Quiero saber acerca de...

jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with PROPOSALS1

56880

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 195 / Wednesday, October 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules
minimized through use of mitigation measures described herein, and, if sound produced by project activities is sufficiently disturbing, animals are likely to simply avoid the area while the activity is occurring, particularly as the project is located on a waterfront with vessel traffic from both Navy and nonNavy activities.
The project is also not expected to have significant adverse effects on any marine mammal habitat. The project activities will not modify existing marine mammal habitat since the project will occur within the same footprint as existing marine infrastructure. Impacts to the immediate substrate during installation and removal of piles are anticipated, but these would be limited to minor, temporary suspension of sediments, which could impact water quality and visibility for a short amount of time, but which would not be expected to have any effects on individual marine mammals. The nearshore and intertidal habitat where the project will occur is an area of consistent vessel traffic from Navy and non-Navy vessels, and some local individuals would likely be somewhat habituated to the level of activity in the area, further reducing the likelihood of more severe impacts. The closest pinniped haulout, The Sisters, is used by harbor seals and is less than a mile from the project area; however, for the reasons described immediately above including the nature of expected responses and the duration of the project, impacts to reproduction or survival of individuals is not anticipated, much less effects on the species or stock. There are no other biologically important areas for marine mammals near the project area.
In addition, impacts to marine mammal prey species are expected to be minor and temporary. Overall, the area impacted by the project is very small compared to the available habitat in Narragansett Bay. The most likely impact to prey will be temporary behavioral avoidance of the immediate area. During pile driving activities, it is expected that some fish and marine mammals would temporarily leave the area of disturbance, thus impacting marine mammals foraging opportunities in a limited portion of the foraging range; but, because of the short duration of the activities and the relatively small area of the habitat that may be affected, the impacts to marine mammal habitat are not expected to cause significant or long-term negative consequences.
In summary and as described above, the following factors primarily support our preliminary determination that the
VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:28 Oct 12, 2021

Jkt 256001

impacts resulting from this activity are not expected to adversely affect the species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or survival:
D No mortality is anticipated or authorized;
D No Level A harassment is anticipated or authorized for Atlantic white-sided dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins, and hooded seals;
D Anticipated incidents of Level B
harassment consist of, at worst, temporary modifications in behavior;
D The required mitigation measures i.e., shutdown zones are expected to be effective in reducing the effects of the specified activity;
D Minimal impacts to marine mammal habitat/prey are expected;
D The action area is located within an active marine waterfront area, and D There are no known biologically important areas in the vicinity of the project, with the exception of one harbor seal haulout The Sisters however, as described above, exposure to the work conducted in the vicinity of the haulout is not expected to impact the reproduction or survival of any individual seals.
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 101a5A of the MMPA for specified activities other than military readiness activities. The MMPA does not define small numbers, 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.
Take of five of the marine mammal stocks authorized will comprise at most approximately 2 percent or less of the stock abundance Table 18. There are
PO 00000

Frm 00041

Fmt 4702

Sfmt 4702

no official stock abundance for harp seals or hooded seals; however, we believe for the abundance information that is available for Canada N = 7+million for harp seals and N = 593,500 for hooded seals combined with the fact they are highly migratory species and would be rare in the project area, the estimated takes are likely very small percentages of the stock abundance. The number of animals authorized to be taken from these stocks would be considered small relative to the relevant stocks abundances even if each estimated take occurred to a new individual, which is an unlikely scenario.
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 small numbers of marine mammals will 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.
Adaptive Management The regulations governing the take of marine mammals incidental to Navy construction activities would contain an adaptive management component. The reporting requirements associated with this rule are designed to provide NMFS
with monitoring data from completed projects to allow consideration of whether any changes are appropriate.
The use of adaptive management allows NMFS to consider new information from different sources to determine with input from the Navy regarding practicability on an annual or biennial basis if mitigation or monitoring measures should be modified including additions or deletions. Mitigation measures could be modified if new data suggests that such modifications would have a reasonable likelihood of reducing adverse effects to marine mammals and if the measures are practicable.
The following are some of the possible sources of applicable data to be considered through the adaptive management process: 1 Results from monitoring reports, as required by MMPA authorizations; 2 results from general marine mammal and sound
E:FRFM13OCP1.SGM

13OCP1