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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 24 / Monday, February 8, 2021 / Notices
TABLE 1SPECIES THAT SPATIALLY CO-OCCUR WITH THE ACTIVITY TO THE DEGREE THAT TAKE IS REASONABLY LIKELY
TO OCCUR
Common name
Scientific name
ESA/
MMPA
status;
strategic Y/N 1

Stock
Stock abundance CV, Nmin, most recent abundance survey 2

Annual M/SI 3

PBR

Order CetartiodactylaCetaceaSuperfamily Mysticeti baleen whales Family Eschrichtiidae:
Gray Whale

Eschrichtius robustus

Eastern North Pacific

-, -, N

26,960 0.05, 25,849, 2016

801

138

8393

>40

Order CetartiodactylaCetaceaSuperfamily Odontoceti toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises Family Delphinidae:
Short-beaked Common Dolphin.
Family Phocoenidae porpoises:
Harbor porpoise

Delphinus delphis

California/Oregon/Washington ..

-, -, N

969,861 0.17, 839,325, 2014

Phocoena phocoena

Washington Inland Waters

-, -, N

11,233 0.37, 8,308, 2015

66

7.2

Order CarnivoraSuperfamily Pinnipedia Family Otariidae eared seals and sea lions:
California Sea Lion
Steller Sea Lion

Zalophus californianus
Eumetopias jubatus

United States
Eastern DPS

-, -, N
-, -, N

257,606 N/A, 233,515, 2014 ..
43,201 a see SAR, 43,201, 2017.

14,011
2592

>321
112

Family Phocidae earless seals:
Harbor Seal

Phoca vitulina

Southern Puget Sound

-, -, N

UNK UNK, UNK, 1999

UND

3.4

1 Endangered
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Species Act ESA status: Endangered E, Threatened T/MMPA status: Depleted D. A dash - indicates that the species is not listed under the ESA or designated as depleted under the MMPA. Under the MMPA, a strategic stock is one for which the level of direct human-caused mortality exceeds PBR or which is determined to be declining and likely to be listed under the ESA within the foreseeable future. Any species or stock listed under the ESA is automatically designated under the MMPA as depleted and as a strategic stock.
2 NMFS marine mammal stock assessment reports online at: https www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-stock-assessments. CV is coefficient of variation; Nmin is the minimum estimate of stock abundance. UNK Unknown, UNDUndetermined.
3 These values, found in NMFSs SARs, represent annual levels of human-caused mortality plus serious injury from all sources combined e.g., commercial fisheries, ship strike. Annual Mortality/Serious Injury M/SI often cannot be determined precisely and is in some cases presented as a minimum value or range. A CV
associated with estimated mortality due to commercial fisheries is presented in some cases.

Harbor seal, California sea lion, and Harbor porpoise spatially co-occur with the activity to the degree that take is reasonably likely to occur, and we have authorized it. For gray whale, Steller sea lion, and short-beaked common dolphin, occurrence is such that take is possible, and we have authorized it.
Transient killer whales Orcinus orca spatially co-occur with the activity to the degree that take is possible, while Southern Resident killer whales and humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae are very rare visitors to the area. Work will be shutdown if any of these species approach the Level B
harassment zone, so take is not requested for these species and they are not further discussed. A detailed description of the species likely to be affected by the project, including brief introductions to the species and relevant stocks as well as available information regarding population trends and threats, and information regarding local occurrence, were provided in the Federal Register notice for the proposed IHA 85 FR 81886; December 17, 2020;
since that time, we are not aware of any changes in the status of these species and stocks; therefore, detailed descriptions are not provided here.
Please refer to that Federal Register notice for these descriptions. Please also
VerDate Sep<11>2014

20:48 Feb 05, 2021

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refer to NMFS website https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/find-species for generalized species accounts.
Potential Effects of Specified Activities on Marine Mammals and Their Habitat The effects of underwater noise from WADOTs construction activities have the potential to result in behavioral harassment of marine mammals in the vicinity of the survey area. The notice of proposed IHA 85 FR 81886;
December 17, 2020 included a discussion of the effects of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals and the potential effects of underwater noise from the WADOTs construction activities on marine mammals and their habitat. That information and analysis is incorporated by reference into this final IHA
determination and is not repeated here;
please refer to the notice of proposed IHA 85 FR 81886; December 17, 2020.
Estimated Take This section provides an estimate of the number of incidental takes authorized through this IHA, which will inform both NMFS consideration of small numbers and the negligible impact determination.
Harassment is the only type of take expected to result from these activities.

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Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent here, section 318 of the MMPA defines harassment as any act of pursuit, torment, or annoyance, which i has the potential to injure a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild Level A harassment;
or ii has the potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering Level B harassment.
Authorized takes would be by Level B
harassment, as use of the acoustic source i.e., vibratory pile driving/
removal and needle gun has the potential to result in disruption of behavioral patterns for individual marine mammals. Based on the nature of the activity and the anticipated effectiveness of the mitigation measures i.e., shutdowndiscussed in detail below in Mitigation section, Level A
harassment is not authorized.
As described previously, no mortality is authorized for this activity. Below we describe how the take is estimated.
Generally speaking, we estimate take by considering: 1 Acoustic thresholds above which NMFS believes the best available science indicates marine mammals will be behaviorally harassed
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