds) 

Repetition rate 

(Hz) 

Beam width 

(degrees) 

Mobile, Impulsive 

Deep SBP ...................... Dual Geo-Spark 2000X 

(400 tip/500J).

0.3 203 Crocker and Fratantonio 

2016 *.

1.1 4 180 

* Applied Acoustics Dura-spark 500J to 2,000J as Proxy. 

Key: RMS—Root mean square; dB—Decibel; re—referenced at; m—meters; SBP—Sub-bottom profiler; Hz—hertz; kHz—kilohertz; uPa—microPascal. 

The deployment of HRG survey 

equipment, including the equipment 

planned for use during Attentive Energy 

proposed activities, produces sound in 

the marine environment that has the 

potential to result in harassment of 

marine mammals. Proposed mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting measures are 

described in detail later in this 

document (please see Proposed 

Mitigation and Proposed Monitoring 

and Reporting). 

Description of Marine Mammals in the 

Area of Specified Activities 

Sections 3 and 4 of the application 

summarize available information 

regarding status and trends, distribution 

and habitat preferences, and behavior 

and life history of the potentially 

affected species. NMFS fully considered 

all of this information, and we refer the 

reader to these descriptions, 

incorporated here by reference, instead 

of reprinting the information. 

Additional information regarding 

population trends and threats may be 

found in NMFS’ Stock Assessment 

Reports (SARs; www.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

national/marine-mammal-protection/ 

marine-mammal-stock-assessments) 

and more general information about 

these species (e.g., physical and 

behavioral descriptions) may be found 

on NMFS’ website (https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/find-species). 

Table 2 lists all species and stocks for 

which take is expected and proposed to 

be authorized for this action and 

summarizes information related to the 

species and stock, including regulatory 

status under the MMPA and Endangered 

Species Act (ESA) and potential 

biological removal (PBR), where known. 

PBR is defined by the MMPA as the 

maximum number of animals, not 

including natural mortalities, that may 

be removed from a marine mammal 

stock while allowing that stock to reach 

or maintain its optimum sustainable 

population (as described in NMFS’ 

SARs). While no serious injury or 

mortality is anticipated or authorized 

here, PBR and annual serious injury and 

mortality from anthropogenic sources 

are included here as gross indicators of 

the status of the species and other 

threats. 

Marine mammal abundance estimates 

presented in this document represent 

the total number of individuals that 

make up a given stock or the total 

number estimated within a particular 

study or survey area. NMFS’ stock 

abundance estimates for most species 

represent the total estimate of 

individuals within the geographic area, 

if known, that comprises that stock. For 

some species, this geographic area may 

extend beyond U.S. waters. All species 

managed under the MMPA in this 

region are assessed in NMFS’ 2021 draft 

U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Stock 

Assessment Report SARs. All values 

presented in Table 2 are the most recent 

available at the time of publication and 

are available in the draft 2021 SARs 

(available online at: https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/draftmarine-mammal-stock-assessmentreports). 


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TABLE 2—MARINE MAMMAL SPECIES AND STOCKS LIKELY IMPACTED BY THE SPECIFIED ACTIVITIES

Common name Scientific name Stock 

ESA/ 

MMPA 

status; 

strategic 

(Y/N) 1

Stock abundance 

(CV, Nmin, most recent 

abundance survey) 2

PBR Annual 

M/SI 3

Order Cetartiodactyla—Cetacea—Superfamily Mysticeti (baleen whales) 

North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis ................... Western Atlantic Stock ............. E/D, Y 368 4 (0; 364; 2019) .................. 0.7 7.7 

Humpback whale ............. Megaptera novaeangliae .......... Gulf of Maine ............................ -/-; Y 1,396 (0; 1,380; 2016) .............. 22 12.15 

Fin whale ......................... Balaenoptera physalus ............. Western North Atlantic Stock ... E/D, Y 6,802 (0.24; 5,573; 2016) ......... 11 1.8 

Sei whale ......................... Balaenoptera borealis ............... Nova Scotia Stock .................... E/D, Y 6,292 (1.02; 3,098; 2016) ......... 6.2 0.8 

Minke whale ..................... Balaenoptera acutorostrata ...... Canadian East Coastal Stock ... -/-, N 21,968 (0.31; 17,002; 2016) ..... 170 10.6 

Superfamily Odontoceti (toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises) 

Sperm whale .................... Physeter macrocephalus .......... North Atlantic Stock .................. E/D, Y 4,349 (0.28; 3,451; 2016) ......... 3.9 0 

Long-finned pilot whale ... Globicephala melas .................. Western North Atlantic Stock ... -/-, N 39,215 (0.3; 30,627; 2016) ....... 306 29 

Atlantic white-sided dolphin.Lagenorhynchus acutus ............ Western North Atlantic Stock ... -/-, N 93,233 (0.71; 54,443; 2016) ..... 544 227 

Bottlenose dolphin ........... Tursiops truncatus .................... Western North Atlantic Offshore 

Stock.

-/-, N 62,851 (0.23; 51,914; 2016) ..... 519 28 

Common dolphin ............. Delphinus delphis ..................... Western North Atlantic Stock ... -/-, N 172,974 (0.21, 145,216, 2016) 1,452 390 

Atlantic spotted dolphin ... Stenella frontalis ....................... Western North Atlantic Stock ... -/-, N 39,921 (0.27; 32,032; 2016) ..... 320 0 

Risso’s dolphin ................ Grampus griseus ...................... Western North Atlantic Stock ... -/-, N 35,215 (0.19; 30,051; 2016) ..... 301 34 

Harbor porpoise ............... Phocoena phocoena ................. Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy 

Stock.

-/-, N 95,543 (0.31; 74,034; 2016) ..... 851 164 

Order Carnivora—Superfamily Pinnipedia 

Harbor seal ...................... Phoca vitulina ........................... Western North Atlantic Stock ... -/-, N 61,336 (0.08; 57,637; 2018) ..... 1,729 339 

Gray seal 5 ....................... Halichoerus grypus ................... Western North Atlantic Stock ... -/-, N 27,300 (0.22; 22,785; 2016) ..... 1,389 4,453 

1ESA status: Endangered (E), Threatened (T)/MMPA status: Depleted (D). A dash (-) indicates that the species is not listed under the ESA or designated as depleted under the MMPA. Under the MMPA, a strategic stock is one for which the level of direct human-caused mortality exceeds PBR or which is determined to be 

declining and likely to be listed under the ESA within the foreseeable future. Any species listed under the ESA is automatically designated under the MMPA as depleted and as a strategic stock. 2 NMFS marine mammal stock assessment reports online at: www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-stock-assessments. CV is 

the coefficient of variation; Nmin is the minimum estimate of stock abundance. In some cases, CV is not applicable. 3These values, found in NMFS’ SARs, represent annual levels of human-caused mortality plus serious injury from all sources combined (e.g., commercial fisheries, 

ship strike). 4The draft 2022 SARs have yet to be released; however, NMFS has updated its species web page to recognize the population estimate for NARWs is now below 

350 animals (https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-atlantic-right-whale). 5 NMFS’ stock abundance estimate (and associated PBR value) applies to U.S. population only. Total stock abundance (including animals in Canada) is approximately 451,431. The annual mortality and serious injury (M/SI) value given is for the total stock. 

As indicated above, all 15 species 

listed in Table 2 temporally and 

spatially co-occur with the proposed 

activity to the degree that take is 

reasonably likely to occur. 

The temporal and/or spatial 

occurrence of several cetacean and 

pinniped species is such that take of 

these species is not expected to occur 

either because they have very low 

densities in the survey area or are 

known to occur further inshore or 

offshore than the survey area. These 

include: blue whale (Balaenoptera 

musculus), Dwarf and pygmy sperm 

whale (Kogia sima and Kogia breviceps), 

killer whale (Orcinus orca), false killer 

whale (Pseudorca crassidens), Cuvier’s 

beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), 

Mesoplodont beaked whales 

(Mesoplodon spp.), short finned pilot 

whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus), 

white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus 

albirostris), pantropical spotted dolphin 

(Stenella attenuata), striped dolphin 

(Stenella coeruleoalba), harp seal 

(Pagophilus groenlandicus), and hooded 

seal (Cystophora cristata). As 

harassment and subsequent take of these 

species is not anticipated as a result of 

the proposed activities, these species are 

not analyzed or discussed further. 

Below is a description of the species 

that have the highest likelihood of 

occurring in the survey area and are 

thus expected to potentially be taken by 

the proposed activities as well as further 

detail informing the status for select 

species (i.e., information regarding 

current Unusual Mortality Events 

(UMEs) and important habitat areas). 

North Atlantic Right Whale 

The North Atlantic right whales range 

from calving grounds in the 

southeastern United States to feeding 

grounds in New England waters and 

into Canadian waters (Hayes et al., 

2018). They are observed year round in 

the Mid-Atlantic Bight, and surveys 

have demonstrated the existence of 

seven areas where North Atlantic right 

whales congregate seasonally, including 

north and east of the proposed survey 

area in Georges Bank, off Cape Cod, and 

in Massachusetts Bay (Hayes et al., 

2018). In the late fall months (e.g., 

October), right whales are generally 

thought to depart from the feeding 

grounds in the North Atlantic and move 

south to their calving grounds off 

Georgia and Florida. However, recent 

research indicates our understanding of 

their movement patterns remains 

incomplete (Davis et al., 2017). A 

review of passive acoustic monitoring 

data from 2004 to 2014 throughout the 

western North Atlantic demonstrated 

nearly continuous year-round right 

whale presence across their entire 

habitat range (for at least some 

individuals), including in locations 

previously thought of as migratory 

corridors, suggesting that not all of the 

population undergoes a consistent 

annual migration (Davis et al., 2017). 

Given that Attentive Energy’s surveys 

would be concentrated offshore in the 

New York Bight, some right whales may 

be present year round however, the 

majority in the vicinity of the survey 

areas are likely to be transient, migrating 

through the area. Some may be present 

year round however, the majority 

migrating through 

The western North Atlantic 

population demonstrated overall growth 

of 2.8 percent per year between 1990 to 

2010, despite a decline in 1993 and no 

growth between 1997 and 2000 (Pace et 

al., 2017). However, since 2010 the 


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population has been in decline, with a 

99.99 percent probability of a decline of 

just under 1 percent per year (Pace et 

al., 2017). Between 1990 and 2015, 

calving rates varied substantially, with 

low calving rates coinciding with all 

three periods of decline or no growth 

(Pace et al., 2017). On average, North 

Atlantic right whale calving rates are 

estimated to be roughly half that of 

southern right whales (Eubalaena 

australis) (Pace et al., 2017), which are 

increasing in abundance (NMFS, 2015). 

In 2018, no new North Atlantic right 

whale calves were documented in their 

calving grounds; this represented the 

first time since annual NOAA aerial 

surveys began in 1989 that no new right 

whale calves were observed. Eighteen 

right whale calves were documented in 

2021. As of the end of 2021 two North 

Atlantic right whale calves have 

documented to have been born during 

this calving season. 

The proposed survey area is part of a 

migratory corridor Biologically 

Important Area (BIA) for North Atlantic 

right whales (effective March–April and 

November–December) that extends from 

Massachusetts to Florida (LeBrecque et 

al., 2015). Off the coast of New Jersey, 

the migratory BIA extends from the 

coast to beyond the shelf break. This 

important migratory area is 

approximately 269,488 km2 in size 

(compared with the approximately 854 

km2 of total estimated Level B 

harassment ensonified area associated 

with the 8-week planned survey) and is 

comprised of the waters of the 

continental shelf offshore the East Coast 

of the United States, extending from 

Florida through Massachusetts. NMFS’ 

regulations at 50 CFR part 224.105 

designated nearshore waters of the MidAtlantic Bight as Mid-Atlantic U.S. 

Seasonal Management Areas (SMA) for 

right whales in 2008. SMAs were 

developed to reduce the threat of 

collisions between ships and right 

whales around their migratory route and 

calving grounds. A portion of one SMA, 

which occurs off the mouth of the New 

York Bight, is close to the proposed 

survey area. The SMA, which occurs off 

the mouth of the New York Bight, is 

active from November 1 through April 

30 of each year. Within SMAs, the 

regulations require a mandatory vessel 

speed (less than 10 kn) for all vessels 

greater than 65 ft. Attentive Energy 

survey vessel, regardless of length, 

would be required to adhere to a 10 knot 

vessel speed restriction when operating 

within this SMA. In addition, Attentive 

Energy survey vessel, regardless of 

length, would be required to adhere to 

a 10 knot vessel speed restriction when 

operating in any Dynamic Management 

Area (DMA) declared by NMFS. 

Elevated North Atlantic right whale 

mortalities have occurred since June 7, 

2017, along the U.S. and Canadian 

coast. This event has been declared an 

Unusual Mortality Event (UME), with 

human interactions, including 

entanglement in fixed fishing gear and 

vessel strikes, implicated in at least 15 

of the mortalities thus far. As of June 2, 

2022, a total of 34 confirmed dead 

stranded whales (21 in Canada; 13 in 

the United States) have been 

documented. The cumulative total 

number of animals that have stranded 

during the North Atlantic right whale 

UME has been updated to 50 

individuals to include both the 

confirmed mortalities (dead stranded or 

floaters) (n=34) and seriously injured 

free-swimming whales (n=16) to better 

reflect the confirmed number of whales 

likely removed from the population 

during the UME and more accurately 

reflect the population impacts. More 

information is available online at: 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-life-distress/2017-2021-northatlantic-right-whale-unusual-mortalityevent. 

Recent aerial surveys in the New York 

Bight showed NARW in the proposed 

survey area in the winter and spring, 

preferring deeper waters near the shelf 

break (NARW observed in depths 

ranging from 33–1041m), but were 

observed throughout the survey area 

(Normandeau Associates and APEM, 

2020; Zoidis et al., 2021). Similarly, 

passive acoustic data collected from 

2018 to 2020 in the New York Bight 

showed detections of NARW throughout 

the year (Estabrook et al., 2021). 

Seasonally, NARW acoustic presence 

was highest in the fall. NARW can be 

anticipated to occur in the proposed 

survey area year-round but with lower 

levels in the summer from July– 

September. 

Humpback Whale 

Humpback whales are found 

worldwide in all oceans. Humpback 

whales were listed as endangered under 

the Endangered Species Conservation 

Act (ESCA) in June 1970. In 1973, the 

ESA replaced the ESCA, and 

humpbacks continued to be listed as 

endangered. On September 8, 2016, 

NMFS divided the species into 14 

distinct population segments (DPS), 

removed the current species-level 

listing, and in its place listed four DPSs 

as endangered and one DPS as 

threatened (81 FR 62259; September 8, 

2016). The remaining nine DPSs were 

not listed. The West Indies DPS, which 

is not listed under the ESA, is the only 

DPS of humpback whale that is 

expected to occur in the survey area. 

Gulf of Maine humpback whales are 

designated as a stock under the MMPA 

and are also part of the West Indies DPS. 

However, humpback whales occurring 

in the survey area are not necessarily 

from the Gulf of Maine stock. Barco et 

al. (2002) estimated that, based on 

photo-identification, only 39 percent of 

individual humpback whales observed 

along the mid- and south Atlantic U.S. 

coast are from the Gulf of Maine stock. 

Bettridge et al. (2015) estimated the size 

of this population at 12,312 (95 percent 

CI 8,688–15,954) whales in 2004–05, 

which is consistent with previous 

population estimates of approximately 

10,000–11,000 whales (Stevick et al., 

2003; Smith et al., 1999) and the 

increasing trend for the West Indies DPS 

(Bettridge et al., 2015). 

Humpback whales utilize the midAtlantic as a migration pathway 

between calving/mating grounds to the 

south and feeding grounds in the north 

(Waring et al., 2007a; Waring et al., 

2007b). A key question with regard to 

humpback whales off the Mid-Atlantic 

states is their stock identity. 

Furthermore, King et al. (2021) 

highlights important concerns for 

humpback whales found specifically in 

the nearshore environment (<10 km 

from shore) from various anthropogenic 

impacts. 

Recent aerial surveys in the New York 

Bight observed humpback whales in the 

spring and winter, but sightings were 

reported year round in the area 

(Normandeau Associates and APEM, 

2020). Humpback whales preferred 

deeper waters near the shelf break, but 

were observed throughout the area. 

Additionally, passive acoustic data 

recorded humpback whales in the New 

York Bight throughout the year, but the 

presence was highest in the fall and 

summer months (Estabrook et al., 2021). 

Three previous UMEs involving 

humpback whales have occurred since 

2000, in 2003, 2005, and 2006. Since 

January 2016, elevated humpback whale 

mortalities have occurred along the 

Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida. 

Partial or full necropsy examinations 

have been conducted on approximately 

half of the 159 known cases (as of June 

2, 2022). Of the whales examined, about 

50 percent had evidence of human 

interaction, either ship strike or 

entanglement. While a portion of the 

whales have shown evidence of premortem vessel strike, this finding is not 

consistent across all whales examined 

and more research is needed. NOAA is 

consulting with researchers that are 

conducting studies on the humpback 

whale populations, and these efforts 


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may provide information on changes in 

whale distribution and habitat use that 

could provide additional insight into 

how these vessel interactions occurred. 

More information is available at: 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-life-distress/2016-2021- 

humpback-whale-unusual-mortalityevent-along-atlantic-coast. 

Fin Whale 

Fin whales are common in waters of 

the U. S. Atlantic Exclusive Economic 

Zone (EEZ), principally from Cape 

Hatteras northward (Waring et al., 

2016). Fin whales are present north of 

35-degree latitude in every season and 

are broadly distributed throughout the 

western North Atlantic for most of the 

year (Waring et al., 2016). They are 

typically found in small groups of up to 

five individuals (Brueggeman et al., 

1987). The main threats to fin whales 

are fishery interactions and vessel 

collisions (Waring et al., 2016). 

The western north Atlantic stock of 

fin whales includes the area from 

Central Virginia to Newfoundland/ 

Labrador Canada. This region is 

primarily a feeding ground for this 

migratory species that tends to calve 

and breed in lower latitudes or offshore. 

There is currently no critical habitat 

designated for this species. 

Recent aerial surveys in the New York 

Bight observed fin whales year-round 

throughout the survey area, but they 

preferred deeper waters near the shelf 

break (Normandeau Associates and 

APEM, 2020). Passive acoustic data 

from 2018 to 2020 also detected fin 

whales throughout the year (Estabrook 

et al., 2021). 

Sei Whale 

The Nova Scotia stock of sei whales 

can be found in deeper waters of the 

continental shelf edge waters of the 

northeastern U.S. and northeastward to 

south of Newfoundland. The southern 

portion of the stock’s range during 

spring and summer includes the Gulf of 

Maine and Georges Bank. Spring is the 

period of greatest abundance in U.S. 

waters, with sightings concentrated 

along the eastern margin of Georges 

Bank and into the Northeast Channel 

area, and along the southwestern edge of 

Georges Bank in the area of 

Hydrographer Canyon (Waring et al., 

2015). Sei whales occur in shallower 

waters to feed. Currently there is no 

critical habitat for sei whales, though 

they can be observed along the shelf 

edge of the continental shelf. The main 

threats to this stock are interactions 

with fisheries and vessel collisions. 

Recently conducted aerial surveys in 

the New York Bight observed sei whales 

in both winter and spring, though they 

preferred deeper waters near the shelf 

break (Normandeau Associates and 

APEM, 2020). Passive acoustic data in 

the survey area detected sei whales 

throughout the year except January and 

July, with highest detections in March 

and April (Estabrook et al., 2021). 

Minke Whale 

Minke whales can be found in 

temperate, tropical, and high-latitude 

waters. The Canadian East Coast stock 

can be found in the area from the 

western half of the Davis Strait (45° W) 

to the Gulf of Mexico (Waring et al., 

2016). This species generally occupies 

waters less than 100-m deep on the 

continental shelf. There appears to be a 

strong seasonal component to minke 

whale distribution in the survey areas, 

in which spring to fall are times of 

relatively widespread and common 

occurrence while during winter the 

species appears to be largely absent 

(Waring et al., 2016). Recent aerial 

surveys in the New York Bight area 

found that minke whales were observed 

throughout the survey area, with highest 

numbers sighting in the spring months 

(Normandeau Associates and APEM, 

2020). 

Since January 2017, elevated minke 

whale mortalities have occurred along 

the Atlantic coast from Maine through 

South Carolina, with a total of 122 

strandings (as of June 2, 2022). This 

event has been declared a UME. Full or 

partial necropsy examinations were 

conducted on more than 60 percent of 

the stranded whales. Preliminary 

findings in several of the whales have 

shown evidence of human interactions 

or infectious disease, but these findings 

are not consistent across all of the 

whales examined, so more research is 

needed. More information is available 

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

marine-life-distress/2017-2021-minkewhale-unusual-mortality-event-alongatlantic-coast. 

Sperm Whale 

The distribution of the sperm whale 

in the U.S. EEZ occurs on the 

continental shelf edge, over the 

continental slope, and into mid-ocean 

regions (Waring et al., 2014). They are 

rarely found in waters less than 300 

meters deep. The basic social unit of the 

sperm whale appears to be the mixed 

school of adult females plus their calves 

and some juveniles of both sexes, 

normally numbering 20–40 animals in 

all. There is evidence that some social 

bonds persist for many years (Christal et 

al., 1998). This species forms stable 

social groups, site fidelity, and 

latitudinal range limitations in groups of 

females and juveniles (Whitehead, 

2002). In summer, the distribution of 

sperm whales includes the area east and 

north of Georges Bank and into the 

Northeast Channel region, as well as the 

continental shelf (inshore of the 100-m 

isobath) south of New England. In the 

fall, sperm whale occurrence south of 

New England on the continental shelf is 

at its highest level, and there remains a 

continental shelf edge occurrence in the 

mid-Atlantic bight. In winter, sperm 

whales are concentrated east and 

northeast of Cape Hatteras. 

Recent aerial studies observed sperm 

whales in the highest number in the 

summer, with a preference for the shelf 

break (Normandeau Associates and 

APEM, 2020). Passive acoustic 

recordings of sperm whale recorded 

them throughout the year, and again 

highest during spring and summer 

(Estabrook et al., 2021). 

Risso’s Dolphin 

The status of the Western North 

Atlantic stock is not well understood. 

They are broadly distributed in tropical 

and temperate latitudes throughout the 

world’s oceans, and the Western North 

Atlantic stock occurs from Florida to 

eastern Newfoundland. They are 

common on the northwest Atlantic 

continental shelf in summer and fall 

with lower abundances in winter and 

spring. Newer aerial surveys in the New 

York Bight area sighted Risso’s dolphins 

throughout the year at the shelf break 

with highest abundances in spring and 

summer (Normandeau Associates and 

APEM, 2020). 

Long-Finned Pilot Whale 

Long-finned pilot whales are found 

from North Carolina and north to 

Iceland, Greenland and the Barents Sea 

(Waring et al., 2016). In U.S. Atlantic 

waters the species is distributed 

principally along the continental shelf 

edge off the northeastern U.S. coast in 

winter and early spring and in late 

spring, pilot whales move onto Georges 

Bank and into the Gulf of Maine and 

more northern waters and remain in 

these areas through late autumn (Waring 

et al., 2016). Recently conducted aerial 

surveys in the New York Bight area 

noted a preference for deeper water at 

the shelf break throughout the year 

(Normandeau Associates and APEM, 

2020). 

Atlantic White-Sided Dolphin 

White-sided dolphins are found in 

temperate and sub-polar waters of the 

North Atlantic, primarily in continental 

shelf waters to the 100m depth contour 

from central West Greenland to North 

Carolina (Waring et al., 2016). The Gulf 


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of Maine stock is most common in 

continental shelf waters from Hudson 

Canyon to Georges Bank, and in the Gulf 

of Maine and lower Bay of Fundy. 

Sighting data indicate seasonal shifts in 

distribution (Northridge et al., 1997). 

During January to May, low numbers of 

white-sided dolphins are found from 

Georges Bank to Jeffreys Ledge (off New 

Hampshire), with even lower numbers 

south of Georges Bank, as documented 

by a few strandings collected on beaches 

of Virginia to South Carolina. From June 

through September, large numbers of 

white-sided dolphins are found from 

Georges Bank to the lower Bay of 

Fundy. From October to December, 

white-sided dolphins occur at 

intermediate densities from southern 

Georges Bank to southern Gulf of Maine 

(Payne and Heinemann, 1990). Sightings 

south of Georges Bank, particularly 

around Hudson Canyon, occur year 

round but at low densities. Recent aerial 

studies confirmed previous studies with 

observations in fall and winter in the 

New York Bight area with preference for 

deep water at the shelf break throughout 

the year (Normandeau Associates and 

APEM, 2020). 

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin 

Atlantic spotted dolphins are found in 

tropical and warm temperate waters 

ranging from southern New England, 

south to Gulf of Mexico and the 

Caribbean to Venezuela (Waring et al., 

2014). This stock regularly occurs in 

continental shelf waters south of Cape 

Hatteras and in continental shelf edge 

and continental slope waters north of 

this region (Waring et al., 2014). There 

are two forms of this species, with the 

larger ecotype inhabiting the continental 

shelf and is usually found inside or near 

the 200-m isobaths (Waring et al., 2014). 

They are relatively uncommon in the 

survey area. 

Common Dolphin 

The common dolphin is found 

worldwide in temperate to subtropical 

seas. In the North Atlantic, common 

dolphins are commonly found over the 

continental shelf between the 100-m 

and 2,000-m isobaths and over 

prominent underwater topography and 

east to the mid-Atlantic Ridge (Waring 

et al., 2016). They have been observed 

in coastal and offshore waters, observed 

migrating to mid-Atlantic waters during 

winter months. 

Bottlenose Dolphin 

There are two distinct bottlenose 

dolphin morphotypes in the western 

North Atlantic: The coastal and offshore 

stocks (Waring et al., 2016). The 

offshore stock is distributed primarily 

along the outer continental shelf and 

continental slope in the Northwest 

Atlantic Ocean from Georges Bank to 

the Florida Keys. The offshore stock is 

the only stock likely to occur in the 

survey area due to it being limited to the 

Lease area. The Western North Atlantic 

Offshore stock is generally observed 

along the outer continental shelf and 

slope in waters deeper than 34 m and 

over 34 km offshore (Torres et al., 2003). 

Harbor Porpoise 

In the Lease Area, only the Gulf of 

Maine/Bay of Fundy stock may be 

present in the fall and winter. This stock 

is found in U.S. and Canadian Atlantic 

waters and is concentrated in the 

northern Gulf of Maine and southern 

Bay of Fundy region, generally in waters 

less than 150-m deep (Waring et al., 

2016). They are seen from the coastline 

to deep waters (>1,800-m; Westgate et 

al., 1998), although the majority of the 

population is found over the continental 

shelf (Waring et al., 2016). The main 

threat to the species is interactions with 

fisheries, with documented take in the 

U.S. northeast sink gillnet, mid-Atlantic 

gillnet, and northeast bottom trawl 

fisheries and in the Canadian herring 

weir fisheries (Waring et al., 2016). 

Pinnipeds (Harbor Seal and Gray Seal) 

The harbor seal is found in all 

nearshore waters of the North Atlantic 

and North Pacific Oceans and adjoining 

seas above about 30° N (Burns, 2009). In 

the western North Atlantic, harbor seals 

are distributed from the eastern 

Canadian Arctic and Greenland south to 

southern New England and New York, 

and occasionally to the Carolinas 

(Waring et al., 2016). Haul-out and 

pupping sites are located off Manomet, 

MA and the Isles of Shoals, ME, but 

generally do not occur in areas in 

southern New England (Waring et al., 

2016). They seasonal migrate down to 

the mid-Atlantic from fall to spring 

months. 

There are three major populations of 

gray seals found in the world; eastern 

Canada (western North Atlantic stock), 

northwestern Europe and the Baltic Sea. 

Gray seals are regularly observed in the 

survey area in the survey area and these 

seals belong to the western North 

Atlantic stock. The range for this stock 

is thought to be from New Jersey to 

Labrador. Current population trends 

show that gray seal abundance is likely 

increasing in the U.S. Atlantic EEZ 

(Waring et al., 2016). Although the rate 

of increase is unknown, surveys 

conducted since their arrival in the 

1980s indicate a steady increase in 

abundance in both Maine and 

Massachusetts (Waring et al., 2016). It is 

believed that recolonization by 

Canadian gray seals is the source of the 

U.S. population (Waring et al., 2016). 

Documented haul outs for gray seas in 

Long Island area, with a possible 

rookery on Little Gull Island. 

Since July 2018, elevated numbers of 

harbor seal and gray seal mortalities 

have occurred across Maine, New 

Hampshire and Massachusetts. This 

event has been declared a UME. 

Additionally, stranded seals have 

shown clinical signs (e.g., symptoms of 

disease) as far south as Virginia, 

although not in elevated numbers, 

therefore the UME investigation now 

encompasses all seal strandings from 

Maine to Virginia. Ice seals (harp and 

hooded seals) have also started 

stranding with clinical signs, again not 

in elevated numbers, and those two seal 

species have also been added to the 

UME investigation. A total of 3,152 

reported strandings (of all species) had 

occurred from July 1, 2018, through 

March 13, 2020. Full or partial necropsy 

examinations have been conducted on 

some of the seals and samples have been 

collected for testing. Based on tests 

conducted thus far, the main pathogen 

found in the seals is phocine distemper 

virus. NMFS is performing additional 

testing to identify any other factors that 

may be involved in this UME. Presently, 

this UME is non-active and is pending 

closure by NMFS. Information on this 

UME is available online at: 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-englandmid-atlantic/marine-life-distress/2018- 

2020-pinniped-unusual-mortality-eventalong. 

Marine Mammal Hearing 

Hearing is the most important sensory 

modality for marine mammals 

underwater, and exposure to 

anthropogenic sound can have 

deleterious effects. To appropriately 

assess the potential effects of exposure 

to sound, it is necessary to understand 

the frequency ranges marine mammals 

are able to hear. Not all marine mammal 

species have equal hearing capabilities 

(e.g., Richardson et al., 1995; Wartzok 

and Ketten, 1999; Au and Hastings, 

2008). To reflect this, Southall et al. 

(2007, 2019) recommended that marine 

mammals be divided into hearing 

groups based on directly measured 

(behavioral or auditory evoked potential 

techniques) or estimated hearing ranges 

(behavioral response data, anatomical 

modeling, etc.). Note that no direct 

measurements of hearing ability have 

been successfully completed for 

mysticetes (i.e., low-frequency 

cetaceans). Subsequently, NMFS (2018) 

described generalized hearing ranges for 

these marine mammal hearing groups. 


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Generalized hearing ranges were chosen 

based on the approximately 65 decibel 

(dB) threshold from the normalized 

composite audiograms, with the 

exception for lower limits for lowfrequency cetaceans where the lower 

bound was deemed to be biologically 

implausible and the lower bound from 

Southall et al. (2007) retained. Marine 

mammal hearing groups and their 

associated hearing ranges are provided 

in Table 3. 

TABLE 3—MARINE MAMMAL HEARING

GROUPS

[NMFS, 2018] 

Hearing group Generalized hearing 

range * 

Low-frequency (LF) 

cetaceans (baleen 

whales).

7 Hz to 35 kHz. 

Mid-frequency (MF) 

cetaceans (dolphins, toothed 

whales, beaked 

whales, bottlenose 

whales).

150 Hz to 160 kHz. 

High-frequency (HF) 

cetaceans (true porpoises, Kogia, river 

dolphins, 

Cephalorhynchid, 

Lagenorhynchus 

cruciger & L. 

australis).

275 Hz to 160 kHz. 

Phocid pinnipeds 

(PW) (underwater) 

(true seals).

50 Hz to 86 kHz. 

Otariid pinnipeds 

(OW) (underwater) 

(sea lions and fur 

seals).

60 Hz to 39 kHz. 

* Represents the generalized hearing range 

for the entire group as a composite (i.e., all 

species within the group), where individual 

species’ hearing ranges are typically not as 

broad. Generalized hearing range chosen 

based on ∼65 dB threshold from normalized 

composite audiogram, with the exception for 

lower limits for LF cetaceans (Southall et al. 

2007) and PW pinniped (approximation). 

The pinniped functional hearing 

group was modified from Southall et al. 

(2007) on the basis of data indicating 

that phocid species have consistently 

demonstrated an extended frequency 

range of hearing compared to otariids, 

especially in the higher frequency range 

(Hemila ̈ et al., 2006; Kastelein et al., 

2009; Reichmuth and Holt, 2013). 

For more detail concerning these 

groups and associated frequency ranges, 

please see NMFS (2018) for a review of 

available information. 

Potential Effects of Specified Activities 

on Marine Mammals and Their Habitat 

This section includes a discussion of 

the ways that components of the 

specified activity may impact marine 

mammals and their habitat. The 

Estimated Take section later in this 

document includes a quantitative 

analysis of the number of individuals 

that are expected to be taken by this 

activity. The Negligible Impact Analysis 

and Determination section considers the 

content of this section, the Estimated 

Take section, and the Proposed 

Mitigation section, to draw conclusions 

regarding the likely impacts of these 

activities on the reproductive success or 

survivorship of individuals and how 

those impacts on individuals may or 

may not impact marine mammal 

species. 

Background on Active Acoustic Sound 

Sources and Acoustic Terminology 

This subsection contains a brief 

technical background on sound, on the 

characteristics of certain sound types, 

and on metrics used in this proposal 

inasmuch as the information is relevant 

to the specified activity and to the 

summary of the potential effects of the 

specified activity on marine mammals. 

For general information on sound and 

its interaction with the marine 

environment, please see, e.g., Au and 

Hastings (2008); Richardson et al., 

(1995); Urick (1983). 

Sound travels in waves, the basic 

components of which are frequency, 

wavelength, velocity, and amplitude. 

Frequency is the number of pressure 

waves that pass by a reference point per 

unit of time and is measured in hertz or 

cycles per second. Wavelength is the 

distance between two peaks or 

corresponding points of a sound wave 

(length of one cycle). Higher frequency 

sounds have shorter wavelengths than 

lower frequency sounds, and typically 

attenuate (decrease) more rapidly, 

except in certain cases in shallower 

water. Amplitude is the height of the 

sound pressure wave or the ‘‘loudness’’ 

of a sound and is typically described 

using the relative unit of the decibel. A 

sound pressure level (SPL) in dB is 

described as the ratio between a 

measured pressure and a reference 

pressure (for underwater sound, this is 

1 microPascal (mPa)), and is a 

logarithmic unit that accounts for large 

variations in amplitude. Therefore, a 

relatively small change in dB 

corresponds to large changes in sound 

pressure. The source level (SL) 

represents the SPL referenced at a 

distance of 1-m from the source 

(referenced to 1 mPa), while the received 

level is the SPL at the listener’s position 

(referenced to 1 mPa). 

Root mean square (rms) is the 

quadratic mean sound pressure over the 

duration of an impulse. Root mean 

square is calculated by squaring all of 

the sound amplitudes, averaging the 

squares, and then taking the square root 

of the average (Urick, 1983). Root mean 

square accounts for both positive and 

negative values; squaring the pressures 

makes all values positive so that they 

may be accounted for in the summation 

of pressure levels (Hastings and Popper, 

2005). This measurement is often used 

in the context of discussing behavioral 

effects, in part because behavioral 

effects, which often result from auditory 

cues, may be better expressed through 

averaged units than by peak pressures. 

Sound exposure level (SEL; 

represented as dB re 1 mPa2-s) represents 

the total energy in a stated frequency 

band over a stated time interval or event 

and considers both intensity and 

duration of exposure. The per-pulse SEL 

is calculated over the time window 

containing the entire pulse (i.e., 100 

percent of the acoustic energy). SEL is 

a cumulative metric; it can be 

accumulated over a single pulse, or 

calculated over periods containing 

multiple pulses. Cumulative SEL 

represents the total energy accumulated 

by a receiver over a defined time 

window or during an event. Peak sound 

pressure (also referred to as zero-to-peak 

sound pressure or 0-pk) is the maximum 

instantaneous sound pressure 

measurable in the water at a specified 

distance from the source and is 

represented in the same units as the rms 

sound pressure. 

When underwater objects vibrate or 

activity occurs, sound-pressure waves 

are created. These waves alternately 

compress and decompress the water as 

the sound wave travels. Underwater 

sound waves radiate in a manner similar 

to ripples on the surface of a pond and 

may be directed either in a beam or in 

beams or may radiate in all directions 

(omnidirectional sources). The 

compressions and decompressions 

associated with sound waves are 

detected as changes in pressure by 

aquatic life and man-made sound 

receptors such as hydrophones. 

Even in the absence of sound from the 

specified activity, the underwater 

environment is typically loud due to 

ambient sound, which is defined as 

environmental background sound levels 

lacking a single source or point 

(Richardson et al., 1995). The sound 

level of a region is defined by the total 

acoustical energy being generated by 

known and unknown sources. These 

sources may include physical (e.g., 

wind and waves, earthquakes, ice, 

atmospheric sound), biological (e.g., 

sounds produced by marine mammals, 

fish, and invertebrates), and 

anthropogenic (e.g., vessels, dredging, 

construction) sound. A number of 


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sources contribute to ambient sound, 

including wind and waves, which are a 

main source of naturally occurring 

ambient sound for frequencies between 

200 Hz and 50 kHz (Mitson, 1995). In 

general, ambient sound levels tend to 

increase with increasing wind speed 

and wave height. Precipitation can 

become an important component of total 

sound at frequencies above 500 Hz, and 

possibly down to 100 Hz during quiet 

times. Marine mammals can contribute 

significantly to ambient sound levels, as 

can some fish and snapping shrimp. The 

frequency band for biological 

contributions is from approximately 12 

Hz to over 100 kHz. Sources of ambient 

sound related to human activity include 

transportation (surface vessels), 

dredging and construction, oil and gas 

drilling and production, geophysical 

surveys, sonar, and explosions. Vessel 

noise typically dominates the total 

ambient sound for frequencies between 

20 and 300 Hz. In general, the 

frequencies of anthropogenic sounds are 

below 1 kHz and, if higher frequency 

sound levels are created, they attenuate 

rapidly. 

The sum of the various natural and 

anthropogenic sound sources that 

comprise ambient sound at any given 

location and time depends not only on 

the source levels (as determined by 

current weather conditions and levels of 

biological and human activity) but on 

the ability of sound to propagate 

through the environment. In turn, sound 

propagation is dependent on the 

spatially and temporally varying 

properties of the water column and sea 

floor, and is frequency-dependent. As a 

result of the dependence on a large 

number of varying factors, ambient 

sound levels can be expected to vary 

widely over both coarse and fine spatial 

and temporal scales. Sound levels at a 

given frequency and location can vary 

by 10–20 dB from day to day 

(Richardson et al., 1995). The result is 

that, depending on the source type and 

its intensity, sound from the specified 

activity may be a negligible addition to 

the local environment or could form a 

distinctive signal that may affect marine 

mammals. Details of source types are 

described in the following text. 

Sounds are often considered to fall 

into one of two general types: pulsed 

and non-pulsed (defined in the 

following). The distinction between 

these two sound types is important 

because they have differing potential to 

cause physical effects, particularly with 

regard to hearing (e.g., Ward, 1997 in 

Southall et al., 2007). Please see 

Southall et al. (2007) for an in-depth 

discussion of these concepts. The 

distinction between these two sound 

types is not always obvious, as certain 

signals share properties of both pulsed 

and non-pulsed sounds. A signal near a 

source could be categorized as a pulse, 

but due to propagation effects as it 

moves farther from the source, the 

signal duration becomes longer (e.g., 

Greene and Richardson, 1988). 

Pulsed sound sources (e.g., airguns, 

explosions, gunshots, sonic booms, 

impact pile driving) produce signals 

that are brief (typically considered to be 

less than one second), broadband, atonal 

transients (ANSI, 1986, 2005; Harris, 

1998; NIOSH, 1998) and occur either as 

isolated events or repeated in some 

succession. Pulsed sounds are all 

characterized by a relatively rapid rise 

from ambient pressure to a maximal 

pressure value followed by a rapid 

decay period that may include a period 

of diminishing, oscillating maximal and 

minimal pressures, and generally have 

an increased capacity to induce physical 

injury as compared with sounds that 

lack these features. 

Non-pulsed sounds can be tonal, 

narrowband, or broadband, brief or 

prolonged, and may be either 

continuous or intermittent (ANSI, 1995; 

NIOSH, 1998). Some of these nonpulsed sounds can be transient signals 

of short duration but without the 

essential properties of pulses (e.g., rapid 

rise time). Examples of non-pulsed 

sounds include those produced by 

vessels, aircraft, machinery operations 

such as drilling or dredging, vibratory 

pile driving, and active sonar systems. 

The duration of such sounds, as 

received at a distance, can be greatly 

extended in a highly reverberant 

environment. 

Sparkers produce pulsed signals with 

energy in the frequency ranges, 0.05–4.0 

kHz. The amplitude of the acoustic 

wave emitted from sparker sources is 

equal in all directions (i.e., 

omnidirectional), while other sources 

planned for use during the proposed 

surveys have some degree of 

directionality to the beam. 

Summary on Specific Potential Effects 

of Acoustic Sound Sources 

Underwater sound from active 

acoustic sources can cause one or more 

of the following: temporary or 

permanent hearing impairment, 

behavioral disturbance, masking, stress, 

and non-auditory physical effects. The 

degree of effect is intrinsically related to 

the signal characteristics, received level, 

distance from the source, and duration 

of the sound exposure. Marine 

mammals exposed to high-intensity 

sound, or to lower-intensity sound for 

prolonged periods, can experience 

hearing threshold shift (TS), which is 

the loss of hearing sensitivity at certain 

frequency ranges (Finneran, 2015). TS 

can be permanent (PTS; permanent 

threshold shift), in which case the loss 

of hearing sensitivity is not fully 

recoverable, or temporary (TTS; 

temporary threshold shift), in which 

case the animal’s hearing threshold 

would recover over time (Southall et al., 

2007). 

Animals in the vicinity of Attentive 

Energy proposed HRG survey activity 

are unlikely to incur even TTS due to 

the characteristics of the sound sources, 

which include generally very short 

pulses and potential duration of 

exposure. These characteristics mean 

that instantaneous exposure is unlikely 

to cause TTS, as it is unlikely that 

exposure would occur close enough to 

the vessel for received levels to exceed 

peak pressure TTS criteria, and that the 

cumulative duration of exposure would 

be insufficient to exceed cumulative 

sound exposure level (SEL) criteria. 

Even for high-frequency cetacean 

species (e.g., harbor porpoises), which 

have the greatest sensitivity to potential 

TTS, individuals would have to make a 

very close approach and also remain 

very close to the vessel operating these 

sources in order to receive multiple 

exposures at relatively high levels, as 

would be necessary to cause TTS. 

Intermittent exposures—as would occur 

due to the brief, transient signals 

produced by these sources—require a 

higher cumulative SEL to induce TTS 

than would continuous exposures of the 

same duration (i.e., intermittent 

exposure results in lower levels of TTS). 

Moreover, most marine mammals would 

more likely avoid a loud sound source 

rather than swim in such close 

proximity as to result in TTS. Kremser 

et al. (2005) noted that the probability 

of a cetacean swimming through the 

area of exposure when a sub-bottom 

profiler emits a pulse is small—because 

if the animal was in the area, it would 

have to pass the transducer at close 

range in order to be subjected to sound 

levels that could cause TTS and would 

likely exhibit avoidance behavior to the 

area near the transducer rather than 

swim through at such a close range. 

Further, the restricted beam shape of 

many of HRG survey devices planned 

for use makes it unlikely that an animal 

would be exposed more than briefly 

during the passage of the vessel. No 

mortality, injury or Permanent 

Threshold Shift (PTS) are expected to 

occur. 

Behavioral disturbance to marine 

mammals from sound may include a 

variety of effects, including subtle 

changes in behavior (e.g., minor or brief 

avoidance of an area or changes in 


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vocalizations), more conspicuous 

changes in similar behavioral activities, 

and more sustained and/or potentially 

severe reactions, such as displacement 

from or abandonment of high-quality 

habitat. Behavioral responses to sound 

are highly variable and context-specific 

and any reactions depend on numerous 

intrinsic and extrinsic factors (e.g., 

species, state of maturity, experience, 

current activity, reproductive state, 

auditory sensitivity, time of day), as 

well as the interplay between factors. 

Available studies show wide variation 

in response to underwater sound; 

therefore, it is difficult to predict 

specifically how any given sound in a 

particular instance might affect marine 

mammals perceiving the signal. 

In addition, sound can disrupt 

behavior through masking, or interfering 

with, an animal’s ability to detect, 

recognize, or discriminate between 

acoustic signals of interest (e.g., those 

used for intraspecific communication 

and social interactions, prey detection, 

predator avoidance, navigation). 

Masking occurs when the receipt of a 

sound is interfered with by another 

coincident sound at similar frequencies 

and at similar or higher intensity, and 

may occur whether the sound is natural 

(e.g., snapping shrimp, wind, waves, 

precipitation) or anthropogenic (e.g., 

shipping, sonar, seismic exploration) in 

origin. Marine mammal 

communications would not likely be 

masked appreciably by the acoustic 

signals expected from Attentive 

Energy’s surveys given the directionality 

of the signals for most HRG survey 

equipment types planned for use and 

the brief period when an individual 

mammal is likely to be exposed. 

Classic stress responses begin when 

an animal’s central nervous system 

perceives a potential threat to its 

homeostasis. That perception triggers 

stress responses regardless of whether a 

stimulus actually threatens the animal; 

the mere perception of a threat is 

sufficient to trigger a stress response 

(Moberg 2000; Seyle 1950). Once an 

animal’s central nervous system 

perceives a threat, it mounts a biological 

response or defense that consists of a 

combination of the four general 

biological defense responses: behavioral 

responses, autonomic nervous system 

responses, neuroendocrine responses, or 

immune responses. In the case of many 

stressors, an animal’s first and 

sometimes most economical (in terms of 

biotic costs) response is behavioral 

avoidance of the potential stressor or 

avoidance of continued exposure to a 

stressor. An animal’s second line of 

defense to stressors involves the 

sympathetic part of the autonomic 

nervous system and the classical ‘‘fight 

or flight’’ response which includes the 

cardiovascular system, the 

gastrointestinal system, the exocrine 

glands, and the adrenal medulla to 

produce changes in heart rate, blood 

pressure, and gastrointestinal activity 

that humans commonly associate with 

‘‘stress.’’ These responses have a 

relatively short duration and may or 

may not have significant long-term 

effect on an animal’s welfare. An 

animal’s third line of defense to 

stressors involves its neuroendocrine 

systems; the system that has received 

the most study has been the 

hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system 

(also known as the HPA axis in 

mammals). Unlike stress responses 

associated with the autonomic nervous 

system, virtually all neuro-endocrine 

functions that are affected by stress— 

including immune competence, 

reproduction, metabolism, and 

behavior—are regulated by pituitary 

hormones. Stress-induced changes in 

the secretion of pituitary hormones have 

been implicated in failed reproduction 

(Moberg 1987; Rivier 1995), reduced 

immune competence (Blecha 2000), and 

behavioral disturbance. Increases in the 

circulation of glucocorticosteroids 

(cortisol, corticosterone, and 

aldosterone in marine mammals; see 

Romano et al., 2004) have been long 

been equated with stress. The primary 

distinction between stress (which is 

adaptive and does not normally place an 

animal at risk) and distress is the biotic 

cost of the response. In general, there 

are few data on the potential for strong, 

anthropogenic underwater sounds to 

cause non-auditory physical effects in 

marine mammals. The available data do 

not allow identification of a specific 

exposure level above which nonauditory effects can be expected 

(Southall et al., 2007). There is currently 

no definitive evidence that any of these 

effects occur even for marine mammals 

in close proximity to an anthropogenic 

sound source. In addition, marine 

mammals that show behavioral 

avoidance of survey vessels and related 

sound sources are unlikely to incur nonauditory impairment or other physical 

effects. NMFS does not expect that the 

generally short-term, intermittent, and 

transitory HRG and geotechnical survey 

activities would create conditions of 

long-term, continuous noise and chronic 

acoustic exposure leading to long-term 

physiological stress responses in marine 

mammals. 

Sound may affect marine mammals 

through impacts on the abundance, 

behavior, or distribution of prey species 

(e.g., crustaceans, cephalopods, fish, 

and zooplankton) (i.e., effects to marine 

mammal habitat). Prey species exposed 

to sound might move away from the 

sound source, experience TTS, 

experience masking of biologically 

relevant sounds, or show no obvious 

direct effects. The most likely impacts 

(if any) for most prey species in a given 

area would be temporary avoidance of 

the area. Surveys using active acoustic 

sound sources move through an area, 

limiting exposure to multiple pulses. In 

all cases, sound levels would return to 

ambient once a survey ends and the 

noise source is shut down and, when 

exposure to sound ends, behavioral and/ 

or physiological responses are expected 

to end relatively quickly. 

Vessel Strike 

Vessel collisions with marine 

mammals, or ship strikes, can result in 

death or serious injury of the animal. 

These interactions are typically 

associated with large whales, which are 

less maneuverable than are smaller 

cetaceans or pinnipeds in relation to 

large vessels. Ship strikes generally 

involve commercial shipping vessels, 

which are generally larger and of which 

there is much more traffic in the ocean 

than geophysical survey vessels. Jensen 

and Silber (2004) summarized ship 

strikes of large whales worldwide from 

1975–2003 and found that most 

collisions occurred in the open ocean 

and involved large vessels (e.g., 

commercial shipping). For vessels used 

in geophysical survey activities, vessel 

speed while towing gear is typically 

only 4–5 knots. At these speeds, both 

the possibility of striking a marine 

mammal and the possibility of a strike 

resulting in serious injury or mortality 

are so low as to be discountable. At 

average transit speed for geophysical 

survey vessels, the probability of serious 

injury or mortality resulting from a 

strike is less than 50 percent. However, 

the likelihood of a strike actually 

happening is again low given the 

smaller size of these vessels and 

generally slower speeds. Notably in the 

Jensen and Silber study, no strike 

incidents were reported for geophysical 

survey vessels during that time period. 

Marine Mammal Habitat 

The HRG survey equipment will not 

contact the seafloor and does not 

represent a source of pollution. We are 

not aware of any available literature on 

impacts to marine mammal prey from 

sound produced by HRG survey 

equipment. However, as the HRG survey 

equipment introduces noise to the 

marine environment, there is the 

potential for it to result in avoidance of 

the area around the HRG survey 


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activities on the part of marine mammal 

prey. Any avoidance of the area on the 

part of marine mammal prey would be 

expected to be short term and 

temporary. 

Because of the temporary nature of 

the disturbance, and the availability of 

similar habitat and resources (e.g., prey 

species) in the surrounding area, the 

impacts to marine mammals and the 

food sources that they utilize are not 

expected to cause significant or longterm consequences for individual 

marine mammals or their populations. 

Impacts on marine mammal habitat 

from the proposed activities will be 

temporary, insignificant, and 

discountable. 

The potential effects of Attentive 

Energy’s specified survey activity are 

expected to be limited to Level B 

behavioral harassment. No permanent or 

temporary auditory effects, or 

significant impacts to marine mammal 

habitat, including prey, are expected. 

Estimated Take 

This section provides an estimate of 

the number of incidental takes proposed 

for authorization through this IHA, 

which will inform both NMFS’ 

consideration of ‘‘small numbers’’ and 

the negligible impact determinations. 

Harassment is the only type of take 

expected to result from these activities. 

Except with respect to certain activities 

not pertinent here, section 3(18) of 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). 

Authorized takes would be by Level B 

harassment only, in the form of 

disruption of behavioral patterns for 

individual marine mammals resulting 

from exposure to noise from certain 

HRG acoustic sources. Based on the 

nature of the activity, Level A 

harassment is neither anticipated nor 

proposed to be authorized. Take by 

Level A harassment (injury) is 

considered unlikely, even absent 

mitigation, based on the characteristics 

of the signals produced by the acoustic 

sources planned for use, and is not 

proposed for authorization. 

Implementation of required mitigation 

further reduces this potential. 

Furthermore and as described 

previously, no serious injury or 

mortality is anticipated or proposed to 

be authorized for this activity. Below we 

describe how the proposed take 

numbers are estimated. 

For acoustic impacts, generally 

speaking, we estimate take by 

considering: (1) acoustic thresholds 

above which NMFS believes the best 

available science indicates marine 

mammals will be behaviorally harassed 

or incur some degree of permanent 

hearing impairment; (2) the area or 

volume of water that will be ensonified 

above these levels; and, (3) the density 

or occurrence of marine mammals 

within these ensonified areas. We note 

that while these factors can contribute 

to a basic calculation to provide an 

initial prediction of potential takes, 

additional information that can 

qualitatively inform take estimates is 

also sometimes available (e.g., previous 

monitoring results or average group 

size). Below, we describe the factors 

considered here in more detail and 

present the proposed take estimates. 

Acoustic Thresholds 

NMFS recommends the use of 

acoustic thresholds that identify the 

received level of underwater sound 

above which exposed marine mammals 

would be reasonably expected to be 

behaviorally harassed (equated to Level 

B harassment) or to incur PTS of some 

degree (equated to Level A harassment). 

Level B Harassment—Though 

significantly driven by received level, 

the onset of behavioral disturbance from 

anthropogenic noise exposure is also 

informed to varying degrees by other 

factors related to the source or exposure 

context (e.g., frequency, predictability, 

duty cycle, duration of the exposure, 

signal-to-noise ratio, distance to the 

source), the environment (e.g., 

bathymetry, other noises in the area, 

predators in the area), and the receiving 

animals (hearing, motivation, 

experience, demography, life stage, 

depth) and can be difficult to predict 

(e.g., Southall et al., 2007, 2021, Ellison 

et al., 2012). Based on what the 

available science indicates and the 

practical need to use a threshold based 

on a metric that is both predictable and 

measurable for most activities, NMFS 

typically uses a generalized acoustic 

threshold based on received level to 

estimate the onset of behavioral 

harassment. NMFS generally predicts 

that marine mammals are likely to be 

behaviorally harassed in a manner 

considered to be Level B harassment 

when exposed to underwater 

anthropogenic noise above root-meansquared pressure received levels (RMS 

SPL) of 120 dB (referenced to 1 

micropascal (re 1 mPa)) for continuous 

(e.g., vibratory pile-driving, drilling) and 

above RMS SPL 160 dB re 1 mPa for nonexplosive impulsive (e.g., seismic 

airguns) or intermittent (e.g., scientific 

sonar) sources. 

Level A Harassment—NMFS’ 

Technical Guidance for Assessing the 

Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on 

Marine Mammal Hearing (Version 2.0) 

(Technical Guidance, 2018) identifies 

dual criteria to assess auditory injury 

(Level A harassment) to five different 

marine mammal groups (based on 

hearing sensitivity) as a result of 

exposure to noise from two different 

types of sources (impulsive or nonimpulsive). These thresholds are 

provided in the table below. The 

references, analysis, and methodology 

used in the development of the 

thresholds are described in NMFS’ 2018 

Technical Guidance, which may be 

accessed at: www.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

national/marine-mammal-protection/ 

marine-mammal-acoustic-technicalguidance. 

TABLE 4—THRESHOLDS IDENTIFYING THE ONSET OF PERMANENT THRESHOLD SHIFT

Hearing group 

PTS onset acoustic thresholds * 

(received level) 

Impulsive Non-impulsive 

Low-Frequency (LF) Cetaceans ...................................... Cell 1: Lpk,flat: 219 dB; LE,LF,24h: 183 dB ......................... Cell 2: LE,LF,24h: 199 dB. 

Mid-Frequency (MF) Cetaceans ...................................... Cell 3: Lpk,flat: 230 dB; LE,MF,24h: 185 dB ........................ Cell 4: LE,MF,24h: 198 dB. 

High-Frequency (HF) Cetaceans ..................................... Cell 5: Lpk,flat: 202 dB; LE,HF,24h: 155 dB ........................ Cell 6: LE,HF,24h: 173 dB. 

Phocid Pinnipeds (PW) (Underwater) ............................. Cell 7: Lpk,flat: 218 dB; LE,PW,24h: 185 dB ....................... Cell 8: LE,PW,24h: 201 dB. 


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TABLE 4—THRESHOLDS IDENTIFYING THE ONSET OF PERMANENT THRESHOLD SHIFT—Continued 

Hearing group 

PTS onset acoustic thresholds * 

(received level) 

Impulsive Non-impulsive 

Otariid Pinnipeds (OW) (Underwater) ............................. Cell 9: Lpk,flat: 232 dB; LE,OW,24h: 203 dB ....................... Cell 10: LE,OW,24h: 219 dB. 

* Dual metric acoustic thresholds for impulsive sounds: Use whichever results in the largest isopleth for calculating PTS onset. If a non-impulsive sound has the potential of exceeding the peak sound pressure level thresholds associated with impulsive sounds, these thresholds should 

also be considered. 

Note: Peak sound pressure (Lpk) has a reference value of 1 μPa, and cumulative sound exposure level (LE) has a reference value of 1μPa2s. 

In this Table, thresholds are abbreviated to reflect American National Standards Institute standards (ANSI 2013). However, peak sound pressure 

is defined by ANSI as incorporating frequency weighting, which is not the intent for this Technical Guidance. Hence, the subscript ‘‘flat’’ is being 

included to indicate peak sound pressure should be flat weighted or unweighted within the generalized hearing range. The subscript associated 

with cumulative sound exposure level thresholds indicates the designated marine mammal auditory weighting function (LF, MF, and HF 

cetaceans, and PW and OW pinnipeds) and that the recommended accumulation period is 24 hours. The cumulative sound exposure level 

thresholds could be exceeded in a multitude of ways (i.e., varying exposure levels and durations, duty cycle). When possible, it is valuable for 

action proponents to indicate the conditions under which these acoustic thresholds will be exceeded. 

Ensonified Area 

Here, we describe operational and 

environmental parameters of the 

proposed survey activity that are used 

in estimating the area ensonified above 

the acoustic thresholds, including 

source levels and transmission loss 

coefficient. 

NMFS has developed a user-friendly 

methodology for estimating the extent of 

the Level B harassment isopleths 

associated with relevant HRG survey 

equipment (NMFS 2020). This 

methodology incorporates frequency 

and directionality to refine estimated 

ensonified zones. For acoustic sources 

that operate with different beamwidths, 

the maximum beamwidth was used, and 

the lowest frequency of the source was 

used when calculating the frequencydependent absorption coefficient (Table 

1). 

NMFS considers the data provided by 

Crocker and Fratantonio (2016) to 

represent the best available information 

on source levels associated with HRG 

survey equipment and, therefore, 

recommends that source levels provided 

by Crocker and Fratantonio (2016) be 

incorporated in the method described 

above to estimate isopleth distances to 

harassment thresholds. In cases when 

the source level for a specific type of 

HRG equipment is not provided in 

Crocker and Fratantonio (2016), NMFS 

recommends that either the source 

levels provided by the manufacturer be 

used, or, in instances where source 

levels provided by the manufacturer are 

unavailable or unreliable, a proxy from 

Crocker and Fratantonio (2016) be used 

instead. Table 1 shows the HRG 

equipment types used during the 

proposed surveys and the source levels 

associated with those HRG equipment 

types. 

The results of the Level B harassment 

ensonified area analysis using the 

methodology described indicated that, 

of the HRG survey equipment planned 

for use by Attentive Energy the only one 

that has the potential to result in Level 

B harassment of marine mammals, the 

Dual Geo-Spark, has a Level B 

harassment isopleth of 141-m. 

Marine Mammal Occurrence 

In this section we provide information 

about the occurrence of marine 

mammals, including density or other 

relevant information that will inform 

the take calculations. 

Habitat-based density models 

produced by the Duke University 

Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory 

and the Marine-life Data and Analysis 

Team, based on the best available 

marine mammal data from 1992–2021 

obtained in a collaboration between 

Duke University, the Northeast Regional 

Planning Body, the University of North 

Carolina Wilmington, the Virginia 

Aquarium and Marine Science Center, 

and NOAA (Roberts et al., 2016a; 

Curtice et al., 2018), represent the best 

available information regarding marine 

mammal densities in the proposed 

survey area. More recently, these data 

have been updated with new modeling 

results and include density estimates for 

pinnipeds (Roberts et al., 2016b, 2017, 

2018). 

The density data presented by Roberts 

et al., (2016b, 2017, 2018, 2021) 

incorporates aerial and shipboard linetransect survey data from NMFS and 

other organizations and incorporates 

data from eight physiographic and 16 

dynamic oceanographic and biological 

covariates, and controls for the 

influence of sea state, group size, 

availability bias, and perception bias on 

the probability of making a sighting. 

These density models were originally 

developed for all cetacean taxa in the 

U.S. Atlantic (Roberts et al., 2016a). In 

subsequent years, certain models have 

been updated based on additional data 

as well as certain methodological 

improvements. More information is 

available online at 

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

Duke/EC/. 

Marine mammal density estimates in 

the survey area (animals/km2) were 

obtained using the most recent model 

results for all taxa (Roberts et al., 2016b, 

2017, 2018, 2020). The updated models 

incorporate additional sighting data, 

including sightings from NOAA’s 

Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for 

Protected Species (AMAPPS) surveys. 

For the exposure analysis, density 

data from Roberts et al., (2016b, 2017, 

2018, 2021) were mapped using a 

geographic information system (GIS). 

For the survey area, the monthly 

densities of each species as reported by 

Roberts et al. (2016b, 2017, 2018, 2021) 

were averaged by season; thus, a density 

was calculated for each species for 

spring, summer, fall and winter. To be 

conservative, the greatest seasonal 

density calculated for each species was 

then carried forward in the exposure 

analysis, with a few exceptions noted 

later. Estimated seasonal densities 

(animals/km2) of marine mammal 

species that may be taken by the 

proposed survey are in Table 5 below. 

The maximum seasonal density values 

used to estimate take numbers are 

shown in Table 6 below. Below, we 

discuss how densities were assumed to 

apply to specific species for which the 

Roberts et al. (2016b, 2017, 2018, 2021) 

models provide results at the genus or 

guild level. 

For bottlenose dolphin densities, 

Roberts et al., (2016b, 2017, 2018) do 

not differentiate by stock. The Western 

North Atlantic northern migratory 

coastal stock is generally expected to 

occur only in coastal waters from the 

shoreline to approximately the 20-m 

(65-ft) isobath (Hayes et al., 2018). As 

the Lease Area is located within depths 

exceeding 20-m, where the offshore 

stock would generally be expected to 

occur, all calculated bottlenose dolphin 


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exposures within the survey area were 

assigned to the offshore stock. 

Bottlenose dolphins densities were also 

calculated using the single month with 

the highest density to account for recent 

observations from IHAs issued in the 

New York Bight area, which 

documented more dolphins than the 

output of the Roberts’ model predicted 

(86 FR 26465, May 10, 2021 and 85 FR 

21198, April 16, 2020). 

For long-finned pilot whales, the 

Roberts et al. (2016, 2017) data only 

provide a single raster grid containing 

annual density estimate for 

Globicephala species (i.e., short-finned 

and long-finned pilot whales 

combined). The annual density raster 

grid was used to estimate density in the 

survey area and assumed it applies only 

to long-finned pilot whales, as shortfinned pilot whales are not anticipated 

to occur as far north as the survey area. 

Furthermore, the Roberts et al. 

(2016b, 2017, 2018) density model does 

not differentiate between the different 

pinniped species. For seals, given their 

size and behavior when in the water, 

seasonality, and feeding preferences, 

there is limited information available on 

species-specific distribution. Density 

estimates of Roberts et al. (2016, 2018) 

include all seal species that may occur 

in the Western North Atlantic combined 

(i.e., harbor, gray, hooded, and harp). 

For this IHA, only the harbor seals and 

gray seals are reasonably expected to 

occur in the survey area; densities of 

seals were split evenly between these 

two species. 

TABLE 5—ESTIMATED MARINE MAMMAL DENSITIES (Animals per km2) FOR LEASE AREA

Species Spring Summer Fall Winter Monthly max Annual mean 

Mysticetes 

North Atlantic Right Whale ...................... 0.00352 0.00004 0.00011 0.00172 0.00515 0.00135 

Humpback Whale ..................................... 0.00062 0.00022 0.00036 0.00012 0.00076 0.00033 

Fin Whale ................................................. 0.00258 0.00314 0.00227 0.00162 0.00444 0.00240 

Sei Whale ................................................. 0.00016 0.00003 0.00003 0.00002 0.00025 0.00006 

Common Minke Whale ............................ 0.00190 0.00075 0.00054 0.00066 0.00286 0.00096 

Odontocetes 

Sperm Whale ........................................... 0.00004 0.00054 0.00037 0.00002 0.00104 0.00024 

Risso’s Dolphin ........................................ 0.00018 0.00108 0.00034 0.00046 0.00179 0.00052 

Long-finned Pilot Whale ........................... N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.00471 

Atlantic White-sided Dolphin .................... 0.03038 0.01714 0.01310 0.02069 0.05016 0.02033 

Short-beaked Common Dolphin .............. 0.05495 0.04535 0.05959 0.13725 0.18987 0.07428 

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin .......................... 0.00054 0.00599 0.00516 0.00024 0.00843 0.00298 

Harbor Porpoise ....................................... 0.07644 0.00042 0.00175 0.03952 0.12475 0.02953 

Common Bottlenose Dolphin ................... 0.01265 0.01828 0.04450 0.02509 0.05284 0.02513 

Pinnipeds 

Gray Seal ................................................. 0.01540 0.00021 0.00015 0.00837 0.01961 0.00604 

Harbor Seal .............................................. 0.01540 0.00021 0.00015 0.00837 0.01961 0.00604 

Take Estimation 

Here we describe how the information 

provided above is synthesized to 

produce a quantitative estimate of the 

take that is reasonably likely to occur 

and proposed for authorization. 

In order to estimate the number of 

marine mammals predicted to be 

exposed to sound levels that would 

result in harassment, radial distances to 

predicted isopleths corresponding to 

Level B harassment thresholds are 

calculated, as described above. The 

maximum distance (i.e., 141-m distance 

associated with the Dual Geo-Spark 

2000X) to the Level B harassment 

criterion and the total length of the 

survey trackline are then used to 

calculate the total ensonified area, or 

zone of influence (ZOI) around the 

survey vessel. 

Attentive Energy estimates that 

proposed surveys will complete a total 

of 3,028 km survey trackline during 

proposed HRG surveys. Based on the 

maximum estimated distance to the 

Level B harassment threshold of 141-m 

(Table 5) and the total survey length, the 

total ensonified area is therefore 854 

km2 based on the following formula: 

Mobile Source ZOI = (Total survey 

length × 2r) + pr2

Where: 

total survey length= the total distance of the 

survey track lines within the lease area; 

and 

r = the maximum radial distance from a given 

sound source to the Level B harassment 

threshold. 

As described above, this is a 

conservative estimate as it assumes the 

HRG source that results in the greatest 

isopleth distance to the Level B 

harassment threshold would be 

operated at all times during the entire 

survey, which may not ultimately occur. 

The number of marine mammals 

expected to be incidentally taken during 

the total survey is then calculated by 

estimating the number of each species 

predicted to occur within the ensonified 

area (animals/km2), incorporating the 

maximum seasonal estimated marine 

mammal densities as described above. 

The product is then rounded, to 

generate an estimate of the total number 

of instances of harassment expected for 

each species over the duration of the 

survey. A summary of this method is 

illustrated in the following formula with 

the resulting proposed take of marine 

mammals is shown below in Table 6: 

Estimated Take = D × ZOI 

Where: 

D = average species density (per km2); and 

ZOI = maximum daily ensonified area to 

relevant thresholds. 


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TABLE 6—NUMBERS OF POTENTIAL INCIDENTAL TAKE OF MARINE MAMMALS PROPOSED FOR AUTHORIZATION AND

PROPOSED TAKES AS A PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION

Species Abundance * Estimated 

level B takes 

Total 

Level B takes 

proposed for 

authorization 

Percent of 

abundance 

North Atlantic right whale ................................................................................ 368 3 3 0.82 

Humpback whale ............................................................................................. 1,396 1 † 2 0.14 

Fin whale ......................................................................................................... 6,802 3 3 <0.1 

Sei whale ......................................................................................................... 6,292 0 † 2 <0.1 

Minke whale ..................................................................................................... 21,968 2 2 <0.1

Sperm whale .................................................................................................... 4,349 0 † 2 <0.1 

Long-finned pilot whale .................................................................................... 39,215 4 † 15 <0.1 

Bottlenose dolphin (W.N. Atlantic Offshore) a .................................................. 62,851 38 38 <0.1 

Common dolphin .............................................................................................. 172,974 162 162 <0.1 

Atlantic white-sided dolphin ............................................................................. 93,233 26 26 <0.1 

Atlantic spotted dolphin ................................................................................... 39,921 5 † 31 <0.1 

Risso’s dolphin ................................................................................................. 32,215 1 † 9 <0.1 

Harbor porpoise ............................................................................................... 95,543 65 65 <0.1

Harbor seal ...................................................................................................... 61,336 13 13 <0.1 

Gray seal a ....................................................................................................... 451,431 13 13 <0.1 

* The abundances in this column are based on the NMFS draft 2021 SAR. 

† Take request based on average group size using sightings data from Palka et al. (2017, 2021) and CETAP (1982). See Appendix C for data. aThis abundance estimate is the total stock abundance (including animals in Canada). The NMFS stock abundance estimate for US population 

only is 27,300. 

The take numbers proposed for 

authorization in Table 6 are consistent 

with those requested by Attentive 

Energy. NMFS concurs with Attentive 

Energy’s method of revising take 

estimates to reflect mean group size 

where the estimated takes were less 

than a typical group size (Palka et al., 

2017, 2021; CETAP 1982). 

Proposed Mitigation 

In order to issue an IHA under section 

101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA, NMFS must 

set forth the permissible methods of 

taking pursuant to the activity and other 

means of effecting the least practicable 

impact on the species or stock and its 

habitat, paying particular attention to 

rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of 

similar significance, and on the 

availability of the species or stock for 

taking for certain subsistence uses (latter 

not applicable for this action). NMFS 

regulations require applicants for 

incidental take authorizations to include 

information about the availability and 

feasibility (economic and technological) 

of equipment, methods, and manner of 

conducting the activity or other means 

of effecting the least practicable adverse 

impact upon the affected species or 

stocks, and their habitat (50 CFR 

216.104(a)(11)). 

In evaluating how mitigation may or 

may not be appropriate to ensure the 

least practicable adverse impact on 

species or stocks and their habitat, as 

well as subsistence uses where 

applicable, NMFS considers two 

primary factors: 

(1) The manner in which, and the 

degree to which, the successful 

implementation of the measure(s) is 

expected to reduce impacts to marine 

mammals, marine mammal species or 

stocks, and their habitat. This considers 

the nature of the potential adverse 

impact being mitigated (likelihood, 

scope, range). It further considers the 

likelihood that the measure will be 

effective if implemented (probability of 

accomplishing the mitigating result if 

implemented as planned), the 

likelihood of effective implementation 

(probability implemented as planned), 

and; 

(2) The practicability of the measures 

for applicant implementation, which 

may consider such things as cost and 

impact on operations. 

Proposed Mitigation Measures 

NMFS proposes that the following 

mitigation measures be implemented 

during Attentive Energy’s planned 

marine site characterization surveys. 

Pursuant to section 7 of the ESA, 

Attentive Energy is also required to 

adhere to relevant Project Design 

Criteria (PDC) of the NMFS’ Greater 

Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office 

(GARFO) programmatic consultation 

(specifically PDCs 4, 5, and 7) regarding 

geophysical surveys along the U.S. 

Atlantic coast (https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-englandmid-atlantic/consultations/section-7- 

take-reporting-programmatics-greateratlantic#offshore-wind-site-assessmentand-site-characterization-activitiesprogrammatic-consultation). 

Marine Mammal Exclusion Zones and 

Level B Harassment Zones 

Marine mammal Exclusion Zones 

would be established around the HRG 

survey equipment and monitored by 

protected species observers (PSOs). 

These PSOs will be NMFS-approved 

visual PSOs. Based upon the acoustic 

source in use (impulsive: sparkers), a 

minimum of one PSO must be on duty 

on the source vessel during daylight 

hours and two PSOs must be on duty on 

the source vessel during nighttime 

hours. These PSO will monitor 

Exclusion Zones based upon the radial 

distance from the acoustic source rather 

than being based around the vessel 

itself. The Exclusion Zone distances are 

as follows: 

• A 500-m Exclusion Zone for North 

Atlantic right whales during use of 

specified acoustic sources (impulsive: 

sparkers). 

• A 100-m Exclusion Zone for all 

other marine mammals (excluding 

NARWs) during use of specified 

acoustic sources (except as specified 

below). 

All visual monitoring must begin no 

less than 30 minutes prior to the 

initiation of the specified acoustic 

source and must continue until 30 

minutes after use of specified acoustic 

sources ceases. 

If a marine mammal were detected 

approaching or entering the Exclusion 

Zones during the HRG survey, the vessel 

operator would adhere to the shutdown 

procedures described below to 

minimize noise impacts on the animals. 

These stated requirements will be 


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included in the site-specific training to 

be provided to the survey team. 

Ramp-Up of Survey Equipment and PreClearance of the Exclusion Zones 

When technically feasible, a ramp-up 

procedure would be used for HRG 

survey equipment capable of adjusting 

energy levels at the start or restart of 

survey activities. A ramp-up would 

begin with the powering up of the 

smallest acoustic HRG equipment at its 

lowest practical power output 

appropriate for the survey. The ramp-up 

procedure would be used in order to 

provide additional protection to marine 

mammals near the survey area by 

allowing them to vacate the area prior 

to the commencement of survey 

equipment operation at full power. 

When technically feasible, the power 

would then be gradually turned up and 

other acoustic sources would be added. 

All ramp-ups shall be scheduled so as 

to minimize the time spent with the 

source being activated. 

Ramp-up activities will be delayed if 

a marine mammal(s) enters its 

respective Exclusion Zone. Ramp-up 

will continue if the animal has been 

observed exiting its respective 

Exclusion Zone or until an additional 

time period has elapsed with no further 

sighting (i.e., 15 minutes for harbor 

porpoise and 30 minutes for all other 

species). 

Attentive Energy would implement a 

30 minute pre-clearance period of the 

Exclusion Zones prior to the initiation 

of ramp-up of HRG equipment. The 

operator must notify a designated PSO 

of the planned start of ramp-up not less 

than 60 minutes prior to the planned 

ramp-up. This would allow the PSOs to 

monitor the Exclusion Zones for 30 

minutes prior to the initiation of rampup. Prior to ramp-up beginning, 

Attentive Energy must receive 

confirmation from the PSO that the 

Exclusion Zone is clear prior to 

proceeding. During this 30 minute prestart clearance period, the entire 

applicable Exclusion Zones must be 

visible. The exception to this would be 

in situations where ramp-up may occur 

during periods of poor visibility 

(inclusive of nighttime) as long as 

appropriate visual monitoring has 

occurred with no detections of marine 

mammals in 30 minutes prior to the 

beginning of ramp-up. Acoustic source 

activation may occur at night only 

where operational planning cannot 

reasonably avoid such circumstances. 

During this period, the Exclusion 

Zone will be monitored by the PSOs, 

using the appropriate visual technology. 

Ramp-up may not be initiated if any 

marine mammal(s) is within its 

respective Exclusion Zone. If a marine 

mammal is observed within an 

Exclusion Zone during the pre-clearance 

period, ramp-up may not begin until the 

animal(s) has been observed exiting its 

respective Exclusion Zone or until an 

additional time period has elapsed with 

no further sighting (i.e., 15 minutes for 

harbor porpoise and 30 minutes for all 

other species). If a marine mammal 

enters the Exclusion Zone during rampup, ramp-up activities must cease and 

the source must be shut down. Any PSO 

on duty has the authority to delay the 

start of survey operations if a marine 

mammal is detected within the 

applicable pre-start clearance zones. 

The prestart clearance requirement does 

not include small delphinids (genera 

Stenella, Lagenorhynchus, Delphinus, or 

Tursiops) or seals. 

The pre-clearance zones would be: 

• 500-m for all ESA-listed species 

(North Atlantic right, sei, fin, sperm 

whales); and 

• 100-m for all other marine 

mammals. 

If any marine mammal species that 

are listed under the ESA are observed 

within the clearance zones, the clock 

must be paused. If the PSO confirms the 

animal has exited the zone and headed 

away from the survey vessel, the clock 

that was paused may resume. The preclearance clock will reset if the animal 

dives or visual contact is otherwise lost. 

If the acoustic source is shut down for 

brief periods (i.e., less than 30 minutes) 

for reasons other than implementation 

of prescribed mitigation (e.g., 

mechanical difficulty), it may be 

activated again without ramp-up if PSOs 

have maintained constant visual 

observation and no detections of marine 

mammals have occurred within the 

applicable Exclusion Zone. For any 

longer shutdown, pre-start clearance 

observation and ramp-up are required. 

Activation of survey equipment 

through ramp-up procedures may not 

occur when visual detection of marine 

mammals within the pre-clearance zone 

is not expected to be effective (e.g., 

during inclement conditions such as 

heavy rain or fog). 

The acoustic source(s) must be 

deactivated when not acquiring data or 

preparing to acquire data, except as 

necessary for testing. Unnecessary use 

of the acoustic source shall be avoided. 

Shutdown Procedures 

An immediate shutdown of the 

impulsive HRG survey equipment 

(Table 5) would be required if a marine 

mammal is sighted entering or within its 

respective Exclusion Zone(s). Any PSO 

on duty has the authority to call for a 

shutdown of the acoustic source if a 

marine mammal is detected within the 

applicable Exclusion Zones. Any 

disagreement between the PSO and 

vessel operator should be discussed 

only after shutdown has occurred. The 

vessel operator would establish and 

maintain clear lines of communication 

directly between PSOs on duty and 

crew controlling the HRG source(s) to 

ensure that shutdown commands are 

conveyed swiftly while allowing PSOs 

to maintain watch. 

The shutdown requirement is waived 

for small delphinids (belonging to the 

genera of the Family Delpinidae: 

Delphinus, Lagenorhynchus, Stenella, or 

Tursiops) and pinnipeds if they are 

visually detected within the applicable 

Exclusion Zones. If a species for which 

authorization has not been granted or a 

species for which authorization has 

been granted but the authorized number 

of takes have been met approaches or is 

observed within the applicable 

Exclusion Zone, shutdown would occur. 

In the event of uncertainty regarding the 

identification of a marine mammal 

species (i.e., such as whether the 

observed marine mammal belongs to 

Delphinus, Lagenorhynchus, Stenella, or 

Tursiops for which shutdown is 

waived), PSOs must use their best 

professional judgement in making the 

decision to call for a shutdown. 

Upon implementation of a shutdown, 

the sound source may be reactivated 

after the marine mammal has been 

observed exiting the applicable 

Exclusion Zone or following a clearance 

period of 15 minutes for harbor porpoise 

and 30 minutes for all other species 

where there are no further detections of 

the marine mammal. 

Shutdown, pre-start clearance, and 

ramp-up procedures are not required 

during HRG survey operations using 

only non-impulsive sources (e.g., 

parametric sub-bottom profilers, sonar, 

Echosounder, etc.). 

Seasonal Operating Requirements 

As described above, a section of the 

proposed survey area partially overlaps 

with a portion of a North Atlantic right 

whale SMA off the port of New York/ 

New Jersey. This SMA is active from 

November 1 through April 30 of each 

year. The survey vessel, regardless of 

length, would be required to adhere to 

vessel speed restrictions (<10 knots) 

when operating within the SMA during 

times when the SMA is active. In 

addition, between watch shifts, 

members of the monitoring team would 

consult NMFS’ North Atlantic right 

whale reporting systems for the 

presence of North Atlantic right whales 

throughout survey operations. Members 

of the monitoring team would also 


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monitor the NMFS North Atlantic right 

whale reporting systems for the 

establishment of Dynamic Management 

Areas (DMA). NMFS may also establish 

voluntary right whale Slow Zones any 

time a right whale (or whales) is 

acoustically detected. Attentive Energy 

should be aware of this possibility and 

remain attentive in the event a Slow 

Zone is established nearby or 

overlapping the survey area (Table 7). 

TABLE 7—NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE DYNAMIC MANAGEMENT AREA (DMA) AND SEASONAL MANAGEMENT AREA

(SMA) RESTRICTIONS WITHIN THE SURVEY AREAS

Survey area Species DMA restrictions Slow zones SMA restrictions 

Lease Area ....

ECR North .....

ECR South .....

North Atlantic right whale 

(Eubalaena glacialis).

If established by NMFS, all of Attentive Energy’s vessel will 

abide by the described restrictions 

N/A. 

November 1 through July 31 

(Raritan Bay). 

N/A. 

More information on Ship Strike Reduction for the North Atlantic right whale can be found at NMFS’ website: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/endangered-species-conservation/reducing-vessel-strikes-north-atlantic-right-whales. 

There are no known marine mammal 

rookeries or mating or calving grounds 

in the survey area that would otherwise 

potentially warrant increased mitigation 

measures for marine mammals or their 

habitat (or both). The proposed survey 

would occur in an area that has been 

identified as a biologically important 

area for migration for North Atlantic 

right whales. However, given the small 

spatial extent of the survey area relative 

to the substantially larger spatial extent 

of the right whale migratory area and 

the relatively low amount of noise 

generated by the survey, the survey is 

not expected to appreciably reduce the 

quality of migratory habitat or to 

negatively impact the migration of 

North Atlantic right whales, thus 

additional mitigation to address the 

proposed survey’s occurrence in North 

Atlantic right whale migratory habitat is 

not warranted. 

Vessel Strike Avoidance 

Vessel operators must comply with 

the below measures except under 

extraordinary circumstances when the 

safety of the vessel or crew is in doubt 

or the safety of life at sea is in question. 

These requirements do not apply in any 

case where compliance would create an 

imminent and serious threat to a person 

or vessel or to the extent that a vessel 

is restricted in its ability to maneuver 

and, because of the restriction, cannot 

comply. 

Survey vessel crewmembers 

responsible for navigation duties will 

receive site-specific training on marine 

mammals sighting/reporting and vessel 

strike avoidance measures. Vessel strike 

avoidance measures would include the 

following, except under circumstances 

when complying with these 

requirements would put the safety of the 

vessel or crew at risk: 

• Attentive Energy will ensure that 

vessel operators and crew maintain a 

vigilant watch for cetaceans and 

pinnipeds and slow down, stop their 

vessel, or alter course, as appropriate 

and regardless of vessel size, to avoid 

striking any marine mammal. A single 

marine mammal at the surface may 

indicate the presence of additional 

submerged animals in the vicinity of the 

vessel; therefore, precautionary 

measures should always be exercised. A 

visual observer aboard the vessel must 

monitor a vessel strike avoidance zone 

around the vessel (species-specific 

distances detailed below). Visual 

observers monitoring the vessel strike 

avoidance zone may be third-party 

observers (i.e., PSOs) or crew members, 

but crew members responsible for these 

duties must be provided sufficient 

training to 1) distinguish marine 

mammal from other phenomena, and 2) 

broadly to identify a marine mammal as 

a right whale, other whale (defined in 

this context as sperm whales or baleen 

whales other than right whales), or other 

marine mammals. The vessel, regardless 

of size, must observe a 10-knot speed 

restriction in specific areas designated 

by NMFS for the protection of North 

Atlantic right whales from vessel 

strikes, including seasonal management 

areas (SMAs) and dynamic management 

areas (DMAs) when in effect. See 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

endangered-species-conservation/ 

reducing-ship-strikes-north-atlanticright-whales for specific detail regarding 

these areas. 

• The vessel must reduce speed to 10- 

knots or less when mother/calf pairs, 

pods, or large assemblages of cetaceans 

are observed near a vessel; 

• The vessel must maintain a 

minimum separation distance of 500-m 

(1,640-ft) from right whales and other 

ESA-listed species. If an ESA-listed 

species is sighted within the relevant 

separation distance, the vessel must 

steer a course away at 10-knots or less 

until the 500-m separation distance has 

been established. If a whale is observed 

but cannot be confirmed as a species 

that is not ESA-listed, the vessel 

operator must assume that it is an ESAlisted species and take appropriate 

action. 

• The vessel must maintain a 

minimum separation distance of 100-m 

(328-ft) from non-ESA-listed baleen 

whales. 

• The vessel must, to the maximum 

extent practicable, attempt to maintain a 

minimum separation distance of 50-m 

(164-ft) from all other marine mammals, 

with an understanding that, at times, 

this may not be possible (e.g., for 

animals that approach the vessel, bowriding species). 

• When marine mammal are sighted 

while a vessel is underway, the vessel 

shall take action as necessary to avoid 

violating the relevant separation 

distance (e.g., attempt to remain parallel 

to the animal’s course, avoid excessive 

speed or abrupt changes in direction 

until the animal has left the area, reduce 

speed and shift the engine to neutral). 

This does not apply to any vessel 

towing gear or any vessel that is 

navigationally constrained. 

Members of the monitoring team will 

consult NMFS North Atlantic right 

whale reporting system and Whale 

Alert, daily and as able, for the presence 

of North Atlantic right whales 

throughout survey operations, and for 

the establishment of a DMA. If NMFS 

should establish a DMA in the survey 

area during the survey, the vessel will 

abide by speed restrictions in the DMA. 

Training 

All PSOs must have completed a PSO 

training program and received NMFS 

approval to act as a PSO for geophysical 

surveys. Documentation of NMFS 

approval and most recent training 

certificates of individual PSOs’ 

successful completion of a commercial 

PSO training course must be provided 

upon request. Further information can 


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be found at www.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

national/endangered-speciesconservation/protected-speciesobservers. In the event where third-party 

PSOs are not required, crew members 

serving as lookouts must receive 

training on protected species 

identification, vessel strike 

minimization procedures, how and 

when to communicate with the vessel 

captain, and reporting requirements. 

Attentive Energy shall instruct 

relevant vessel personnel with regard to 

the authority of the marine mammal 

monitoring team, and shall ensure that 

relevant vessel personnel and the 

marine mammal monitoring team 

participate in a joint onboard briefing 

(hereafter PSO briefing), led by the 

vessel operator and lead PSO, prior to 

beginning survey activities to ensure 

that responsibilities, communication 

procedures, marine mammal monitoring 

protocols, safety and operational 

procedures, and IHA requirements are 

clearly understood. This PSO briefing 

must be repeated when relevant new 

personnel (e.g., PSOs, acoustic source 

operator) join the survey operations 

before their responsibilities and work 

commences. 

Project-specific training will be 

conducted for all vessel crew prior to 

the start of a survey and during any 

changes in crew such that all survey 

personnel are fully aware and 

understand the mitigation, monitoring, 

and reporting requirements. All vessel 

crew members must be briefed in the 

identification of protected species that 

may occur in the survey area and in 

regulations and best practices for 

avoiding vessel collisions. Reference 

materials must be available aboard the 

project vessel for identification of listed 

species. The expectation and process for 

reporting of protected species sighted 

during surveys must be clearly 

communicated and posted in highly 

visible locations aboard the project 

vessel, so that there is an expectation for 

reporting to the designated vessel 

contact (such as the lookout or the 

vessel captain), as well as a 

communication channel and process for 

crew members to do so. Prior to 

implementation with vessel crews, the 

training program will be provided to 

NMFS for review and approval. 

Confirmation of the training and 

understanding of the requirements will 

be documented on a training course log 

sheet. Signing the log sheet will certify 

that the crew member understands and 

will comply with the necessary 

requirements throughout the survey 

activities. 

Based on our evaluation of the 

applicant’s proposed measures, as well 

as other measures considered by NMFS, 

NMFS has preliminarily determined 

that the proposed mitigation measures 

provide the means of effecting the least 

practicable impact on the affected 

species or stocks and their habitat, 

paying particular attention to rookeries, 

mating grounds, and areas of similar 

significance. 

Proposed Monitoring and Reporting 

In order to issue an IHA for an 

activity, section 101(a)(5)(D) of the 

MMPA states that NMFS must set forth 

requirements pertaining to the 

monitoring and reporting of such taking. 

The MMPA implementing regulations at 

50 CFR 216.104(a)(13) indicate that 

requests for authorizations must include 

the suggested means of accomplishing 

the necessary monitoring and reporting 

that will result in increased knowledge 

of the species and of the level of taking 

or impacts on populations of marine 

mammals that are expected to be 

present while conducting the activities. 

Effective reporting is critical both to 

compliance as well as ensuring that the 

most value is obtained from the required 

monitoring. 

Monitoring and reporting 

requirements prescribed by NMFS 

should contribute to improved 

understanding of one or more of the 

following: 

• Occurrence of marine mammal 

species or stocks in the area in which 

take is anticipated (e.g., presence, 

abundance, distribution, density); 

• Nature, scope, or context of likely 

marine mammal exposure to potential 

stressors/impacts (individual or 

cumulative, acute or chronic), through 

better understanding of: (1) action or 

environment (e.g., source 

characterization, propagation, ambient 

noise); (2) affected species (e.g., life 

history, dive patterns); (3) co-occurrence 

of marine mammal species with the 

activity; or (4) biological or behavioral 

context of exposure (e.g., age, calving or 

feeding areas); 

• Individual marine mammal 

responses (behavioral or physiological) 

to acoustic stressors (acute, chronic, or 

cumulative), other stressors, or 

cumulative impacts from multiple 

stressors; 

• How anticipated responses to 

stressors impact either: (1) long-term 

fitness and survival of individual 

marine mammals; or (2) populations, 

species, and/or stocks; 

• Effects on marine mammal habitat 

(e.g., marine mammal prey species, 

acoustic habitat, or other important 

physical components of marine 

mammal habitat); and, 

• Mitigation and monitoring 

effectiveness. 

Proposed Monitoring Measures 

Attentive Energy must use 

independent, dedicated, trained PSOs, 

meaning that the PSOs must be 

employed by a third-party observer 

provider, must have no tasks other than 

to conduct observational effort, collect 

data, and communicate with and 

instruct relevant vessel crew with regard 

to the presence of marine mammal and 

mitigation requirements (including brief 

alerts regarding maritime hazards), and 

must have successfully completed an 

approved PSO training course for 

geophysical surveys. Visual monitoring 

must be performed by qualified, NMFSapproved PSOs. PSO resumes must be 

provided to NMFS for review and 

approval prior to the start of survey 

activities. 

PSO names must be provided to 

NMFS by the operator for review and 

confirmation of their approval for 

specific roles prior to commencement of 

the survey. For prospective PSOs not 

previously approved, or for PSOs whose 

approval is not current, NMFS must 

review and approve PSO qualifications. 

Resumes should include information 

related to relevant education, 

experience, and training, including 

dates, duration, location, and 

description of prior PSO experience. 

Resumes must be accompanied by 

relevant documentation of successful 

completion of necessary training. 

NMFS may approve PSOs as 

conditional or unconditional. A 

conditionally-approved PSO may be one 

who is trained but has not yet attained 

the requisite experience. An 

unconditionally-approved PSO is one 

who has attained the necessary 

experience. For unconditional approval, 

the PSO must have a minimum of 90 

days at sea performing the role during 

a geophysical survey, with the 

conclusion of the most recent relevant 

experience not more than 18 months 

previous. 

At least one of the visual PSOs aboard 

the vessel must be unconditionallyapproved. One unconditionallyapproved visual PSO shall be 

designated as the lead for the entire PSO 

team. This lead should typically be the 

PSO with the most experience, who 

would coordinate duty schedules and 

roles for the PSO team and serve as 

primary point of contact for the vessel 

operator. To the maximum extent 

practicable, the duty schedule shall be 

planned such that unconditionallyapproved PSOs are on duty with 

conditionally-approved PSOs. 


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PSOs must have successfully attained 

a bachelor’s degree from an accredited 

college or university with a major in one 

of the natural sciences, a minimum of 

30 semester hours or equivalent in the 

biological sciences, and at least one 

undergraduate course in math or 

statistics. The educational requirements 

may be waived if the PSO has acquired 

the relevant skills through alternate 

experience. Requests for such a waiver 

shall be submitted to NMFS and must 

include written justification. Alternate 

experience that may be considered 

includes, but is not limited to (1) 

secondary education and/or experience 

comparable to PSO duties; (2) previous 

work experience conducting academic, 

commercial, or government-sponsored 

marine mammal surveys; and (3) 

previous work experience as a PSO 

(PSO must be in good standing and 

demonstrate good performance of PSO 

duties). 

PSOs must successfully complete 

relevant training, including completion 

of all required coursework and passing 

(80 percent or greater) a written and/or 

oral examination developed for the 

training program. 

PSOs must coordinate to ensure 360° 

visual coverage around the vessel from 

the most appropriate observation posts 

and shall conduct visual observations 

using binoculars or night-vision 

equipment and the naked eye while free 

from distractions and in a consistent, 

systematic, and diligent manner. 

PSOs may be on watch for a 

maximum of four consecutive hours 

followed by a break of at least two hours 

between watches and may conduct a 

maximum of 12 hours of observation per 

24-hour period. 

Any observations of marine mammals 

by crew members aboard any vessel 

associated with the survey shall be 

relayed to the PSO team. 

Attentive Energy must work with the 

selected third-party PSO provider to 

ensure PSOs have all equipment 

(including backup equipment) needed 

to adequately perform necessary tasks, 

including accurate determination of 

distance and bearing to observed marine 

mammals, and to ensure that PSOs are 

capable of calibrating equipment as 

necessary for accurate distance 

estimates and species identification. 

Such equipment, at a minimum, shall 

include: 

• At least one thermal (infrared) 

imagine device suited for the marine 

environment; 

• Reticle binoculars (e.g., 7 x 50) of 

appropriate quality (at least one per 

PSO, plus backups); 

• Global Positioning Units (GPS) (at 

least one plus backups); 

• Digital cameras with a telephoto 

lens that is at least 300-mm or 

equivalent on a full-frame single lens 

reflex (SLR) (at least one plus backups). 

The camera or lens should also have an 

image stabilization system; 

• Equipment necessary for accurate 

measurement of distances to marine 

mammal; 

• Compasses (at least one plus 

backups); 

• Means of communication among 

vessel crew and PSOs; and 

• Any other tools deemed necessary 

to adequately and effectively perform 

PSO tasks. 

The equipment specified above may 

be provided by an individual PSO, the 

third-party PSO provider, or the 

operator, but Attentive Energy is 

responsible for ensuring PSOs have the 

proper equipment required to perform 

the duties specified in the IHA. 

During good conditions (e.g., daylight 

hours; Beaufort sea state 3 or less), PSOs 

shall conduct observations when the 

specified acoustic sources are not 

operating for comparison of sighting 

rates and behavior with and without use 

of the specified acoustic sources and 

between acquisition periods, to the 

maximum extent practicable. 

The PSOs will be responsible for 

monitoring the waters surrounding the 

survey vessel to the farthest extent 

permitted by sighting conditions, 

including Exclusion Zones, during all 

HRG survey operations. PSOs will 

visually monitor and identify marine 

mammals, including those approaching 

or entering the established Exclusion 

Zones during survey activities. It will be 

the responsibility of the PSO(s) on duty 

to communicate the presence of marine 

mammals as well as to communicate the 

action(s) that are necessary to ensure 

mitigation and monitoring requirements 

are implemented as appropriate. 

At a minimum, Attentive Energy 

plans to use a PSO during all HRG 

survey operations (e.g., any day on 

which use of an HRG source is planned 

to occur), one PSO must be on duty 

during daylight operations on the 

survey vessel, conducting visual 

observations at all times on the active 

survey vessel during daylight hours (i.e., 

from 30 minutes prior to sunrise 

through 30 minutes following sunset) 

and two PSOs will be on watch during 

nighttime operations. The PSO(s) would 

ensure 360° visual coverage around the 

vessel from the most appropriate 

observation posts and would conduct 

visual observations using binoculars 

and/or night vision goggles and the 

naked eye while free from distractions 

and in a consistent, systematic, and 

diligent manner. PSOs may be on watch 

for a maximum of four consecutive 

hours followed by a break of at least two 

hours between watches and may 

conduct a maximum of 12 hours of 

observation per 24-hr period. 

PSOs must be equipped with 

binoculars and have the ability to 

estimate distance and bearing to detect 

marine mammals, particularly in 

proximity to Exclusion Zones. 

Reticulated binoculars must also be 

available to PSOs for use as appropriate 

based on conditions and visibility to 

support the sighting and monitoring of 

marine mammals. During nighttime 

operations, night-vision goggles with 

thermal clip-ons and infrared 

technology would be used. Position data 

would be recorded using hand-held or 

vessel GPS units for each sighting. 

During good conditions (e.g., daylight 

hours; Beaufort sea state (BSS) 3 or less), 

to the maximum extent practicable, 

PSOs would also conduct observations 

when the acoustic source is not 

operating for comparison of sighting 

rates and behavior with and without use 

of the active acoustic sources. Any 

observations of marine mammals by 

crew members aboard the vessel 

associated with the survey would be 

relayed to the PSO team. 

Data on all PSO observations would 

be recorded based on standard PSO 

collection requirements (see Proposed 

Reporting Measures). This would 

include dates, times, and locations of 

survey operations; dates and times of 

observations, location and weather; 

details of marine mammal sightings 

(e.g., species, numbers, behavior); and 

details of any observed marine mammal 

behavior that occurs (e.g., noted 

behavioral disturbances). 

Proposed Reporting Measures 

Attentive Energy shall submit a draft 

comprehensive report on all activities 

and monitoring results within 90 days 

of the completion of the survey or 

expiration of the IHA, whichever comes 

sooner. The report must describe all 

activities conducted and sightings of 

marine mammals, must provide full 

documentation of methods, results, and 

interpretation pertaining to all 

monitoring, and must summarize the 

dates and locations of survey operations 

and all marine mammals sightings 

(dates, times, locations, activities, 

associated survey activities). The draft 

report shall also include geo-referenced, 

time-stamped vessel tracklines for all 

time periods during which acoustic 

sources were operating. Tracklines 

should include points recording any 

change in acoustic source status (e.g., 

when the sources began operating, when 

they were turned off, or when they 


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changed operational status such as from 

full array to single gun or vice versa). 

GIS files shall be provided in ESRI 

shapefile format and include the UTC 

date and time, latitude in decimal 

degrees, and longitude in decimal 

degrees. All coordinates shall be 

referenced to the WGS84 geographic 

coordinate system. In addition to the 

report, all raw observational data shall 

be made available. The report must 

summarize the information submitted in 

interim monthly reports (if required) as 

well as additional data collected. A final 

report must be submitted within 30 days 

following resolution of any comments 

on the draft report. All draft and final 

marine mammal monitoring reports 

must be submitted to 

PR.ITP.MonitoringReports@noaa.gov, 

nmfs.gar.incidental-take@noaa.gov and 

ITP.Harlacher@noaa.gov. 

PSOs must use standardized 

electronic data forms to record data. 

PSOs shall record detailed information 

about any implementation of mitigation 

requirements, including the distance of 

marine mammal to the acoustic source 

and description of specific actions that 

ensued, the behavior of the animal(s), 

any observed changes in behavior before 

and after implementation of mitigation, 

and if shutdown was implemented, the 

length of time before any subsequent 

ramp-up of the acoustic source. If 

required mitigation was not 

implemented, PSOs should record a 

description of the circumstances. At a 

minimum, the following information 

must be recorded: 

1. Vessel name (source vessel), vessel 

size and type, maximum speed 

capability of vessel; 

2. Dates of departures and returns to 

port with port name; 

3. The lease number; 

4. PSO names and affiliations; 

5. Date and participants of PSO 

briefings; 

6. Visual monitoring equipment used; 

7. PSO location on vessel and height 

of observation location above water 

surface; 

8. Dates and times (Greenwich Mean 

Time) of survey on/off effort and times 

corresponding with PSO on/off effort; 

9. Vessel location (decimal degrees) 

when survey effort begins and ends and 

vessel location at beginning and end of 

visual PSO duty shifts; 

10. Vessel location at 30-second 

intervals if obtainable from data 

collection software, otherwise at 

practical regular interval 

11. Vessel heading and speed at 

beginning and end of visual PSO duty 

shifts and upon any change; 

12. Water depth (if obtainable from 

data collection software); 

13. Environmental conditions while 

on visual survey (at beginning and end 

of PSO shift and whenever conditions 

change significantly), including BSS 

and any other relevant weather 

conditions including cloud cover, fog, 

sun glare, and overall visibility to the 

horizon; 

14. Factors that may contribute to 

impaired observations during each PSO 

shift change or as needed as 

environmental conditions change (e.g., 

vessel traffic, equipment malfunctions); 

and 

15. Survey activity information (and 

changes thereof), such as acoustic 

source power output while in operation, 

number and volume of airguns 

operating in an array, tow depth of an 

acoustic source, and any other notes of 

significance (i.e., pre-start clearance, 

ramp-up, shutdown, testing, shooting, 

ramp-up completion, end of operations, 

streamers, etc.). 

Upon visual observation of any 

marine mammal, the following 

information must be recorded: 

1. Watch status (sighting made by 

PSO on/off effort, opportunistic, crew, 

alternate vessel/platform); 

2. Vessel/survey activity at time of 

sighting (e.g., deploying, recovering, 

testing, shooting, data acquisition, 

other); 

3. PSO who sighted the animal; 

4. Time of sighting; 

5. Initial detection method; 

6. Sightings cue; 

7. Vessel location at time of sighting 

(decimal degrees); 

8. Direction of vessel’s travel 

(compass direction); 

9. Speed of the vessel(s) from which 

the observation was made; 

10. Identification of the animal (e.g., 

genus/species, lowest possible 

taxonomic level or unidentified); also 

note the composition of the group if 

there is a mix of species; 

11. Species reliability (an indicator of 

confidence in identification); 

12. Estimated distance to the animal 

and method of estimating distance; 

13. Estimated number of animals 

(high/low/best); 

14. Estimated number of animals by 

cohort (adults, yearlings, juveniles, 

calves, group composition, etc.); 

15. Description (as many 

distinguishing features as possible of 

each individual seen, including length, 

shape, color, pattern, scars, or markings, 

shape and size of dorsal fin, shape of 

head, and blow characteristics); 

16. Detailed behavior observations 

(e.g., number of blows/breaths, number 

of surfaces, breaching, spyhopping, 

diving, feeding, traveling; as explicit 

and detailed as possible; note any 

observed changes in behavior before and 

after point of closest approach); 

17. Mitigation actions; description of 

any actions implemented in response to 

the sighting (e.g., delays, shutdowns, 

ramp-up, speed or course alteration, 

etc.) and time and location of the action; 

18. Equipment operating during 

sighting; 

19. Animal’s closest point of approach 

and/or closest distance from the center 

point of the acoustic source; and 

20. Description of any actions 

implemented in response to the sighting 

(e.g., delays, shutdown, ramp-up) and 

time and location of the action. 

If a North Atlantic right whale is 

observed at any time by PSOs or 

personnel on the project vessel, during 

surveys or during vessel transit, 

Attentive Energy must report the 

sighting information to the NMFS North 

Atlantic Right Whale Sighting Advisory 

System (866–755–6622) within two 

hours of occurrence, when practicable, 

or no later than 24 hours after 

occurrence. North Atlantic right whale 

sightings in any location may also be 

reported to the U.S. Coast Guard via 

channel 16 and through the WhaleAlert 

app (http://www.whalealert.org). 

In the event that Attentive Energy 

personnel discover an injured or dead 

marine mammal, regardless of the cause 

of injury or death or in the event that 

personnel involved in the survey 

activities discover an injured or dead 

marine mammal, Attentive Energy must 

report the incident to NMFS as soon as 

feasible by phone (866–755–6622) and 

by email (nmfs.gar.stranding@noaa.gov 

and PR.ITP.MonitoringReports@

noaa.gov) as soon as feasible. 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. 

In the unanticipated event of a ship 

strike of a marine mammal by any vessel 

involved in the activities covered by the 

IHA, Attentive Energy must report the 

incident to NMFS by phone (866–755– 

6622) and by email 

(nmfs.gar.stranding@noaa.gov and 

PR.ITP.MonitoringReports@noaa.gov) as 

soon as feasible. The report would 

include the following information: 


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1. Time, date, and location (latitude/ 

longitude) of the incident; 

2. Species identification (if known) or 

description of the animal(s) involved; 

3. Vessel’s speed during and leading 

up to the incident; 

4. Vessel’s course/heading and what 

operations were being conducted (if 

applicable); 

5. Status of all sound sources in use; 

6. Description of avoidance measures/ 

requirements that were in place at the 

time of the strike and what additional 

measures were taken, if any, to avoid 

strike; 

7. Environmental conditions (e.g., 

wind speed and direction, Beaufort sea 

state, cloud cover, visibility) 

immediately preceding the strike; 

8. Estimated size and length of animal 

that was struck; 

9. Description of the behavior of the 

marine mammal immediately preceding 

and/or following the strike; 

10. If available, description of the 

presence and behavior of any other 

marine mammals immediately 

preceding the strike; 

11. Estimated fate of the animal (e.g., 

dead, injured but alive, injured and 

moving, blood or tissue observed in the 

water, status unknown, disappeared); 

and 

12. To the extent practicable, 

photographs or video footage of the 

animal(s). 

Negligible Impact Analysis and 

Determination 

NMFS has defined negligible impact 

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 

(50 CFR 216.103). A negligible impact 

finding is based on the lack of likely 

adverse effects on annual rates of 

recruitment or survival (i.e., populationlevel effects). An estimate of the number 

of takes alone is not enough information 

on which to base an impact 

determination. In addition to 

considering estimates of the number of 

marine mammals that might be taken 

through harassment, NMFS considers 

other factors, such as the likely nature 

of any impacts or responses (e.g., 

intensity, duration), the context of any 

impacts or responses (e.g., critical 

reproductive time or location, foraging 

impacts affecting energetics), as well as 

effects on habitat, and the likely 

effectiveness of the mitigation. We also 

assess the number, intensity, and 

context of estimated takes by evaluating 

this information relative to population 

status. Consistent with the 1989 

preamble for NMFS’ implementing 

regulations (54 FR 40338; September 29, 

1989), the impacts from other past and 

ongoing anthropogenic activities are 

incorporated into this analysis via their 

impacts on the baseline (e.g., as 

reflected by the status of the species, 

population size and growth rate where 

known, ongoing sources of humancaused mortality, and ambient noise 

levels). 

To avoid repetition, the majority of 

our analysis applies to all the species 

listed in Table 3, given that some of the 

anticipated effects of this project on 

different marine mammal stocks are 

expected to be relatively similar in 

nature. Where there are meaningful 

differences between species or stocks, or 

groups of species, in anticipated 

individual responses to activities, 

impact of expected take on the 

population due to differences in 

population status, or impacts on habitat, 

they are included as separate 

subsections below. 

NMFS does not anticipate that serious 

injury or mortality would result from 

HRG surveys, even in the absence of 

mitigation, and no serious injury or 

mortality is proposed to be authorized. 

As discussed in the Potential Effects 

section, non-auditory physical effects 

and vessel strike are not expected to 

occur. NMFS expects that all potential 

takes would be in the form of short-term 

Level B behavioral harassment in the 

form of temporary avoidance of the area 

or decreased foraging (if such activity 

was occurring), reactions that are 

considered to be of low severity and 

with no lasting biological consequences 

(e.g., Southall et al., 2007). Even 

repeated Level B harassment of some 

small subset of an overall stock is 

unlikely to result in any significant 

realized decrease in viability for the 

affected individuals, and thus would 

not result in any adverse impact to the 

stock as a whole, refer to Potential 

Effects and Estimated Take section for 

further discussion. 

In addition to being temporary, the 

maximum expected harassment zone 

around a survey vessel is 141-m. 

Although this distance is assumed for 

all survey activity in estimating take 

numbers proposed for authorization and 

evaluated here, in reality, the Dual GeoSpark 2000X would likely not be used 

across the entire 24-hour period and 

across all 56 days. As noted in their 

application, the other acoustic sources 

Attentive Energy has included in their 

application have minimal Level B 

harassment zones. Therefore, when not 

using the sparker, the ensonified area 

surrounding the vessel is small 

compared to the overall distribution of 

the animals and ambient sound in the 

area and their use of the habitat. 

Feeding behavior is not likely to be 

significantly impacted as prey species 

are mobile and are broadly distributed 

throughout the survey area; therefore, 

marine mammals that may be 

temporarily displaced during survey 

activities are expected to be able to 

resume foraging once they have moved 

away from areas with disturbing levels 

of underwater noise. Because of the 

temporary nature of the disturbance and 

the availability of similar habitat and 

resources in the surrounding area, the 

impacts to marine mammals and the 

food sources that they utilize are not 

expected to cause significant or longterm consequences for individual 

marine mammals or their populations. 

There are no rookeries, mating or 

calving grounds known to be 

biologically important to marine 

mammals within the proposed survey 

area and there are no feeding areas 

known to be biologically important to 

marine mammals within the proposed 

survey area. There is no designated 

critical habitat for any ESA-listed 

marine mammals in the proposed 

survey area. 

North Atlantic Right Whales 

The status of the North Atlantic right 

whale population is of heightened 

concern and, therefore, merits 

additional analysis. As noted 

previously, elevated North Atlantic right 

whale mortalities began in June 2017 

and there is an active UME. Overall, 

preliminary findings support human 

interactions, specifically vessel strikes 

and entanglements, as the cause of 

death for the majority of right whales. 

As noted previously, the proposed 

survey area overlaps a migratory 

corridor BIA for North Atlantic right 

whales. Due to the fact that the 

proposed survey activities are 

temporary and the spatial extent of 

sound produced by the survey would be 

very small relative to the spatial extent 

of the available migratory habitat in the 

BIA, right whale migration is not 

expected to be impacted by the 

proposed survey. Given the relatively 

small size of the ensonified area, it is 

unlikely that prey availability would be 

adversely affected by HRG survey 

operations. Required vessel strike 

avoidance measures will also decrease 

risk of ship strike during migration; no 

ship strike is expected to occur during 

Attentive Energy’s proposed activities. 

The 500-m shutdown zone for right 

whales is conservative, considering the 

Level B harassment isopleth for the 

most impactful acoustic source (i.e., 

sparker) is estimated to be 141-m, and 


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thereby minimizes the potential for 

behavioral harassment of this species. 

As noted previously, Level A 

harassment is not expected due to the 

small PTS zones associated with HRG 

equipment types proposed for use. The 

proposed authorizations for Level B 

harassment takes of North Atlantic right 

whale are not expected to exacerbate or 

compound upon the ongoing UME. The 

limited North Atlantic right whale Level 

B harassment takes proposed for 

authorization are expected to be of a 

short duration, and given the number of 

estimated takes, repeated exposures of 

the same individual are not expected. 

Further, given the relatively small size 

of the ensonified area during Attentive 

Energy’s proposed activities, it is 

unlikely that North Atlantic right whale 

prey availability would be adversely 

affected. Accordingly, NMFS does not 

anticipate North Atlantic right whales 

takes that would result from Attentive 

Energy’s proposed activities would 

impact annual rates of recruitment or 

survival. Thus, any takes that occur 

would not result in population level 

impacts. 

Other Marine Mammal Species With 

Active UMEs 

As noted previously, there are several 

active UMEs occurring in the vicinity of 

Attentive Energy proposed survey area. 

Elevated humpback whale mortalities 

have occurred along the Atlantic coast 

from Maine through Florida since 

January 2016. Of the cases examined, 

approximately half had evidence of 

human interaction (ship strike or 

entanglement). The UME does not yet 

provide cause for concern regarding 

population-level impacts. Despite the 

UME, the relevant population of 

humpback whales (the West Indies 

breeding population, or DPS) remains 

stable at approximately 12,000 

individuals. 

Beginning in January 2017, elevated 

minke whale strandings have occurred 

along the Atlantic coast from Maine 

through South Carolina, with highest 

numbers in Massachusetts, Maine, and 

New York. This event does not provide 

cause for concern regarding population 

level impacts, as the likely population 

abundance is greater than 20,000 

whales. 

The required mitigation measures are 

expected to reduce the number and/or 

severity of proposed takes for all species 

listed in Table 2, including those with 

active UMEs, to the level of least 

practicable adverse impact. In 

particular, they would provide animals 

the opportunity to move away from the 

sound source throughout the survey 

area before HRG survey equipment 

reaches full energy, thus preventing 

them from being exposed to sound 

levels that have the potential to cause 

injury (Level A harassment) or more 

severe Level B harassment. As discussed 

previously, take by Level A harassment 

(injury) is considered unlikely, even 

absent mitigation, based on the 

characteristics of the signals produced 

by the acoustic sources planned for use, 

and is not proposed for authorization. 

Implementation of required mitigation 

would further reduce this potential. 

Therefore, NMFS is not proposing any 

Level A harassment for authorization. 

NMFS expects that takes would be in 

the form of short-term Level B 

behavioral harassment by way of brief 

startling reactions and/or temporary 

vacating of the area, or decreased 

foraging (if such activity was 

occurring)—reactions that (at the scale 

and intensity anticipated here) are 

considered to be of low severity, with 

no lasting biological consequences. 

Since both the sources and marine 

mammals are mobile, animals would 

only be exposed briefly to a small 

ensonified area that might result in take. 

Additionally, required mitigation 

measures would further reduce 

exposure to sound that could result in 

more severe behavioral harassment. 

Biologically Important Areas for Other 

Species 

As previously discussed, impacts 

from the proposed project are expected 

to be localized to the specific area of 

activity and only during periods of time 

where Attentive Energy’s acoustic 

sources are active. While areas of 

biological importance to fin whales, 

humpback whales, and harbor seals can 

be found off the coast of New Jersey and 

New York, NMFS does not expect this 

proposed action to affect these areas. 

This is due to the combination of the 

mitigation and monitoring measures 

being required of Attentive Energy’s as 

well as the location of these biologically 

important areas. All of these important 

areas are found outside of the range of 

this survey area, as is the case with fin 

whales and humpback whales (BIAs 

found further north), and, therefore, not 

expected to be impacted by Attentive 

Energy’s proposed survey activities. 

In summary and as described above, 

the following factors primarily support 

our preliminary determination that the 

impacts resulting from this activity are 

not expected to adversely affect any of 

the species or stocks through effects on 

annual rates of recruitment or survival: 

• No serious injury or mortality is 

anticipated or authorized; 

• No Level A harassment (PTS) is 

anticipated, even in the absence of 

mitigation measures, or proposed for 

authorization; 

• Foraging success is not likely to be 

impacted as effects on species that serve 

as prey species for marine mammals 

from the survey are expected to be 

minimal; 

• The availability of alternate areas of 

similar habitat value for marine 

mammals to temporarily vacate the 

survey area during the planned survey 

to avoid exposure to sounds from the 

activity; 

• Take is anticipated to be by Level 

B behavioral harassment only consisting 

of brief startling reactions and/or 

temporary avoidance of the survey area; 

• While the survey area is within 

areas noted as a migratory BIA for North 

Atlantic right whales, the activities 

would occur in such a comparatively 

small area such that any avoidance of 

the survey area due to activities would 

not affect migration; and 

• The proposed mitigation measures, 

including effective visual monitoring, 

and shutdowns are expected to 

minimize potential impacts to marine 

mammals. 

Based on the analysis contained 

herein of the likely effects of the 

specified activity on marine mammals 

and their habitat, and taking into 

consideration the implementation of the 

proposed monitoring and mitigation 

measures, NMFS preliminarily finds 

that the total marine mammal take from 

the proposed activity will have a 

negligible impact on all affected marine 

mammal species or stocks. 

Small Numbers 

As noted above, only small numbers 

of incidental take may be authorized 

under sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of 

the MMPA for specified activities other 

than military readiness activities. The 

MMPA does not define small numbers 

and so, in practice, where estimated 

numbers are available, NMFS compares 

the number of individuals taken to the 

most appropriate estimation of 

abundance of the relevant species or 

stock in our determination of whether 

an authorization is limited to small 

numbers of marine mammals. When the 

predicted number of individuals to be 

taken is fewer than one-third of the 

species or stock abundance, the take is 

considered to be of small numbers. 

Additionally, other qualitative factors 

may be considered in the analysis, such 

as the temporal or spatial scale of the 

activities. 

NMFS proposes to authorize 

incidental take (by Level B harassment 

only) of 15 marine mammal species 

(with 15 managed stocks). The total 

amount of takes proposed for 


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authorization relative to the best 

available population abundance is less 

than 1 percent for all stocks (Table 7). 

Based on the analysis contained 

herein of the proposed activity 

(including the proposed mitigation and 

monitoring measures) and the 

anticipated take of marine mammals, 

NMFS preliminarily finds that only 

small numbers of marine mammals 

would be taken relative to the 

population size of the affected species 

or stocks. 

Unmitigable Adverse Impact Analysis 

and Determination 

There are no relevant subsistence uses 

of the affected marine mammal stocks or 

species implicated by this action. 

Therefore, NMFS has determined that 

the total taking of affected species or 

stocks would not have an unmitigable 

adverse impact on the availability of 

such species or stocks for taking for 

subsistence purposes. 

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 

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 we propose to authorize take 

for endangered or threatened species. 

NMFS OPR is proposing to authorize 

take of four species of marine mammals 

which are listed under the ESA, 

including the North Atlantic right, fin, 

sei, and sperm whale, and has 

determined that this activity falls within 

the scope of activities analyzed in 

NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional 

Fisheries Office’s (GARFO) 

programmatic consultation regarding 

geophysical surveys along the U.S. 

Atlantic coast in the three Atlantic 

Renewable Energy Regions (completed 

June 29, 2021; revised September 2021). 

Proposed Authorization 

As a result of these preliminary 

determinations, NMFS proposes to issue 

an IHA to Attentive Energy for 

conducting marine site characterization 

surveys off the coast of New York and 

New Jersey from August 1, 2022 to July 

31, 2023, provided the previously 

mentioned mitigation, monitoring, and 

reporting requirements are incorporated. 

A draft of the proposed IHA can be 

found at: https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/incidentaltake-authorizations-other-energyactivities-renewable. 

Request for Public Comments 

We request comment on our analyses, 

the proposed authorization, and any 

other aspect of this notice of proposed 

IHA for the proposed marine site 

characterization surveys. We also 

request comment on the potential 

renewal of this proposed IHA as 

described in the paragraph below. 

Please include with your comments any 

supporting data or literature citations to 

help inform decisions on the request for 

this IHA or a subsequent renewal IHA. 

On a case-by-case basis, NMFS may 

issue a one-time, 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 Description of 

Proposed Activities section of this 

notice is planned or (2) the activities as 

described in the Description of 

Proposed Activities section of this 

notice would not be completed by the 

time the IHA expires and a renewal 

would allow for completion of the 

activities beyond that described in the 

Dates and Duration section of this 

notice, provided all of the following 

conditions are met: 

• 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). 

• The request for renewal must 

include the following: 

(1) 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). 

(2) 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. 

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. 

Dated: June 21, 2022. 

Kimberly Damon-Randall, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–13667 Filed 6–24–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XC074] 

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to 

Specified Activities; Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to Tillamook 

South Jetty Repairs in Tillamook Bay, 

Oregon 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; proposed incidental 

harassment authorizations; request for 

comments on proposed authorizations 

and possible renewals. 

SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request 

from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

(USACE)—Portland District (Corps) for 

authorization to take marine mammals 

incidental to 2 years of activity 

associated with Tillamook South Jetty 

Repairs in Tillamook Bay, Oregon. 

Pursuant to the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is 

requesting comments on its proposal to 

issue two one-year incidental 

harassment authorizations (IHAs) to 

incidentally take marine mammals 

during the specified activities. NMFS is 

also requesting comments on a possible 

one-time, one-year renewal for each IHA 

that could be issued under certain 

circumstances and if all requirements 

are met, as described in Request for 

Public Comments at the end of this 

notice. NMFS will consider public 

comments prior to making any final 

decision on the issuance of the 

requested MMPA authorization and 

agency responses will be summarized in 

the final notice of our decision. 

DATES: Comments and information must 

be received no later than July 27, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be 

addressed to Jolie Harrison, Chief, 

Permits and Conservation Division, 

Office of Protected Resources, National 

Marine Fisheries Service and should be 

submitted via email to 

ITP.renytysonmoore@noaa.gov. 

Instructions: NMFS is not responsible 

for comments sent by any other method, 


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