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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 86 / Thursday, May 6, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
marine-mammal-stock-assessments and more general information about these species e.g., physical and behavioral descriptions may be found on NMFSs website https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/find-species.
Table 1 lists all species or stocks for which take is expected and may be authorized, and summarizes information related to the population or stock, including regulatory status under the MMPA and Endangered Species Act ESA and potential biological removal PBR, where known. For taxonomy, we follow Committee on Taxonomy 2020.
PBR is defined by the MMPA as the maximum number of animals, not including natural mortalities, that may
be removed from a marine mammal stock while allowing that stock to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population as described in NMFSs SARs. While no mortality is anticipated, nor will mortality be authorized, PBR and annual serious injury and mortality from anthropogenic sources are included here as gross indicators of the status of the species and other threats.
Marine mammal abundance estimates presented in this document represent the total number of individuals that make up a given stock or the total number estimated within a particular study or survey area. NMFSs stock abundance estimates for most species
represent the total estimate of individuals within the geographic area, if known, that comprises that stock. For some species, this geographic area may extend beyond U.S. waters. All managed stocks in this region are assessed in NMFSs U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico SARs e.g., Hayes et al. 2020.
All values presented in Table 1 are the most recent available at the time of publication and are available in the 2019 SARs Hayes et al. 2020 or the 2020 draft SARS, available at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/
marine-mammal-protection/marinemammal-stock-assessment-reports.

TABLE 1MARINE MAMMAL SPECIES LIKELY TO OCCUR NEAR THE PROJECT AREA
Common name
Scientific name
Stock
I

ESA/
MMPA
status;
strategic Y/N 1

I

Stock abundance CV, Nmin, most recent abundance survey 2

Annual M/SI 3

PBR

I

I

Order CetartiodactylaCetaceaSuperfamily Mysticeti baleen whales Family Balaenopteridae rorquals:
Humpback whale

Megaptera novaeangliae

Gulf of Maine

-,-; N

1,396 0; 1,380; see SAR.

22

12.15

48

12.221.5

23

018.3

7.8

7.230

Superfamily Odontoceti toothed whales, dolphins, and porpoises Family Delphinidae:
Bottlenose dolphin

Family Phocoenidae porpoises:
Harbor porpoise

Tursiops truncatus

Phocoena phocoena

Western North Atlantic WNA
Coastal, Northern Migratory.
WNA Coastal, Southern Migratory.
Northern North Carolina Estuarine System NNCES.

-,-; Y

Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy

-, -; N

95,543 0.31; 74,034;
2016.

851

217

-; N

75,834 0.15; 66,884, 2012.
27,131 0.19, 23,158, 2016.

2,006

350

-,-; Y
-,-; Y

6,639 0.41; 4,759;
2016.
3,751 0.06; 2,353;
2011.
823 0.06; 782; 2017

Order CarnivoraSuperfamily Pinnipedia Family Phocidae earless seals:
Harbor seal

Phoca vitulina

WNA

Gray seal

Halichoerus grypus

WNA

-; N

I

I

I

1,359

I

4,729

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1 Endangered Species Act ESA status: Endangered E, Threatened T/MMPA status: Depleted D. A dash - indicates that the species is not listed under the ESA or designated as depleted under the MMPA. Under the MMPA, a strategic stock is one for which the level of direct human-caused mortality exceeds PBR or which is determined to be declining and likely to be listed under the ESA within the foreseeable future. Any species or stock listed under the ESA is automatically designated under the MMPA as depleted and as a strategic stock.
2 NMFS marine mammal stock assessment reports online at: https www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-stock-assessmentreports-region. CV is coefficient of variation; Nmin is the minimum estimate of stock abundance. In some cases, CV is not applicable.
3 These values, found in NMFSs SARs, represent annual levels of human-caused mortality plus serious injury from all sources combined e.g., commercial fisheries, ship strike. Annual Mortality/Serious Injury M/SI often cannot be determined precisely and is in some cases presented as a minimum value or range. A CV
associated with estimated mortality due to commercial fisheries is presented in some cases.

As indicated above, all five species with seven managed stocks in Table 1
temporally and spatially co-occur with the activity to the degree that take is reasonably likely to occur, and we may authorize take. While North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis, minke whales Balaenoptera acutorostrata acutorostrata, and fin whales Balaenoptera physalus have been documented in the area, the temporal and/or spatial occurrence of these whales is such that take is not expected to occur, and they are not
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discussed further beyond the explanation provided here.
Based on sighting data and passive acoustic studies, the North Atlantic right whale could occur off Virginia year-round DoN 2009; Salisbury et al.
2016. They have also been reported seasonally off Virginia during migrations in the spring, fall, and winter CeTAP 1981, 1982; Niemeyer et al.
2008; Kahn et al. 2009; McLellan 2011b, 2013; Mallette et al. 2016a, 2016b, 2017, 2018a; Palka et al. 2017; Cotter 2019.
Right whales are known to frequent the
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coastal waters of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay Knowlton et al. 2002
and the area is a seasonal management area November 1April 30 mandating reduced ship speeds out to approximately 20 nautical miles 37 km for the species; however, the project area is further inside the Bay.
North Atlantic right whales have stranded in Virginia, one each in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005: Three during winter February and March and one in summer September Costidis et al.
2017, 2019. In January 2018, a dead,
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