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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
prohibitions will help to protect fishes from unsustainable harvest by limiting fishing; help to maintain biodiversity of benthic habitats by protecting the seafloor; and allow further protection of many vulnerable living marine resources including rays, sea turtles and other ESA and MMPA-listed species.
Please also refer to FEIS Chapter 5, Section 5.3.6 and 5.3.8 for additional details regarding impacts of sanctuary expansion to biological resources.
19. Comment: NOAA received comments requesting the sanctuary protect resources from negative impacts of fishing. Commenters noted the vulnerability of the expansion area to fishing injury, and urged protection of fish species in order to achieve fishing sustainability. Requests for fishery management included: 1 Limiting fishing locations; 2 prohibiting bottomdragging gear; and 3 continuing to limit fishing to hook and line only.
Some of the comments received in support of expansion were from members of the fishing sector.
Response: NOAA intends to extend the current sanctuary regulations to the proposed expansion areas, which includes restricting fishing activities to conventional hook and line techniques only i.e., any fishing apparatus operated aboard a vessel and composed of a single line terminated by a combination of sinkers and hooks or lures and spooled upon a reel that may be handor electrically-operated, handheld or mounted. NOAA prohibits the use of any bottom tending fishing gear to protect delicate corals and important benthic habitat from fishing impacts, which will continue in the expansion areas. A detailed list of the current regulations can be reviewed in Table 1.1, Chapter 1, Section 1.4.
20. Comment: NOAA received a comment requesting projections of ecosystem services i.e., estimates for the increase in value of managing protected species and habitats such as hard and soft corals, fish, and mesophotic reefs be included in the final analysis.
Response: Analysis of ecosystem services is beyond the scope of the environmental analysis necessary for this action, and thus, NOAA rejects this request. Instead, NOAA provided an economic analysis in the FEIS that estimated a passive economic value i.e.
non-use value of the sanctuary expansion. For details on the economic analysis, please refer to Chapter 4, Section 4.4.7 of the FEIS or the peerreviewed publication that resulted from this study, Stefanski and Shimshack 2016.

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21. Comment: NOAA received a comment which indicated that the BEWG was informed that higher coral counts had been observed outside of the NAZs, than inside NAZs, and requested an explanation for why this was not considered during the boundary configuration of the Revised Preferred Alternative.
Response: Additional areas containing higher coral colony counts were quantified during remotely operated vehicle ROV surveys, and the data was considered during the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences NCCOS
collaboration with the FGBNMS
Advisory Councils BEWG. The BEWG
selected smaller boundaries, which closely follow the NAZs, primarily to reduce impacts to the oil and gas industry and to retain access for historical fishing practices. Outside of the expansion process, NOAA will provide the processed data and associated publication to both BOEM
and NMFS, for consideration during review of regulations, and for future oil and gas, and fishing activities. While this will not provide blanket protection measures, it will be valuable in protections from potential major impacts.
22. Comment: NOAA received comments requesting an analysis of the impacts sustained to the environment from run-off of toxic and hazardous elements, sewage, pollution, and potential expansion of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone, or dead zone, into the proposed sanctuary expansion areas.
Response: NOAA used the best available data to evaluate the environmental impacts to the expansion areas as required under NEPA and the Council of Environmental Qualitys CEQs 1978 NEPA regulations. NOAA, however, is studying these issues and plans to continue analyzing the impacts in its next management plan review process.
23. Comment: NOAA received comments regarding disturbances vessel traffic related to the noise environment, including a request to quantify the additional impact from an increased number of boaters.
Response: NOAA continues to study the issue of noise impacts on sanctuary resources. Sanctuary regulations prohibit the disturbance of marine mammals and turtles except when permitted under the MMPA and ESA.
With respect to sonar testing, Section 304d of the NMSA provides for consultation with other federal agencies if their actions have the likelihood to injure sanctuary resources. NOAA has previously used this mechanism in
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consultations to minimize impacts of noise on marine mammals and other species. FGBNMS is actively engaged in a vessel traffic and noise assessment and monitoring program within the sanctuary, which will be expanded to the new areas.
Please refer to FEIS Chapter 4, Section 4.2.2 for detailed information about the noise environment in the current FGBNMS, as well as expansion areas.
Additionally, refer to FEIS Chapter 5, Section 5.3.2 for NOAAs analysis of environmental consequences to marine resources with respect to noise disturbances.
24. Comment: NOAA received comments requesting protection for fish spawning aggregations with the expansion.
Response: NOAA concurs with commenters and believes the expansion of the sanctuary will assist in the protection of fish spawning aggregations in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.
With this action, NOAA will extend sanctuary regulations to the expansion areas which limit fishing activities to conventional hook and line techniques, prohibit bottom tending gear, and restrict the use of anchors within sanctuary boundaries. This action will thereby complement protections for fish spawning habitats provided under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act MSA. Fish spawning aggregations have been observed and recorded during ROV
explorations at reefs and banks included in the expansion areas. Therefore, NOAA determined that sanctuary designation will directly protect habitat where the aggregations occur. NOAA
intends to consider further protection of spawning aggregations during the next management plan review.
25. Comment: NOAA received a comment requesting NOAA consider designating areas within the sanctuary as no take marine reserves.
Response: NOAA considered this request and does not intend to designate any no-take marine reserves within the sanctuary through this action. With this action, NOAA extends the current fishing regulations to the expansion areas which limit fishing activities to conventional hook and line techniques and exclude any bottom tending gear.
Anchoring will also be prohibited in the expanded sanctuary, and mooring buoys will be installed so that fishers and vessels <100 feet long can safely moor within the sanctuary boundaries.
To evaluate the impact of conventional hook and line fishing to managed fish species in the sanctuary, NOAA conducted an environmental impact analysis on living marine
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