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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 18, 2021 / Notices appropriate acoustic monitoring has occurred with no detections in the 30
minutes prior to beginning ramp-up.
Acoustic source activation may only occur at times of poor visibility where operational planning cannot reasonably avoid such circumstances;
If the acoustic source is shut down for brief periods i.e., less than 30
minutes for reasons other than that described for shutdown e.g., mechanical difficulty, it may be activated again without ramp-up if PSOs have maintained constant visual and/or acoustic observation and no visual or acoustic detections of marine mammals have occurred within the applicable EZ.
For any longer shutdown, pre-clearance observation and ramp-up are required.
For any shutdown at night or in periods of poor visibility e.g., BSS 4 or greater, ramp-up is required, but if the shutdown period was brief and constant observation was maintained, preclearance watch of 30 minutes is not required; and Testing of the acoustic source involving all elements requires rampup. Testing limited to individual source elements or strings does not require ramp-up but does require pre-clearance of 30 min.
Shutdown The shutdown of an airgun array requires the immediate de-activation of all individual airgun elements of the array. Any PSO on duty will have the authority to delay the start of survey
operations or to call for shutdown of the acoustic source if a marine mammal is detected within the applicable EZ. The operator must also establish and maintain clear lines of communication directly between PSOs on duty and crew controlling the acoustic source to ensure that shutdown commands are conveyed swiftly while allowing PSOs to maintain watch. When the airgun array is active i.e., anytime one or more airguns is active, including during ramp-up and a marine mammal appears within or enters the applicable EZ, the acoustic source will be shut down.
When shutdown is called for by a PSO, the acoustic source will be immediately deactivated and any dispute resolved only following deactivation.
Following a shutdown, airgun activity would not resume until the marine mammal has cleared the EZ. The animal would be considered to have cleared the EZ if it is visually observed to have departed the EZ, or it has not been seen within the EZ for 15 min in the case of small odontocetes and pinnipeds, or 30
min in the case of mysticetes and large odontocetes, including beluga whales and killer whales.
Upon implementation of shutdown, the source may be reactivated after the marine mammals has been observed exiting the applicable EZ i.e., animal is not required to fully exit the buffer zone where applicable or following 15
minutes for small odontocetes and pinnipeds, and 30 minutes for
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mysticetes and all other odontocetes, including beluga whales and killer whales, with no further observation of the marine mammals.
UAGI must implement shutdown if a marine mammal species for which take was not authorized, or a species for which authorization was granted but the takes have been met, approaches the Level A or Level B harassment zones.
UAGI must also implement shutdown if any of the following are observed at any distance:
Any large whale defined as any mysticete species with a calf defined as an animal less than two-thirds the body size of an adult observed to be in close association with an adult; and/or An aggregation of six or more large whales.
Passive Acoustic Monitoring PAM
NMFS will not require the use of PAM for this activity. PAM would only be applicable to the small portion of the survey 12 percent using the highenergy array and UAGI has indicated that it would not be practicable to carry the additional monitoring personnel required for implementation of towed PAM. Additionally, species of greatest interest in prescribing use of towed PAM e.g., sperm whales, beaked whales are not present in the planned survey area. Further details of this decision are described in the notice of proposed IHA 86 FR 28787; May 28, 2021.

TABLE 8MITIGATION PROTOCOLS FOR HIGHAND LOW-ENERGY ARRAYS
Mitigation protocols Sources
Visual PSOs

Passive acoustic monitoring.
Exclusion zones
Pre-start clearance

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Ramp-up
Shutdown

High-energy 6-airgun array with 3120 in3 total discharge volume.
Minimum of 2 NMFS-approved PSOs on duty during daylight hours 30 minutes before sunrise through 30 minutes after sunset; Limit of 2 consecutive hours on watch followed by a break of at least 1 hour; Maximum of 12 hours on watch per 24-hour period.
Not Required

Low-energy 2-airgun array with 1040 in3 total discharge volume.
Minimum of 2 NMFS-approved PSOs on duty during daylight hours 30 minutes before sunrise through 30 minutes after sunset; Limit of 2 consecutive hours on watch followed by a break of at least 1 hour; Maximum of 12 hours on watch per 24-hour period.
Not required.

500 m all marine mammals
1,500 m Bowhead whales
Required; 30-minute clearance period of the following zones:
1,000 m all marine mammals
1,500 m Bowhead whales
Following detection within zone, animal must be observed exiting or additional period of 15 or 30 minutes.
Required; duration 20 minutes
Shutdown required for marine mammal detected within defined EZs; Re-start allowed following clearance period of 15 or 30 minutes.

100 m all marine mammals.
500 m Bowhead whales.
Required; 30-minute clearance period of the following zones:
200 m all marine mammals.
500 m Bowhead whales.
Following detection within zone, animal must be observed exiting or additional period of 15 or 30 minutes.
Required; duration not more than 20 minutes.
Shutdown required for marine mammal detected within defined EZs; Re-start allowed following clearance period of 15 or 30 minutes.

Vessel Strike Avoidance 1. Vessel operators and crews must maintain a vigilant watch for all protected species and slow down, stop
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their vessel, or alter course, as appropriate and regardless of vessel size, to avoid striking any protected species. A visual observer aboard the
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vessel must monitor a vessel strike avoidance zone around the vessel distances stated below. Visual observers monitoring the vessel strike
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