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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 106 / Friday, June 4, 2021 / Notices and will generally be posted online at www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/
incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act without change. All personal identifying information e.g., name, address voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
Ben Laws, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 301 4278401. Electronic copies of the application and supporting documents, as well as a list of the references cited in this document, may be obtained online at:
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/
incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act. In case of problems accessing these documents, please call the contact listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background The MMPA prohibits the take of marine mammals, with certain exceptions. Sections 101a5A and D of the MMPA 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. direct the Secretary of Commerce as delegated to NMFS to allow, upon request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity other than commercial fishing within a specified geographical region if certain findings are made and either regulations are issued or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed incidental take authorization may be provided to the public for review.
Authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stocks and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for subsistence uses where relevant. Further, NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on the affected species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for certain subsistence uses referred to in shorthand as mitigation; and requirements pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of the takings are set forth.
The definitions of all applicable MMPA
statutory terms cited above are included in the relevant sections below.

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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.
Accordingly, NMFS plans to adopt NSFs Environmental Assessment EA, as we have preliminarily determined that it includes adequate information analyzing the effects on the human environment of issuing the IHA. NSFs EA is available at www.nsf.gov/geo/oce/
envcomp/.
We will review all comments submitted in response to this notice prior to concluding our NEPA process or making a final decision on the IHA
request.
Summary of Request On December 3, 2019, NMFS received a request from LDEO for an IHA to take marine mammals incidental to a geophysical survey of the Queen Charlotte Fault QCF off of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. LDEO
submitted a revised version of the application on April 2, 2020. On April 10, 2020, LDEO informed NMFS that the planned survey would be deferred to 2021 as a result of issues related to the COVID19 pandemic. LDEO
subsequently submitted revised versions of the application on October 22 and December 16, 2020, the latter of which was deemed adequate and complete. A
final, revised version was submitted on January 11, 2021. LDEOs request is for take of 21 species of marine mammals by Level B harassment. In addition, NMFS proposes to authorize take by Level A harassment for seven of these species.
Description of Proposed Activity Overview Researchers from LDEO, the University of New Mexico, and Western Washington University, with funding from NSF, propose to conduct a highenergy seismic survey from the Research Vessel R/V Marcus G. Langseth Langseth at the QCF in the northeast Pacific Ocean during late summer 2021.
Other research collaborators include Dalhousie University, the Geological Survey of Canada, and the U.S.
Geological Survey. The proposed twodimensional 2D seismic survey would occur within the Exclusive Economic Zones EEZ of the United States and Canada, including in Canadian territorial waters. The survey would use a 36-airgun towed array with
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a total discharge volume of 6,600 cubic inches in3 as an acoustic source, acquiring return signals using both a towed streamer as well as ocean bottom seismometers OBSs.
The proposed study would use 2D
seismic surveying to characterize crustal and uppermost mantle velocity structure, fault zone architecture and rheology, and seismicity of the QCF.
The QCF system is an approximately 1,200 kilometer km-long onshoreoffshore transform system connecting the Cascadia and Alaska-Aleutian subduction zones; the QCF is the approximately 900 km-long offshore component of the transform system. The purpose of the proposed study is to characterize an approximately 450-km segment of the fault that encompasses systematic variations in key parameters in space and time: 1 Changes in fault obliquity relative to Pacific-North American plate motion leading to increased convergence from north to south; 2 Pacific plate age and theoretical mechanical thickness decrease from north to south; and 3 a shift in Pacific plate motion at approximately 126 million years ago that may have increased convergence along the entire length of the fault, possibly initiating underthrusting in the southern portion of the study area.
Current understanding of how these variations are expressed through seismicity, crustal-scale deformation, and lithospheric structure and dynamics is limited due to lack of instrumentation and modern seismic imaging.
Dates and Duration The proposed survey is expected to last for approximately 36 days, including approximately 27 days of seismic operations, 3 days of equipment deployment/retrieval, 2 days of transits, and 4 contingency days accounting for potential delays due to, e.g., weather.
R/V Langseth would likely leave out of and return to port in Ketchikan, Alaska, during JulyAugust 2021.
Specific Geographic Region The proposed survey would occur within the area of approximately 5257
N and approximately 131137 W.
Representative survey tracklines are shown in Figure 1. Some deviation in actual track lines, including the order of survey operations, could be necessary for reasons such as science drivers, poor data quality, inclement weather, or mechanical issues with the research vessel and/or equipment. The survey is proposed to occur within the EEZs of the United States and Canada, including Alaskan state waters and Canadian territorial waters, ranging in depth from
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