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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 122 / Tuesday, June 29, 2021 / Notices
Harbor Seal Harbor seals range from Baja California north along the west coasts of Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska; west through the Gulf of Alaska, Prince William Sound, and the Aleutian Islands; and north in the Bering Sea to Cape Newenham and the Pribilof Islands. They haul out on rocks, reefs, beaches, and drifting glacial ice and feed in marine, estuarine, and occasionally fresh waters. Harbor seals are generally non-migratory and, with local movements associated with such factors as tide, weather, season, food availability and reproduction.
The Clarence Strait stock of harbor seals is present within the project area.
Harbor seals are commonly sighted in the waters of the inside passages throughout Southeast Alaska. Surveys in 2015 estimated 429 95% Confidence Interval CI: 1021,203 harbor seals on the northwest coast of Annettte Island, between Metlakatla and Walden Point.
An additional 90 95% CI: 18292 were observed along the southwest coast of Annette Island, between Metlakatla and Tamgas Harbor NOAA 2019. The Alaska Fisheries Science Center identifies three haulouts in Port Chester 1.51.8 mi from Metlakatla and three additional haulouts north of Driest Point 3+ mi from Metlakatla see Figure 4
2 of the application. Abundance estimates for these haulouts are not available, but they are all denoted as having had more than 50 harbor seals at one point in time NOAA 2020.
However, local biologists report only small numbers fewer than 10 of harbor seals are regularly observed in Port Chester. As many as 10 to 15 harbor seals may utilize Sylburn Harbor, located 6 km 3.7 mi north of Metlakatla across Driest Point R. Cook, personal communication, June 5, 2020
as cited in the application, as a haulout location. In nearby Tongass Narrows, NMFS estimated that two groups of three harbor seals would be present every day 85 FR 673 based on based on local reports that harbor seals typically occur in groups of one to three animals and occur every day of the month in the area of Ketchikan Freitag 2017 as cited in 85 FR 673. A recent monitoring report for Tongass Narrows reported 28 individual sighting of harbor seals with 18 takes by Level B
harassment in May 2021 report available at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/
incidental-take-authorization-alaskadepartment-transportation-ferry-berthimprovements. Harbor seals are known
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to be curious and may approach novel activity, so it is possible some may enter the project area during pile driving activities.
Steller Sea Lion Steller sea lions range along the North Pacific Rim from northern Japan to California, with centers of abundance in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands Loughlin et al., 1984.
Of the two Steller sea lion populations in Alaska, the Eastern DPS
includes sea lions born on rookeries from California north through Southeast Alaska and the Western DPS includes those animals born on rookeries from Prince William Sound westward, with an eastern boundary set at 144 W
NMFS 2018h. Only Eastern DPS
Steller sea lions are considered in this application as Western DPS Steller sea lions are not typically found south of Sumner Strait. Steller sea lions are not known to migrate annually, but individuals may widely disperse outside of the breeding season late-May to early-July, leading to intermixing of stocks Jemison et al. 2013; Allen and Angliss 2015.
Steller sea lions are common in the inside waters of Southeast Alaska. They are residents of the project vicinity and are common year-round in the action area, moving their haulouts based on seasonal concentrations of prey from exposed rookeries nearer the open Pacific Ocean during the summer to more protected sites in the winter Alaska Department of Fish & Game ADF&G 2018.
Steller sea lions are common within the project area; however, systematic counts or surveys have not been completed in the area directly surrounding Metlakatla. Three haulouts are located within 150 km 93 mi of the project area Fritz et al. 2016a; see Figure 41 of the application; the nearest documented haulout is West Rock, about 45 km 28 mi south of Metlakatla. West Rock had a count of 703 individuals during a June 2017
survey and 1,101 individuals during a June 2019 survey Sweeney et al. 2017, 2019. Aerial surveys occurred intermittently between 1994 and 2015, and averaged 982 adult Steller sea lions Fritz et al. 2016b. Anecdotal evidence provided by local captains and biologists indicate that 3 to 4 Steller sea lions utilize a buoy as a haulout near the entrance of Port Chester, about 3.2 km 2 mi from the project area L. Bethel, personal communication, June 11, 2020
2020 as cited in the application. Steller sea lions are not known to congregate near the cannery in Metlakatla. In
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nearby Tongass Narrows, NMFS
estimated that one group of 10 Steller sea lions could be present each day, and double that rate during herring and salmon runs in March through May and July through September 85 FR 673
based on local reports of Steller sea lions typically occurring in groups of 110 animals and every day of the month in the area of Ketchikan Freitag 2017 as cited in 85 FR 673. A recent monitoring report for Tongass Narrows reported 41 individual sightings of Steller sea lions with 9 takes by Level B harassment in May 2021 report available at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/
incidental-take-authorization-alaskadepartment-transportation-ferry-berthimprovements. Local observations in Metlakatla suggest that the species assemblages and abundance in Metlakatla are similar to Tongass Narrows.
Marine Mammal Hearing Hearing is the most important sensory modality for marine mammals underwater, and exposure to anthropogenic sound can have deleterious effects. To appropriately assess the potential effects of exposure to sound, it is necessary to understand the frequency ranges marine mammals are able to hear. Current data indicate that not all marine mammal species have equal hearing capabilities e.g., Richardson et al., 1995; Wartzok and Ketten, 1999; Au and Hastings, 2008.
To reflect this, Southall et al. 2007
recommended that marine mammals be divided into functional hearing groups based on directly measured or estimated hearing ranges on the basis of available behavioral response data, audiograms derived using auditory evoked potential techniques, anatomical modeling, and other data. Note that no direct measurements of hearing ability have been successfully completed for mysticetes i.e., low-frequency cetaceans. Subsequently, NMFS 2018
described generalized hearing ranges for these marine mammal hearing groups.
Generalized hearing ranges were chosen based on the approximately 65 decibel dB threshold from the normalized composite audiograms, with the exception for lower limits for lowfrequency cetaceans where the lower bound was deemed to be biologically implausible and the lower bound from Southall et al. 2007 retained. Marine mammal hearing groups and their associated hearing ranges are provided in Table 3.

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