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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 106 / Friday, June 4, 2021 / Proposed Rules
animal behavior, prior history of NEFSC
interactions with longline gear, etc..
Therefore, there are several species that have been shown to interact with commercial longline fisheries but for which the NEFSC is not requesting take.
For example, the NEFSC is not requesting take of large whales, longfinned pilot whales, and short-finned pilot whales in longline gear. Although these species could become entangled in longline gear, the probability of interaction with NEFSC longline gear is extremely low considering a low level of survey effort relative to that of commercial fisheries, the short length of the mainline, and low numbers of hooks used. Based on the amount of fish caught by commercial fisheries versus NEFSC fisheries research, the footprint of research effort compared to commercial fisheries is very small.
For example, NEFSC uses a shorter mainline length and lower number of hooks relative to that of commercial
fisheries. The NEFSC considered previously caught species in analogous commercial fisheries to have a higher probability of take; however, all were not included for potential take by the NEFSC. Additionally, marine mammals have never been caught or entangled in NEFSC longline gear; if interactions occur marine mammals depredate caught fish from the gear but leave the hooks attached and unaltered. They have never been hooked nor had hooks taken off gear during depredation.
However, such gear could be considered analogous to potential commercial longline surveys that may be conducted elsewhere e.g., Garrison, 2007; Roche et al. 2007; Straley et al., 2014. Given that the NEFSC experienced a single interaction of a common dolphin during the effective period of the current LOA
to date, the proposed issuance of this amount of take, by species, is reasonably conservative.

The estimated take, by M/SI, is identical to that proposed and authorized to the NEFSC for the 2016
2020 LOA except for take pertaining to the southern migratory coastal stock of bottlenose dolphins. The 20162021
LOA authorizes 8 takes from this stock.
According to the SAR, during the warm water months of JulyAugust, the stock is presumed to occupy coastal waters north of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, to Assateague, Virginia. North of Cape Hatteras during summer months, there is strong separation between the coastal and offshore morphotypes Kenney 1990; Garrison et al. 2017a, and the coastal morphotype is nearly completely absent in waters >20 m. However, the NEFSC has determined that because research effort is low in the habitat range of this stock and NEFSC has no documented takes of dolphins belonging to the southern migratory coastal stock, they are not requesting, and NMFS is not proposing to authorize, take.

TABLE 10TOTAL ESTIMATED M/SI DUE TO GEAR INTERACTION IN THE ATLANTIC COAST REGION
5-Year total, gillnet 1

5-Year total, trawl 1

Species Minke whale
Rissos dolphin
Atlantic white-sided dolphin
White-beaked dolphin
Short-beaked common dolphin
Atlantic spotted dolphin
Common bottlenose dolphin WNA offshore stock 1
Common bottlenose dolphin WNA N. Migratory stock 1
Harbor porpoise
Harbor seal
Gray seal

5
2 2
2 5
2 2
2 2
5 5

5-Year total, longline 1
0 0
1 0
1 0
5 5
5 5
5

5-Year total, fyke net 1
0 1
0 0
1 0
1 1
0 0
0

5-Yr total, all gears 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
5 5

5
3 3
2 7
2 8
8 7
15
15

1 The NEFSC re-evaluated sampling locations and effort after submission of their LOA application and is not requesting takes for the southern migratory stock of bottlenose dolphins as fishing effort is very low.

Estimated Take From Scientific Sonar As described previously, we believe it unlikely that NEFSC use of active acoustic sources is realistically likely to cause Level B harassment of marine mammals. However, per NEFSC request, we conservatively assume that, at worst, Level B harassment may result from exposure to noise from these sources, and we carry forward the analytical approach developed in support of the 2015 rule. At that time, in order to quantify the potential for Level B
harassment to occur, NMFS developed an analytical framework considering characteristics of the active acoustic systems, their expected patterns of use, and characteristics of the marine mammal species that may interact with them. The framework incorporated a number of deliberately precautionary, simplifying assumptions, and the resulting exposure estimates, which are
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presumed here to equate to take by Level B harassment as defined by the MMPA, may be seen as an overestimate of the potential for such effects to occur as a result of the operation of these systems.
Regarding the potential for Level A
harassment in the form of permanent threshold shift to occur, the very short duration sounds emitted by these sources reduces the likely level of accumulated energy an animal is exposed to. An individual would have to remain exceptionally close to a sound source for unrealistic lengths of time, suggesting the likelihood of injury occurring is exceedingly small. Potential Level A harassment is therefore not considered further in this analysis.
Authorized takes from the use of active acoustic scientific sonar sources e.g., echosounders would be by Level B harassment only, in the form of disruption of behavioral patterns for
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individual marine mammals resulting from exposure to the use of active acoustic sources. Based on the nature of the activity, Level A harassment is neither anticipated nor proposed to be authorized.
Generally speaking, we estimate take by considering: 1 Acoustic thresholds above which NMFS believes the best available science indicates marine mammals will be behaviorally harassed or incur some degree of permanent hearing impairment; 2 the area or volume of water that will be ensonified above these levels in a day; 3 the density or occurrence of marine mammals within these ensonified areas;
and, 4 and the number of days of activities. We note that while these basic factors can contribute to a basic calculation to provide an initial prediction of takes, additional information that can qualitatively inform take estimates is also sometimes
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