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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 33 / Monday, February 22, 2021 / Notices of least practicable adverse impact through use of mitigation measures described herein. If sound produced by project activities is sufficiently disturbing, animals are likely to simply avoid the area while the activity is occurring. While vibratory driving associated with the project may produce sound at distances of many km from the project site, the project site itself is located in an active industrial area, as previously described. Therefore, we expect that animals disturbed by project sound will simply avoid the area and use more-preferred habitats.
In addition to the expected effects resulting from authorized Level B
harassment, we anticipate that ringed seals, spotted seals, and bearded seals may sustain some limited Level A
harassment in the form of auditory injury. However, animals that experience PTS will likely only receive slight PTS, i.e. minor degradation of hearing capabilities within regions of hearing that align most completely with the frequency range of the energy produced by pile driving, i.e. the lowfrequency region below 2 kHz, not severe hearing impairment or impairment in the regions of greatest hearing sensitivity. If hearing impairment occurs, it is most likely that the affected animal will lose a few dB
in its hearing sensitivity, which in most cases is not likely to meaningfully affect its ability to forage and communicate with conspecifics.
Habitat disturbance and alteration resulting from project activities could have a few highly localized, short-term effects for a few marine mammals;
however, the area of affected habitat would be small compared to that available to marine mammal species.
The activities may cause some fish to leave the area of disturbance, thus temporarily impacting marine mammals foraging opportunities in a limited portion of the foraging range.
We do not expect pile driving activities to have significant, long-term consequences to marine invertebrate populations. Given the short duration of the activities and the relatively small area of the habitat that may be affected, the impacts to marine mammal habitat, including fish and invertebrates, are not expected to cause significant or longterm negative consequences to marine mammals or to populations of fish or invertebrate species.
AGDCs February to April pile driving contingency period overlaps with the period when ringed seals are constructing subnivean lairs, giving birth, and nursing pups. As discussed in the Mitigation Measures section, AGDC
will be required to begin construction
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prior to March 1 when ringed seals are known to begin constructing lairs. As such, we expect that ringed seals will construct their lairs away from the pile driving operations, therefore minimizing disturbance and avoiding any potential for physical injury to seals in lairs. Additionally, we expect that AGDC will complete the majority, if not all of the pile driving during the open water season, so any pile driving that did remain could likely be completed in the earlier portion of the contingency period, further reducing the potential for impacts to ringed seals while lairing or pupping.
As stated in the Description of Marine Mammals in the Area of Specified Activities section, since publication of the proposed IHA 85 FR 43382; July 16, 2020, NMFS published a proposed rule for the Designation of Critical Habitat for the Beringia DPS of the Bearded Seal 86 FR 1433; January 8, 2021 and a revised proposed rule for the Designation of Critical Habitat for the Arctic Subspecies of the Ringed Seal 86
FR 1452; January 8, 2021. NMFS
considered the information provided in each proposed rule, and determined that neither proposed rule presents new information that changes NMFS
analyses, the take estimates, or any of the findings, for either species.
As described in the notice of the proposed IHA 85 FR 43382; July 16, 2020, unusual mortality events UMEs have been declared for both gray whales and ice seals; however, the take authorized here does not provide a cause for concern for any of these populations when considered in the context of these UMEs. For gray whales, the estimated abundance of the Eastern North Pacific stock is 26,960 Carretta et al., 2019 and the stock abundance has increased approximately 22 percent in comparison with 2010/2011 population levels Durban et al., 2017. For bearded seals, the minimum estimated mean M/
SI 6,709 is well below the calculated partial PBR 8,210. This PBR is only a portion of that of the entire stock, as it does not include bearded seals that overwinter and breed in the Beaufort or Chukchi Seas Muto et al., 2019. For the Alaska stock of ringed seals and the Alaska stock of spotted seals, the M/SI
863 and 5,254, respectively is well below the PBR for each stock 5,100 and 12,697, respectively Muto et al., 2019.
No serious injury or mortality is expected or authorized here, and Level B harassment takes of gray whale and ice seal species, and Level A harassment takes of ice seals will be reduced to the level of least practicable adverse impact through the incorporation of the mitigation measures. As such, the
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authorized Level B harassment takes of gray whales and ice seals and Level A
harassment takes of ice seals are not expected to exacerbate or compound upon the ongoing UMEs.
In summary and as described above, the following factors primarily support our determination that the impacts resulting from this activity are not expected to adversely affect the species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or survival:
No mortality or serious injury is anticipated or authorized;
The relatively small number of Level A harassment exposures, for seals only, are anticipated to result only in slight PTS within the lower frequencies associated with pile driving;
The intensity of anticipated takes by Level B harassment is minimized through implementation of the mitigation measures described above.
While some instances of TTS could occur, the majority of Level B
harassment takes will likely be in the form of avoidance of the project area, temporary cessation of foraging and vocalizing, or changes in dive behavior;
The area impacted by the specified activity is very small relative to the overall habitat ranges of all species;
The Level B harassment zones do not overlap with known important areas for bowhead, gray, or beluga whale, including, specifically, any of the BIAs identified in the region Clarke et al., 2015;
Impacts to critical behaviors such as lairing and pupping by ringed seals would be avoided and minimized through implementation of mitigation measures described above; and AGDC would cease pile driving during the Nuiqsut whaling season, therefore minimizing the amount or severity of take of bowhead whale during a time where animals are expected to migrate by in relatively higher density.
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 planned monitoring and mitigation measures, NMFS finds that the total marine mammal take from the planned 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 101a5A and D of the MMPA for specified activities other than military readiness activities. The MMPA does not define small numbers
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