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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 33 / Monday, February 22, 2021 / Notices
hunting area Camden Bay to the predicted Level B harassment isopleths.
Even if some subset of taken individuals deflected farther offshore near the project site, it is reasonable to predict that most individuals would likely resume a more typical migration path by the time they reach the Kaktovik hunting area during the eastbound migration, and during the westbound migration, a bowhead exposed to construction noise would have already passed the hunting area prior to exposure. Significant impacts to the Kaktovik hunt would be unlikely, and Kaktovik bowhead whale hunting is not discussed further. Please refer to AGDCs application for additional information.
Ringed, spotted and bearded seals are harvested by the community of Kaktovik. Residents hunt seals in rivers during ice-free months, primarily JulyAugust. Ringed seals are an important subsistence resource for Native Alaskans living in communities along the Beaufort Sea coast. Kaktovik hunters travel by boat to look for ringed seals on floating ice often while also hunting for bearded seal or sometimes along the ice edge by snow machine before break-up, during the spring SRBA 2010. In 2006, 7 people 18 percent of survey respondents indicated that they had recently hunted for ringed seals in Kaktovik SRBA 2010. Residents reported looking for ringed seal, usually while also searching for bearded seal, offshore between Prudhoe Bay to the west and Demarcation Bay to the east SRBA 2010. Ringed seal hunting typically peaks between March and August but continues into September, as well SRBA 2010. Although residents reported hunting ringed seals up to approximately 30 mi 48 km from shore, the highest numbers of overlapping use areas generally occur within a few miles from shore SRBA
2010. The total use area for ringed seal from 19952006 encompassed approximately 2,139 mi2 5540 km2.
Harvest of ringed seals by Kaktovik hunters does not typically occur to the west of Camden Bay. Additionally, impacts to ringed seals are expected to include temporary behavioral disturbances and some slight PTS
within the lower frequencies associated with pile driving. Serious injury or mortality of ringed seals is not anticipated from the planned activities, and the activities are not expected to have any impacts on ringed seal reproductive or survival rates, or to impact availability of ringed seals.
Therefore, AK LNG project activities are
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not expected to impact Kaktovik ringed seal harvests.
Kaktovik hunters harvested 126
pounds of spotted seals in 1992 ADF&G
CSIS; retrieved and analyzed August 15, 2018. Spotted seals were not reported harvested in 2006 survey interviews conducted in Nuiqsut SRBA 2010.
Kaktovik bearded seal hunting occurs along the coast as far west as Prudhoe Bay and as far east as the United States/
Canada border SRBA 2010. Residents reported looking for bearded seal as far as approximately 30 mi 48 km from shore, but generally hunt them closer to shore, up to 5 mi 8 km; SRBA 2010.
Between 1994 2003, 29 bearded seals were taken in Kaktovik. In 2006, 7
people 18 percent of survey respondents indicated that they had recently hunted for bearded seals in Kaktovik SRBA 2010. Bearded seal hunting activities, like ringed seal, begin in March, peaking in July and August, and then conclude in September SRBA
2010.
The community of Kaktovik is approximately 100 direct mi 160 km from the planned project at Prudhoe Bay; subsistence activities for these communities primarily occur outside of the project construction area and the associated Level A and Level B
harassment zones. The planned construction and use of improvements to West Dock would occur in Prudhoe Bay, adjacent to existing oil and gas infrastructures, and in an area that is not typically used for subsistence other than extremely limited bearded seal hunting by residents of Kaktovik.
Because of the distance from Kaktovik and Kaktoviks very limited use of waters offshore of Prudhoe Bay, and because the planned activities would occur in an already-developed area, it is unlikely that the planned activities would have any effects on the use of marine mammals for subsistence by residents of Kaktovik. Further, the planned activities are not expected to impact marine mammals in numbers or locations sufficient to render them unavailable for subsistence harvest given the short-term, temporary, and localized nature of construction activities, and the planned mitigation measures. Impacts to marine mammals would mostly include limited, temporary behavioral disturbances of seals, with some potential slight PTS
within the lower frequencies associated with pile driving. Serious injury or mortality of marine mammals is not anticipated from the planned activities, and the activities are not expected to have any impacts on reproductive or survival rates of any marine mammal
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species. Therefore, we do not discuss Kaktoviks subsistence activities further.
Nuiqsut The planned construction activities would occur closest to the marine subsistence use area used by the Native Village of Nuiqsut. Nuiqsut is located on the west bank of the Nechelik Channel on the lower Colville River, about 25 mi 40 km from the Arctic Ocean and approximately 150 mi 242 km southeast of Utqiagvik. Nuiqsut subsistence hunters utilize an extensive search area, spanning 16,322 mi2 km2
across the central Arctic Slope see Figure 19 of AGDCs application, Brown et al., 2016. Marine mammal hunting is primarily concentrated in two areas: 1
Harrison Bay, between Atigaru Point and Oliktok Point, including a northward extent of approximately 50
mi 80 km beyond the Colville River Delta Brown et al., 2016; and 2 east of the Colville River Delta between Prudhoe and Foggy Island bays, which includes an area of approximately 100
square mi surrounding the Midway Islands, McClure Island and Cross Island Brown et al., 2016. The community of Nuiqsut uses subsistence harvest areas adjacent to the planned construction area; however, West Dock is not a common hunting area, nor is it visited regularly by Nuiqsut subsistence hunters primarily because of its industrial history.
The community of Nuiqsut also harvests ringed, spotted and bearded seals. Seal hunting typically begins in April and May with the onset of warmer temperatures. Many residents continue to hunt seals after spring breakup as well Brown et al., 2016.
The most important seal hunting area for Nuiqsut hunters is off the Colville Delta, an area extending as far west as Fish Creek and as far east as Pingok Island. Seal hunting search areas by Nuiqsut hunters also included Harrison Bay, and a 30-mi 48-km stretch northeast of Nuiqsut between the Colville and Kuparuk rivers, near Simpson Lagoon and Jones Islands Brown et al., 2016. Cross Island is a productive area for seals, but is too far from Nuiqsut to be used on a regular basis. Seal subsistence use areas of Nuiqsut from 1995 through 2006 are depicted in Figure 21 of AGDCs application.
Ringed seals are an important subsistence resource for Native Alaskans living in communities along the Beaufort Sea coast. Nuiqsut residents commonly harvest ringed seal in the Beaufort Sea during the summer months SRBA 2010. There are a higher number of use areas extending east and
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