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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 17, 2021 / Notices
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

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Kelsey Potlock, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 301 4278401.
Electronic copies of the original application, renewal request, and supporting documents including NMFS
Federal Register notices of the original proposed and final authorizations, and the previous IHA, as well as a list of the references cited in this document, may be obtained online at: https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/
incidental-take-authorization-servicepier-extension-project-naval-basekitsap-bangor. In case of problems accessing these documents, please call the contact listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background The Marine Mammal Protection Act 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 proposed or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed incidental take authorization is 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 here as mitigation measures. Monitoring and reporting of such takings are also required. The meaning of key terms such as take, harassment, and negligible impact can be found in section 3 of the MMPA
16 U.S.C. 1362 and the agencys regulations at 50 CFR 216.103.
NMFS regulations implementing the MMPA at 50 CFR 216.107e indicate that IHAs may be renewed for additional periods of time not to exceed one year for each reauthorization. In the notice of proposed IHA for the initial authorization, NMFS described the
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circumstances under which we would consider issuing a renewal for this activity, and requested public comment on a potential renewal under those circumstances. Specifically, on a caseby-case basis, NMFS may issue a onetime 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 Detailed Description of Specified Activities section of the initial IHA issuance notice is planned or 2 the activities as described in the Detailed Description of Specified Activities section of the initial IHA issuance notice would not be completed by the time the initial IHA
expires and a renewal would allow for completion of the activities beyond that described in the DATES section of the initial IHA notice of issuance, provided all of the following conditions are met:
1 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.
2 The request for renewal must include the following:
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., 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;
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;
and 3 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.
An additional public comment period of 15 days for a total of 45 days, with direct notice by email, phone, or postal service to commenters on the initial IHA, is provided to allow for any additional comments on the proposed renewal. A description of the renewal process may be found on our website at:

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www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/
marine-mammal-protection/incidentalharassment-authorization-renewals.
History of Request On June 28, 2018, NMFS published a notice of issuance of an IHA to the United States Navy Navy authorizing take of five species of marine mammals by Level A and Level B harassment incidental to the pile installation and removal activities by impact pile driving and vibratory pile driving for the Service Pier Extension SPE Project at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor in Silverdale, Washington 83 FR 30406.
Species authorized for take included killer whales Orcinus orca; transient stock only, harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena vomerina, California sea lions Zalophus californianus, Steller sea lions Eumetopias jubatus monteriensis, and harbor seals Phoca vitulina richardii. The effective dates of that IHA were July 16, 2019 through July 15, 2020.
On February 4, 2019, the Navy informed NMFS that the project was being delayed by one full year. None of the work identified in the initial IHA
83 FR 30406; June 28, 2018 had occurred and no marine mammals had been taken during the effective dates of the original IHA, and the Navy submitted a formal request for reissuance of the initial IHA with new effective dates of July 16, 2020 through July 15, 2021 and no other changes.
NMFS re-issued this IHA on July 3, 2019 84 FR 31844.
On October 14, 2020, NMFS received a request from the Navy for a modification to the re-issued IHA due to an elevated harbor seal take rate. The Navy felt that without an increase in authorized take of harbor seals, they would be forced to repeatedly shutdown whenever animals entered into the specified Level A harassment zones.
This would likely prolong the duration of in-water construction activities and add increased costs to the project.
Following a 30-day public comment period, NMFS issued a modified IHA, including revisions to mitigation and increased authorized takes by Level A
harassment for harbor seals 85 FR
86538; December 30, 2020, and kept the same July 15, 2021 expiration date that was initially published in the reissuance 84 FR 31844; July 3, 2019.
On April 26, 2021, NMFS received an application for the renewal of that initial IHA. As described in the application for renewal, the activities for which incidental take is requested consist of a subset of activities that are covered by the initial authorization but will not be completed prior to its
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