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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 21 / Wednesday, February 3, 2021 / Notices
sources of human-caused mortality, or ambient noise levels.
Pile driving activities have the potential to disturb or displace marine mammals. Specifically, the project activities may result in take, in the form of Level B harassment from underwater sounds generated from pile driving and removal. Potential takes could occur if individuals are present in the ensonified zone when these activities are underway.
The takes from Level B harassment would be due to potential behavioral disturbance, TTS, and PTS. No mortality is anticipated given the nature of the activity and measures designed to minimize the possibility of injury to marine mammals. The potential for harassment is minimized through the construction method and the implementation of the planned mitigation measures see Mitigation section.
The nature of the pile driving project precludes the likelihood of serious injury or mortality. Take would occur within a limited, confined area southcentral San Diego Bay of the stocks range. Level B harassment will be reduced to the level of least practicable adverse impact through use of mitigation measures described herein.
Further the amount of take authorized is extremely small when compared to stock abundance.
Behavioral responses of marine mammals to pile driving at the project site, if any, are expected to be mild and temporary. Marine mammals within the Level B harassment zone may not show any visual cues they are disturbed by activities as noted during modification to the Kodiak Ferry Dock see 80 FR
60636, October 7, 2015 or could become alert, avoid the area, leave the area, or display other mild responses that are not observable such as changes in vocalization patterns. Given the short duration of noise-generating activities per day and that pile driving and removal would occur across six months, any harassment would be temporary.
There are no other areas or times of known biological importance for any of the affected species.
In addition, it is unlikely that minor noise effects in a small, localized area of habitat would have any effect on the stocks ability to recover. In combination, we believe that these factors, as well as the available body of evidence from other similar activities, demonstrate that the potential effects of the specified activities will have only minor, short-term effects on individuals.
The specified activities are not expected to impact rates of recruitment or
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survival and will therefore not result in population-level impacts.
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 Level A harassment is anticipated or authorized;
No important habitat areas have been identified within the project area;
For all species, San Diego Bay is a very small and peripheral part of their range;
The Navy would implement mitigation measures such as vibratory driving piles to the maximum extent practicable, soft-starts, and shut downs;
and Monitoring reports from similar work in San Diego Bay have documented little to no effect on individuals of the same species impacted by the specified activities.
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 monitoring and mitigation measures, NMFS 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 section 101a5D 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.
The amount of take NMFS authorizes is below one third of the estimated stock abundance of California sea lions in fact, take of individuals is less than 1%
of the abundance of the affected stock.
This is likely a conservative estimate because they assume all takes are of different individual animals which is
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likely not the case. Some individuals may return multiple times in a day, but PSOs would count them as separate takes if they cannot be individually identified.
Based on the analysis contained herein of the proposed activity including the mitigation and monitoring measures and the anticipated take of marine mammals, NMFS 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.
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
2166A, 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 determined that the issuance of the IHA qualifies to be categorically excluded from further NEPA review.
Endangered Species Act Section 7a2 of the 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, in this case with the West Coast Region Protected Resources Division Office, whenever we propose to authorize take for endangered or threatened species.

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