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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 122 / Tuesday, June 29, 2021 / Notices DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RTID 0648XB089

Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specific Activities; Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Pile Driving and Removal Activities During the Metlakatla Seaplane Facility Refurbishment Project, Metlakatla, Alaska National Marine Fisheries Service NMFS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; proposed incidental harassment authorization; request for comments on proposed authorization and possible renewal.
AGENCY:

NMFS has received a request from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities AKDOT&PF for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to pile driving/removal and down-the-hole drilling DTH activities during maintenance improvements to the existing Metlakatla Seaplane Facility MSF in Southeast Alaska. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act MMPA, NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization IHA to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS is also requesting comments on a possible one-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.
DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than July 29, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Jolie Harrison, Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service and should be sent by electronic mail to ITP.Egger@
noaa.gov.
Instructions: NMFS is not responsible for comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period. Comments must not exceed a 25-megabyte file size, including all attachments. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted online at https

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www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/
incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act without change. All personal identifying information e.g., name, address voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stephanie Egger, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 301 4278401.
Electronic copies of the application and supporting documents, as well as a list of the references cited in this document, may be obtained online at: https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/
incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act. In case of problems accessing these documents, or for anyone who is unable to comment via electronic mail, please call the contact listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background The MMPA prohibits the take of marine mammals, with certain exceptions. Sections 101a5A and D of the MMPA 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. direct the Secretary of Commerce as delegated to NMFS to allow, upon request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity other than commercial fishing within a specified geographical region if certain findings are made and either regulations are issued or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed incidental take authorization may be provided to the public for review.
Authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stocks and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for subsistence uses where relevant. Further, NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on the affected 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 stocks for taking for certain subsistence uses referred to in shorthand as mitigation; and requirements pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of such takings are set forth. The definitions of all applicable MMPA statutory terms cited above are included in the relevant sections below.

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National Environmental Policy Act To comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. and NOAA Administrative Order NAO
2166A, NMFS must review our proposed action i.e., the issuance of an IHA with respect to potential impacts on the human environment. This action is consistent with categories of activities identified in Categorical Exclusion B4
IHAs with no anticipated serious injury or mortality of the Companion Manual for NOAA Administrative Order 216
6A, which do not individually or cumulatively have the potential for significant impacts on the quality of the human environment and for which we have not identified any extraordinary circumstances that would preclude this categorical exclusion. Accordingly, NMFS has preliminarily determined that the issuance of the proposed IHA
qualifies to be categorically excluded from further NEPA review.
We will review all comments submitted in response to this notice prior to concluding our NEPA process or making a final decision on the IHA
request.
Summary of Request On August 10, 2020, NMFS received a request from the AKDOT&PF for an IHA to take marine mammals incidental to pile driving/removal and DTH
activities during maintenance improvements to the existing MSF in Southeast Alaska. The application was deemed adequate and complete on November 23, 2020. The applicant also provided an addendum to their application on February 23, 2021 for the addition of eight piles, some changes to their proposed shutdown zones, and minor changes to their take estimates due to the increase of in-water work days from the eight additional piles. The applicants request is for take of eight species of marine mammals by Level B
harassment only. Neither the AKDOT&PF nor NMFS expects serious injury or mortality to result from this activity and, therefore, an IHA is appropriate.
Description of Proposed Activity Overview The purpose of this project is to make repairs to the MSF. The existing facility has experienced deterioration in recent years and AKDOT&PF has conducted several repair projects. The facility is near the end of its useful life, and replacement of all the existing float structures is required to continue safe operation in the future.

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