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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 23 / Friday, February 5, 2021 / Notices
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Vessel Strike Avoidance Vessel operators and crews must maintain a vigilant watch for all marine mammals and slow down, stop their vessel, or alter course, as appropriate and regardless of vessel size, to avoid striking any marine mammal. A visual observer aboard the vessel must monitor a vessel strike avoidance zone around the vessel distances stated below.
Visual observers monitoring the vessel strike avoidance zone may be thirdparty observers i.e., PSOs or crew members, but crew members responsible for these duties must be provided sufficient training to distinguish marine mammals from other phenomena and broadly to identify a marine mammal as a right whale, other whale defined in this context as sperm whales or baleen whales other than right whales, or other marine mammal.
Vessel strike avoidance measures will include, but are not limited to, the following, except under circumstances when complying with these measures would put the safety of the vessel or crew at risk:
All vessels greater than or equal to 65 ft 19.8 m in overall length must comply with the 10 knot speed restriction in any Seasonal Management Area SMA per the NOAA ship strike reduction rule 73 FR 60173; October 10, 2008.
Vessels of all sizes will operate port to port at 10 knots or less between November 1 and April 30, except for vessels transiting inside Narragansett Bay or Long Island Sound.
A trained, dedicated visual observer and alternative visual detection system e.g., thermal cameras will be stationed on all transiting vessels that intend to operate at greater than 10 knots from November 1 through April 30. The primary role of the visual observer is to alert the vessel navigation crew to the presence of marine mammals and to report transit activities and marine mammal sightings to the designated South Fork Wind information system.
Vessels of all sizes will operate at 10 knots or less in any North Atlantic right whale Dynamic Management Area DMA.
Outside of DMAs, SMAs, and the November 1 through April 30 time period, localized detections of North Atlantic right whales, using passive acoustics, would trigger a slow-down to 10 knots or less in the area of detection zone for the following 12 hours hrs.
Each subsequent detection would trigger a 12-hr reset. A slow-down in that zone expires when there has been no further visual or acoustic detection in the past 12-hr within the triggered zone.

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For all vessels greater than or equal to 65 ft 19.8 m in overall length, vessel speeds must be reduced to 10 knots or less when mother/calf pairs, pods, or large assemblages of cetaceans are observed near a vessel.
All vessels must maintain a minimum separation distance of 500 m from North Atlantic right whales. If a whale is observed but cannot be confirmed as a species other than a right whale, the vessel operator must assume that it is a right whale and take appropriate action.
All vessels must maintain a minimum separation distance of 100 m from sperm whales and all other baleen whales.
All vessels must, to the maximum extent practicable, attempt to maintain a minimum separation distance of 50 m from all other marine mammals, with an exception made for those that approach the vessel.
When marine mammals are sighted while a vessel is underway, the vessel must take action as necessary to avoid violating the relevant separation distance, e.g., attempt to remain parallel to the animals course, avoid excessive speed or abrupt changes in direction until the animal has left the area. If marine mammals are sighted within the relevant separation distance, the vessel must reduce speed and shift the engine to neutral, not engaging the engines until animals are clear of the area. This does not apply to any vessel towing gear or any vessel that is navigationally constrained.
These requirements do not apply in any case where compliance would create an imminent and serious threat to a person or vessel or to the extent that a vessel is restricted in its ability to maneuver and, because of the restriction, cannot comply.
When not on active watch duty, members of the monitoring team must consult NMFS North Atlantic right whale reporting systems for the presence of North Atlantic right whales in the project area.
Project-specific training must be conducted for all vessel crew prior to the start of in-water construction activities. Confirmation of the training and understanding of the requirements must be documented on a training course log sheet.
NMFS has carefully evaluated South Fork Winds proposed mitigation measures and considered a range of other measures in the context of ensuring that NMFS prescribed the means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on the affected marine mammal species and stocks and their habitat. Based on NMFS evaluation of
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these measures, NMFS has preliminarily determined that the proposed mitigation measures provide the means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on the availability of such species or stock for subsistence uses.
Proposed Monitoring and Reporting In order to issue an IHA for an activity, Section 101a5D of the MMPA states that NMFS must set forth requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking.
The MMPA implementing regulations at 50 CFR 216.104 a13 indicate that requests for authorizations must include the suggested means of accomplishing the necessary monitoring and reporting that will result in increased knowledge of the species and of the level of taking or impacts on populations of marine mammals that are expected to be present in the proposed action area.
Effective reporting is critical both to compliance as well as ensuring that the most value is obtained from the required monitoring.
Monitoring and reporting requirements prescribed by NMFS
should contribute to improved understanding of one or more of the following:
Occurrence of marine mammal species or stocks in the area in which take is anticipated e.g., presence, abundance, distribution, density.
Nature, scope, or context of likely marine mammal exposure to potential stressors/impacts individual or cumulative, acute or chronic, through better understanding of: 1 Action or environment e.g., source characterization, propagation, ambient noise; 2 affected species e.g., life history, dive patterns; 3 co-occurrence of marine mammal species with the action; or 4 biological or behavioral context of exposure e.g., age, calving or feeding areas.
Individual marine mammal responses behavioral or physiological to acoustic stressors acute, chronic, or cumulative, other stressors, or cumulative impacts from multiple stressors.
How anticipated responses to stressors impact either: 1 Long-term fitness and survival of individual marine mammals; or 2 populations, species, or stocks.
Effects on marine mammal habitat e.g., marine mammal prey species, acoustic habitat, or other important physical components of marine mammal habitat.

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