Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES

and fishing gear in addition to potential for further industrial development.
NOAA determined that extending sanctuary management to these areas would assist in addressing these gaps in protections by supplementing and complementing existing authorities established by BOEM and the GMFMC.
While BOEM-designated NAZs protect from oil and gas development, without sanctuary management efforts, habitats would remain vulnerable to anchor damage, detrimental fishing impacts, and other threats.
NOAA disagrees with the comment that the expansion demonstrates government overreach. The NMSA
provides NOAA with the authority to designate, as marine sanctuaries, areas of the marine environment, which are of special national significance that possess conservation, ecological, and scientific qualities. Through decades of scientific research and exploration, NOAA has determined that the sanctuary expansion areas contain some of the highest reported densities of corals in the U.S. and other unique deepwater habitats that are not found elsewhere in the world, making them nationally significant and worthwhile to protect.
Sanctuary Regulations and Enforcement 12. Comment: NOAA received comments requesting changes to existing regulations including: 1 Allow anchoring for fishing; 2 a reasonable range of alternative management actions; 3 allow spearfishing; and 4
an exemption for pelagic longline fishing.
Response: NOAA rejected these requests because it was determined that granting them would negate the overall effectiveness of the existing regulations in the expansion areas. Current sanctuary regulations will address gaps in protection of the expansion areas. In the NPRM for sanctuary expansion, NOAA requested public comments on two fishery exemption requests: to allow pelagic longlining and spearfishing.
NOAA received very limited support for exempting these activities see fishing section below and has determined that extension of existing fishing regulations to the expansion area is appropriate.
Refer to FEIS Chapter 3, Section 3.1.2
for alternatives considered but rejected.
13. Comment: NOAA received comments that suggested the agency should provide enforcement policies to enhance the effectiveness of sanctuary expansion.
Response: The FGBNMS management plan details the enforcement policy for the expansion areas. NOAA will continue to work with Federal and state
VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:33 Jan 17, 2021

Jkt 253001

enforcement partners to maintain water and aerial surveillance, update patrol guides and regulatory handbooks, and conduct interpretive/outreach patrols within all of FGBNMS.
Air Quality and Climate Change 14. Comment: NOAA received comments requesting that NOAA
evaluate how the sanctuary expansion would affect the climate i.e., potential impacts to greenhouse gas emissions within sanctuary expansion areas.
Response: NOAA agrees with the need to evaluate the impacts of sanctuary expansion on the climate and has provided analysis of the potential beneficial effects of the expansion on physical and biological resources, including beneficial impacts derived from prohibiting harmful activities.
NOAA also estimates that this action will help offset impacts of climate change see FEIS Chapter 5, Section 5.3.1.
15. Comment: NOAA received comments requesting an assessment of how climate change affects FGBNMS, how it will affect proposed additions, and methods to reduce greenhouse gases with sanctuary expansion areas. One comment also requested a program-wide evaluation of climate adaption management gaps and needs.
Response: The management plan for FGBNMS contains Conservation Science Action Plans, which include goals to increase knowledge and understanding of the sanctuarys ecosystem, develop new and continue ongoing research and monitoring programs to identify and address specific resource management issues, and encourage information exchange, and cooperation. FGBNMS
participated in development of the Ocean Acidification Action Plan 8 for national marine sanctuaries. The plan has numerous research recommendations for studying ocean acidification, a common consequence expected of future climate change.
Please also visit NOAAs website 9 for program-wide climate change initiatives, data, observations, and outreach materials. ONMS is standing up a Focus Group on climate, with the goal to develop the ONMS Climate Strategic Plan. FGBNMS is an active participant in this initiative, and the sanctuary, including the expansion areas, will be integrated into the overall plan. Ocean Acidification, specifically, has been integrated into FGBNMS longterm monitoring programs.
16. Comment: NOAA received recommendations that the agency use 8 https oceanacidification.noaa.gov/Home.aspx.
9 https www.noaa.gov/climate.

PO 00000

Frm 00067

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

4943

newer emissions inventory for the analysis on air monitoring and pollutants.
Response: NOAA used the best available data for their environmental analysis of air emissions and pollutants when developing the FEIS. Please refer to FEIS Chapter 4, Section 4.2.1 for detailed information about the data and resources used for air quality and climate change.
17. Comment: NOAA received a comment that suggested the No Action Alternative Alternative 1 does contribute to climate change over time as it does not prevent climate change from progressing, and requested the agency amend the analysis in DEIS
Section 5.3.1.
Response: Since implementation of the No Action Alternative is expected to leave the existing environment unchanged except for continuation of existing impacts, including on-going impacts of climate change, the effect of this alternative is the same as described in Chapter 4. The No Action Alternative served as a baseline for the impact analysis to compare all other alternatives. As such, there would be no additional change to climate expected under this alternative. The text has been slightly amended in FEIS Chapter 5, Section 5.2 to offer clarification in response to this comment.
Biological Resources 18. Comment: NOAA received comments related to biological resource concerns. Biological comments focused on how sanctuary expansion would protect resources against damages e.g., anchoring, invasive species, the benefits sanctuary protection would provide e.g., improvements in fish stocks and productivity, preservation of biodiversity, continued discovery of new species, and requests for protection of specific species/groups e.g., Mobula rays, sea turtles, sharks, coral.
Response: NOAA concurs with the importance of protecting vulnerable biological resources and believes that this action helps to address many of the remaining gaps that threaten biological resources in the expanded sanctuary.
With this action, NOAA is prohibiting the following activities in the sanctuary:
Anchoring; drilling into, dredging, or altering the seabed; discharging or depositing of material; any injury to coral, rays, or whale sharks; fishing except for with conventional hook and line gear; and take of marine mammals and turtles except when permitted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act MMPA and Endangered Species Act ESA. Collectively, these
E:FRFM19JAR1.SGM

19JAR1