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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 51 / Thursday, March 18, 2021 / Notices
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abundance of one stock of killer whales increasing slightly, the change in months of work and Stellers sea lion take per work day, and the updated consideration of own-the-hole drilling source levels and Level A harassment zones.
Based on the information and analysis contained here and in the referenced documents, NMFS has determined the following: 1 The required mitigation measures will effect the least practicable impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat; 2 the proposed authorized takes will have a negligible impact on the affected marine mammal species or stocks; 3 the proposed authorized takes represent small numbers of marine mammals relative to the affected stock abundances; 4 HPMS activities will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on taking for subsistence purposes as no relevant subsistence uses of marine mammals are implicated by this action, and; 5 appropriate monitoring and reporting requirements are included.
Endangered Species Act Section 7a2 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 ESA: 16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq. requires that each Federal agency insure that any action it authorizes, funds, or carries out is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of designated critical habitat. To ensure ESA compliance for the issuance of IHAs, NMFS consults internally, in this case with the Alaska Region, Protected Resources Division Office, whenever we propose to authorize take for endangered or threatened species.
Two marine mammal species, Mexico DPS humpback whales and Western DPS Steller sea lions, occur in the project area and are listed as threatened and endangered, respectively, under the ESA. The NMFS Alaska Regional OPR
Division issued a Biological Opinion under section 7 of the ESA, on the issuance of an IHA to HPMS under section 101a5D of the MMPA by the NMFS Permits and Conservation Division. The Biological Opinion concluded that the action is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of either species, and is not likely to destroy or adversely modify western DPS Steller sea lion critical habitat. On February 23, 2021, the NMFS Alaska Regional Office Protected Resources Division notified us that they would issue a memo to the file, noting that the changes to allow work year round and to the down-the-hole drilling source levels do not alter the conclusions of the
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original Biological Opinion as long as the revised shutdown zones are implemented as additional mitigation and monitoring requirements, and no reinitiation of the consultation is necessary.
Proposed Authorization As a result of these preliminary determinations, NMFS proposes to issue an IHA to HPMS for conducting the Old Sitka Dock North Dolphins Expansion Project in Sitka, Alaska from April 15, 2021 through April 14, 2022, provided the previously described mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements are incorporated. A draft of the proposed IHA can be found at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/
incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act.
Request for Public Comments We request comment on our analyses included in both this document and the referenced documents supporting the 2020 IHA, the proposed authorization, and any other aspect of this notice of proposed IHA for the proposed construction activity at Old Sitka Dock.
We also request comment on the potential for renewal of this proposed IHA as described in the paragraph below. Please include with your comments any supporting data or literature citations to help inform our final decision on the request for MMPA
authorization.
On a case-by-case basis, NMFS may issue a one-year renewal IHA following notice to the public providing an additional 15 days for public comments when 1 up to another year of identical or nearly identical, or nearly identical, activities as described in the Specified Activities section of this notice is planned or 2 the activities as described in the Specified Activities section of this notice would not be completed by the time the IHA expires and a renewal would allow for completion of the activities beyond that described in the Dates and Duration section of this notice, provided all of the following conditions are met:
A request for renewal is received no later than 60 days prior to the needed renewal IHA effective date recognizing that the renewal IHA expiration date cannot extend beyond one year from expiration of the initial IHA;
The request for renewal must include the following:
1 An explanation that the activities to be conducted under the requested renewal IHA are identical to the activities analyzed under the initial IHA, are a subset of the activities, or include changes so minor e.g.,
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reduction in pile size that the changes do not affect the previous analyses, mitigation and monitoring requirements, or take estimates with the exception of reducing the type or amount of take; and 2 A preliminary monitoring report showing the results of the required monitoring to date and an explanation showing that the monitoring results do not indicate impacts of a scale or nature not previously analyzed or authorized;
Upon review of the request for renewal, the status of the affected species or stocks, and any other pertinent information, NMFS
determines that there are no more than minor changes in the activities, the mitigation and monitoring measures will remain the same and appropriate, and the findings in the initial IHA
remain valid.
Dated: March 12, 2021.
Donna S. Wieting, Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
FR Doc. 202105547 Filed 31721; 8:45 am BILLING CODE 351022P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RTID 0648XA886

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species;
Atlantic Shark Management Measures;
2021 Research Fishery National Marine Fisheries Service NMFS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
AGENCY:

On November 30, 2020, NMFS published a notice inviting qualified commercial shark permit holders to submit applications to participate in the 2021 Shark Research Fishery. The Shark Research Fishery allows for the collection of fisherydependent data for future stock assessments and cooperative research with commercial fishermen to meet the shark research objectives of the Agency.
Every year, the permit terms and permitted activities e.g., number of hooks and retention limits specifically authorized for selected participants in the Shark Research Fishery are designated depending on the scientific and research needs of the Agency, as well as the number of NMFS-approved observers available. In order to inform selected participants of this years specific permit requirements and ensure all terms and conditions of the permit
SUMMARY:

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