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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 23 / Friday, February 5, 2021 / Notices
conservative for the following key reasons:
Proposed take numbers for impact pile driving assume a maximum piling schedule 16 monopiles installed in 20
days;
Proposed take numbers for vibratory pile driving assume that a sheet pile temporary cofferdam will installed versus the alternative
installation of a gravity cell cofferdam, for which no take is anticipated;
Proposed take numbers for pile driving are conservatively based on maximum densities across the proposed construction months;
Proposed Level A harassment take numbers do not fully account for the likelihood that marine mammals will avoid a stimulus when possible before the individual accumulates enough
acoustic energy to potentially cause auditory injury;
Proposed take numbers do not fully account for the effectiveness of proposed mitigation and monitoring measures in reducing the number of takes to effect the least practicable adverse impact with the exception of the seasonal restriction on impact pile driving, which is accounted for in the proposed take numbers.

TABLE 23PROPOSED TAKES BY LEVEL A HARASSMENT AND LEVEL B HARASSMENT FOR ALL ACTIVITIES 1 CONDUCTED
DURING SFWF CONSTRUCTION
Proposed take authorization combined for all construction activities
Population estimate
Species/stock
Proposed level A takes Fin whale
Minke whale
Sei whale
Humpback whale
North Atlantic right whale
Blue whale
Sperm whale
Pilot whales long-finned
Atlantic spotted dolphin
Atlantic white sided dolphin
Common dolphin
Rissos dolphin
Common Bottlenose dolphin
Harbor porpoise
Gray seal
Harbor seal

6,802
21,968
6,292
1,393
412
402
4,349
39,215
39,921
93,233
172,974
35,493
62,851
95,543
505,000
75,834

Proposed level B takes
1 1
1 4
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0

11
32
2 10
13
1 6
16
15
133
1,372
60
2,078
132
1,379
1,379

Total proposed takes level A +
level B
12
33
3 14
13
1 6
16
15
133
1,372
60
2,078
132
1,379
1,379

Percentage of population or stock %
0.18
0.15
0.05
1.01
3.16
0.20
0.14
0.04
0.04
0.14
0.79
0.17
3.31
0.14
0.27
1.81

1 Activities include impact pile driving using a noise mitigation system NMS from May through October, vibratory pile driving October through May, and HRG surveys year-round.
Calculations of percentage of stock taken are based on the best available abundance estimate as shown in Table 3. The best available abundance estimates are derived from the draft 2020 NMFS Stock Assessment Reports Hayes et al., 2020. NMFS stock abundance estimate for gray seals applies to U.S. population only, actual stock abundance is approximately 505,000.

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Proposed Mitigation In order to issue an IHA under Section 101a5D of the MMPA, NMFS must set forth the permissible methods of taking pursuant to such activity, and other means of effecting the least practicable impact on such species or stock and its habitat, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on the availability of such species or stock for taking for certain subsistence uses latter not applicable for this action. NMFS
regulations require applicants for incidental take authorizations to include information about the availability and feasibility economic and technological of equipment, methods, and manner of conducting such activity or other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact upon the affected species or stocks and their habitat 50 CFR
216.104a11.
In evaluating how mitigation may or may not be appropriate to ensure the
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least practicable adverse impact on species or stocks and their habitat, as well as subsistence uses where applicable, NMFS carefully considers two primary factors:
1 The manner in which, and the degree to which, the successful implementation of the measures is expected to reduce impacts to marine mammals, marine mammal species or stocks, and their habitat. This considers the nature of the potential adverse impact being mitigated likelihood, scope, range. It further considers the likelihood that the measure will be effective if implemented probability of accomplishing the mitigating result if implemented as planned, the likelihood of effective implementation probability implemented as planned, and;
2 The practicability of the measures for applicant implementation, which may consider such things as cost and impact on operations.
The mitigation strategies described below are consistent with those required
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and successfully implemented under previous incidental take authorizations issued in association with in-water construction activities. Additional measures have also been incorporated to account for the fact that the proposed construction activities would occur offshore. Modeling was performed to estimate harassment zones, which were used to inform mitigation measures for pile driving activities to minimize Level A harassment and Level B harassment to the extent practicable.
In addition to the specific measures described later in this section, South Fork Wind would conduct briefings for construction supervisors and crews, the marine mammal and acoustic monitoring teams, and South Fork Wind staff prior to the start of all pile driving and HRG survey activity, and when new personnel join the work, in order to explain responsibilities, communication procedures, the marine mammal monitoring protocol, and operational procedures.

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