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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 23 / Friday, February 5, 2021 / Notices TABLE 2SUMMARY OF REPRESENTATIVE HRG SURVEY EQUIPMENTContinued
HRG equipment category
Medium Sub-bottom Profilers.

Specific HRG equipment
Typical pulse duration ms
Operating frequency range kHz
Source level dB rms
Source level dB 0-peak
217
27
0.31.2

196
197
203

211

55
100
Omni
50
60
1.1

10
15
4

0.31.2

203

211

Omni
1.1

4

0.45

203

211

Omni
1.1

2

0.31.2

203

211

Omni
1.1

4

0.31.2

203

211

Omni
1.1

4

0.15

205

211

80

0.6

4

GeoPulse 5430A
TB Chirp IIITTV 170
AA, Dura-spark UHD 400 tips, 500 J 1.
AA, Dura-spark UHD
400+400 1.
GeoMarine, Geo-Source or similar dual 400 tip sparker 800 J 1.
GeoMarine Geo-Source 200 tip light weight sparker 400 J 1.
GeoMarine Geo-Source 200
400 tip freshwater sparker 400 J 1.
AA, triple plate S-Boom 700
1,000 J 2.

Beamwidth degrees
Pulse repetition rate
= not applicable; NR = not reported; AA = Applied Acoustics; dB = decibel; ET = EdgeTech; J = joule; Omni = omnidirectional source.
1 The Dura-spark measurements and specifications provided in Crocker and Fratantonio 2016 were used for all sparker systems proposed for the survey. The data provided in Crocker and Fratantonio 2016 represent the most applicable data for similar sparker systems with comparable operating methods and settings when manufacturer or other reliable measurements are not available.
2 Crocker and Fratantonio 2016 provide S-Boom measurements using two different power sources CSPD700 and CSPN. The CSPD700
power source was used in the 700 J measurements but not in the 1,000 J measurements. The CSPN source was measured for both 700 J and 1,000 J operations but resulted in a lower SL; therefore, the single maximum SL value was used for both operational levels of the S-Boom.

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Proposed mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures are described in detail later in this document please see Proposed Mitigation and Proposed Monitoring and Reporting.
Description of Marine Mammals in the Area of Specified Activities Sections 3 and 4 of the IHA
application summarize available information regarding status and trends, distribution and habitat preferences, and behavior and life history, of the potentially affected species. Additional information regarding population trends and threats may be found in NMFS
Stock Assessment Reports SARs;
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/
marine-mammal-protection/marinemammal-stock-assessments and more general information about these species e.g., physical and behavioral descriptions may be found on NMFS
website www.fisheries.noaa.gov/findspecies.
There are 36 marine mammal species that could potentially occur in the proposed project area and that are included in Table 16 of the IHA
application. However, the temporal and/
or spatial occurrence of 20 of these species is such that take is not expected to occur, and they are therefore not discussed further beyond the explanation provided here. The following species are not expected to occur in the project area due to the location of preferred habitat outside the SFWF and SFEC, based on the best available information: The beluga whale
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Delphinapterus leucas, northern bottlenose whale Hyperoodon ampullatus, killer whale Orcinus orca, pygmy killer whale Feresa attenuata, false killer whale Pseudorca crassidens, melon-headed whale Peponocephala electra, the pygmy sperm whale Kogia breviceps, Cuviers beaked whale Ziphius cavirostris, Mesplodont beaked whales spp., shortfinned pilot whale Globicephala macrorhynchus, pantropical spotted dolphin Stenella attenuata, Frasers dolphin Lagenodelphis hosei, whitebeaked dolphin Lagenorhynchus albirostris, rough-toothed dolphin Steno bredanensis, Clymene dolphin Stenella clymene, spinner dolphin Stenella longirostris, and striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba. The following species may occur in the project area, but at such low densities that take is not anticipated: Hooded seal Cystophora cristata and harp seal Pagophilus groenlandica. There are two pilot whale species long-finned and short-finned Globicephala macrorhynchus with distributions that overlap in the latitudinal range of the SFWF Hayes et al., 2020; Roberts et al., 2016. Because it is difficult to differentiate between the two species at sea, sightings, and thus the densities calculated from them, are generally reported together as Globicephala spp.
Hayes et al., 2020; Roberts et al., 2016.
However, based on the best available information, short-finned pilot whales occur in habitat that is both further
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offshore on the shelf break and further south than the project area Hayes et al., 2020. Therefore, NMFS assumes that any take of pilot whales would be of long-finned pilot whales.
In addition, the Florida manatee Trichechus manatus may be found in the coastal waters of the Survey Area.
However, Florida manatees are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are not considered further in this document.
Between October 2011 and June 2015
a total of 76 aerial surveys were conducted throughout the MA and RI/
MA Wind Energy Areas WEAs the SFWF is contained within the RI/MA
WEA along with several other offshore renewable energy lease areas. Between November 2011 and March 2015, Marine Autonomous Recording Units MARU; a type of static passive acoustic monitoring PAM recorder were deployed at nine sites in the MA and RI/
MA WEAs. The goal of the study was to collect visual and acoustic baseline data on distribution, abundance, and temporal occurrence patterns of marine mammals Kraus et al., 2016. The lack of detections of any of the species listed above reinforces the fact that these species are not expected to occur in the project area. As these species are not expected to occur in the project area during the proposed activities, NMFS
does not propose to authorize take of these species and they are not discussed further in this document.
NMFS expects that the 16 species listed in Table 3 will potentially occur
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