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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 23 / Friday, February 5, 2021 / Notices
TABLE 21MODELED LEVEL B HARASSMENT EXPOSURES SPECIES RESULTING FROM HIGH RESOLUTION GEOPHYSICAL
SURVEYS OF THE SFWF AND SFEC
Population estimate
Species Fin whale
Minke whale
Sei whale
Humpback whale
North Atlantic right whale
Sperm whale
Atlantic spotted dolphin
Atlantic white-sided dolphin
Common dolphin
Bottlenose dolphin
Rissos dolphin
Long-finned pilot whale
Harbor porpoise
Gray Seal
Harbor seal

The proposed number of takes by Level B harassment resulting from HRG
survey activities are shown in Table 22.
Again, as NMFS has determined that the likelihood of take of any marine mammals in the form of Level A
harassment occurring as a result of the proposed surveys is so low as to be discountable and South Fork Wind did not request any take by Level A
harassment associated with HRG
surveys, NMFS does not propose to authorize take by Level A harassment of any marine mammals.
The seasonal mean number of minke whales sighted during HRG surveys
conducted by South Fork Wind in 2017
and 2018 was 19; therefore, South Fork increased the number of takes requested for minke whales from 1 to 19.
Preliminary Protected Species Observer PSO reports from SFWF during 2019
and 2020 HRG surveys show a high number of common dolphin detections within the estimated Level B
harassment zones. Using a mean group size of 25, South Fork Wind multiplied the mean group size by the number of Level B harassment exposures modeled 47 to produce the number of takes they requested by Level B harassment 1,175. There were no exposures
Estimated level B
exposures
6,802
21,968
6,292
1,393
412
4,349
39,921
93,233
172,974
62,851
35,493
39,215
95,543
505,000
75,834

3
1 <1
1 3 <1 <1
26
47
28 <1
4 43
14
14

estimated for several species; however, as a precautionary measure, South Fork Wind requested Level B harassment takes for those species based on published values of mean group sizes sei whale, Kenney and Vigness-Raposa, 2010; sperm whale, Barkaszi and Kelly, 2018; Atlantic spotted dolphin, Barkaszi and Kelly, 2018; Rissos dolphin, Barkaszi and Kelly, 2018. The number of minke whale Level B harassment takes requested by South Fork Wind is based on the seasonal mean number of minke whales sighted during HRG
surveys of SFWF in 2017 and 2018.

TABLE 22PROPOSED AMOUNT OF LEVEL B HARASSMENT TAKE RESULTING FROM HIGH RESOLUTION GEOPHYSICAL
SURVEYS OF THE SFWF AND SFEC
Population estimate
Species/stock Fin whale
Minke whale
Sei whale
Humpback whale
North Atlantic right whale
Sperm whale
Long-finned pilot whale
Atlantic spotted dolphin
Atlantic white sided dolphin
Common dolphin
Rissos dolphin
Common bottlenose dolphin
Harbor porpoise
Gray seal
Harbor seal

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1 The
6,802
21,968
6,292
1,393
412
4,349
39,215
39,921
93,233
172,974
35,493
62,851
95,543
505,000
75,834

Proposed level B takes 1
3 191
10
1 3
30
4 130
26
1,17547
300
28
43
14
14

modeled number of takes is shown in parenthesis.

Combined Activity Proposed Takes Level A harassment and Level B
harassment proposed takes for the combined activities of impact pile driving using a noise attenuation device, vibratory pile driving, and HRG surveys
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are provided in Table 23. NMFS also presents the percentage of each stock taken based on the total amount of take.
The mitigation and monitoring measures provided in the Proposed Mitigation and Proposed Monitoring
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and Reporting sections are activityspecific and are designed to minimize acoustic exposures to marine mammal species.
The take numbers NMFS proposes for authorization Table 23 are considered
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