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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 33 / Monday, February 22, 2021 / Notices
plans to work 24 hours per day.
Additionally, as stated in the Mitigation for Marine Mammals and Their Habitat section, PSOs will test and use night vision devices NVDs and infrared IR
for nighttime and low visibility monitoring. The IHA also requires AGDC to record visibility conditions every 30 minutes throughout construction, which will inform the portion of the Level A and Level B
harassment zones PSOs were able to observe.
The monitoring required by the final IHA, as well as the biological opinion, will allow NMFS to have an estimate of the actual number of takes that result from the activities relative to the number authorized. PSO observations in the area visible to them will provide a good sample of the actual takes of marine mammals. Additionally, the final IHA also includes a requirement for AGDC to deploy three hydrophones during the open-water season, and one during the contingency period should construction be required during that time to conduct PAM. While these devices will not be monitored in realtime or used for the purposes of implementing mitigation, PAM
detections of marine mammals will further inform the actual number of takes that result from the activities relative to the number authorized.
Please see the Monitoring and Reporting section for additional information.
For the reasons described in the Monitoring Plan Peer Review section of this notice, NMFS is not requiring AGDC to use the distance sampling methods recommended by the PRP.
Comment 24: Commenters expressed concerned that NMFS may allow pile driving to occur during the ice-covered season. When ice covers the Beaufort Sea, seals continue to use the area for feeding and pupping. Monitoring seals under ice, especially to prevent Level A
takes and avoid serious injury or mortality, is next to impossible.
Additionally, because the ocean and lagoons are ice covered, it is more risky to seals because they cannot simply stick their heads out of the water to avoid loud sounds. The commenter stated that if NMFS is going to allow AGDC to conduct pile driving during ice-covered period, adequate monitoring, that must include acoustic monitoring, should be required by NMFS. A commenter also said that disturbing or injuring seals could impact subsistence hunting and resources. In a related comment, a commenter questioned whether options to pile drive have been considered during the winter months.

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Response: AGDC has considered the potential to conduct pile driving during its winter/spring contingency period.
However, AGDC intends to complete construction during the open-water season when the additional ice-related concerns raised by the commenter are not a concern, and seals are not building or using lairs. If AGDC does conduct construction during the ice-covered season, it will implement mitigation and monitoring measures for seals that are expected to avoid injury of seals, and minimize potential disturbance of seals, as described in the Mitigation Measures section of this notice, in NMFS
response to Comments 9 and 44, and in the Monitoring Plan Peer Review section of this notice.
AGDC is highly motivated to complete work during the open-water season, as work during the ice-covered winter/spring contingency period would require additional equipment and include other constraints.
Regarding monitoring, if construction during the contingency period is required, AGDC will deploy one hydrophone for PAM of marine mammals. Additional hydrophones during the contingency period are not warranted, as we do not expect cetaceans to be present in the area during this time Quakenbush et al., 2018, Citta et al., 2016 and while ringed seals likely will be present, few, if any, spotted or bearded seals are likely to be present during that time Bengston et al., 2005; Lowry et al., 1998; Simpkins et al., 2003. NMFS is not requiring AGDC to place the hydrophone in a certain location, as the location will depend on conditions in the construction year. As requested by the NSB and AEWC, if construction is required during the contingency period, AGDC will submit an acoustic monitoring plan to NMFS and AEWC
for review once contractor is selected, but prior to the construction season.
While the device will not be monitored in real-time or used for the purposes of implementing mitigation, PAM
detections of marine mammals will further inform the actual number of takes that result from the activities relative to the number authorized.
Regarding whether alternatives to pile driving have been considered, the Alaska LNG Project Final EIS identifies the alternatives that FERC and AGDC
considered and assesses their impact on the human environment. The MMPA
requires that NMFS analyze the specified activity that the applicant proposes in this case, pile driving in the context of the standards described in section 101a5D, and issue an authorization provided the necessary
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findings are made. As described in this notice, NMFS has made the necessary determinations and issued the authorization.
Comment 25: A commenter urged NMFS to withdraw its proposed IHA to allow the incidental take of marine mammals for the AK LNG Project in Prudhoe Bay. The commenter states that the project threatens the survival of threatened and endangered bowhead whales, ice seals, and other Arctic wildlife.
Response: As described in this notice, NMFS has made the necessary findings, as required by Section 101a5D of the MMPA and NMFS implementing regulations, and therefore, withdrawing the proposed IHA was not warranted.
The best available information does not indicate that this authorization threatens the survival of threatened and endangered bowhead whales, ice seals, and other Arctic wildlife as suggested by the commenter.
Comment 26: A commenter stated that NMFS underestimated take from acoustic stressors. The commenter asserted that there are several concerns with the estimates of take from pile driving and removal. Some marine mammals are more sensitive to noise, behavioral harassment was inadequately considered, and NMFS density estimates are problematic. The commenter references specific examples of effects of noise on bottlenose dolphins, beluga whales, harbor porpoises, harbor seals, and bowhead whales.
The commenter further stated that NMFS also does not take into account that bowhead whales travel in groups of two to five whales Clarke et al., 2018;
2019. Fall activities will also result in higher takes of bowhead whales that occur in greater densities in September and October. NMFS also assumes that bowhead whales do not occur nearshore in waters less than 15 ft 4.5 m;
however, a recent tagging study found that immature whales aggregate in shallow waters and that habitat degradation or displacement from shallow aggregation areas could have energetic costs for these young whales Harwood et al., 2017.
The commenter suggests that a recent study shows that beluga whales have sensitive hearing Mooney et al., 2018.
Beluga whales in the Beaufort Sea have site fidelity Clarke 2018 and animals with site fidelity can be more vulnerable to noise impacts Forney et al., 2017.
Beluga whales also move into estuaries in the summer to rub on the substrate to molt Anderson et al., 2017, which could mean that they are present in
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