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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 171 / Wednesday, September 8, 2021 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 1SPECIES THAT SPATIALLY CO-OCCUR WITH THE ACTIVITY TO THE DEGREE THAT TAKE IS REASONABLY LIKELY
TO OCCURContinued Common name
Pacific harbor seal

ESA/
MMPA
status;
Strategic Y/N 1

Scientific name
Stock
Phoca vitulina richardii

California

-, -, N

Stock abundance CV, Nmin, most recent abundance survey 2
30,968 N/A, 27,348, 2012.

PBR

1,641

Annual M/SI 3

43

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/draft-marine-mammal-stock-assessment-reports, CV is coefficient of variation; Nmin is the minimum estimate of stock abundance.
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.

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As indicated above, all four species with four 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 have proposed authorizing it. All species that could potentially occur in the proposed survey areas are included in Table 1.
California Sea Lion California sea lions occur from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to the southern tip of Baja California. Sea lions breed on the offshore islands of southern and central California from May through July Heath and Perrin, 2008. During the non-breeding season, adult and subadult males and juveniles migrate northward along the coast to central and northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island Jefferson et al., 1993. They return south the following spring Heath and Perrin 2008, Lowry and Forney 2005.
Females and some juveniles tend to remain closer to rookeries Antonelis et al., 1990; Melin et al., 2008. Adult females generally remain south of Monterey Bay, California throughout the year, feeding in coastal waters in the summer and offshore waters in the winter, alternating between foraging and nursing their pups on shore until the next pupping/breeding season Melin and DeLong, 2000; Melin et al., 2008.
In warm water years El Nino, some females range as far north as Washington and Oregon, presumably following prey. The current maximum population growth rate for California sea lions is 12 percent Carretta et al., 2019.
Crescent Coastal Research CCR
conducted a 3-year survey of the wildlife species on NWSR for the Society. They reported that counts of California sea lions on NWSR varied greatly from 6 to 541 during the observation period from April 1997
through July 2000. CCR reported that counts for California sea lions during the spring AprilMay, summer June
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August, and fall SeptemberOctober, averaged 60, 154, and 235, respectively CCR 2001. NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center SWFSC conducted 14
annual marine mammal surveys over 19
years 1998 to 2017 at St. George Reef.
California sea lions were last documented at NWSR in July of 2003
11 unpublished data, Beth Jaime, NMFS SWFSC, pers. comm., 2020.
Northern Fur Seal Northern fur seals occur from southern California north to the Bering Sea and west to the Sea of Okhotsk and Honshu Island of Japan. NMFS
recognizes two separate stocks of northern fur seals within U.S. waters:
An Eastern Pacific stock distributed among sites in Alaska, British Columbia, and islets along the west coast of U.S.
waters i.e., St. Paul, St. George, and Bogoslof; and a California stock including San Miguel Island and the Farallon Islands Muto et al., 2018.
Northern fur seals breed in Alaska and migrate along the west coast during fall and winter. Due to their pelagic habitat, they are rarely seen from shore in the continental United States, but individuals occasionally come ashore on islands well offshore i.e., Farallon Islands and Channel Islands in California. During the breeding season, approximately 45 percent of the worldwide population inhabits the Pribilof Islands in the Southern Bering Sea, with the remaining animals spread throughout the North Pacific Ocean Caretta et al., 2015.
Northern fur seals have not been observed during the NMFS SWFSCs marine mammal surveys of St. George Reef from 1998 to 2017 Beth Jaime, NMFS, pers. comm., 2020. However, CCR observed one male northern fur seal on Northwest Seal Rock in October, 1998 CCR 2001. It is possible that a few animals may use the island more often than indicated by the surveys, if they were mistaken for other otariid
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species i.e., eared seals or fur seals and sea lions M. DeAngelis, NMFS, pers.
comm., 2007.
Steller Sea Lions Steller sea lions range extends from the North Pacific Rim from northern Japan to California with areas of abundance in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands Muto et al., 2019.
Steller sea lions consist of two distinct stocks: The western and eastern stocks divided at 144 West longitude Cape Suckling, Alaska. The western stock of Steller sea lions inhabit central and western Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands, as well as coastal waters and breed in Asia e.g., Japan and Russia.
The eastern stock includes sea lions living in southeast Alaska, British Columbia, California, Oregon, and Washington and is the only one in the project area. The stock was delisted under the ESA in 2013.
The species is not known to migrate, but individuals, especially juveniles and adult males, disperse widely outside of the breeding season late May through early August, thus potentially intermixing eastern and western stocks Muto et al., 2018. Steller sea lions give birth in May through July and breeding commences a couple of weeks after birth. Pups are weaned during the winter and spring of the following year.
A northward shift in the overall breeding distribution has occurred, with a contraction of the range in southern California and new rookeries established in southeastern Alaska Pitcher et al., 2007. Overall, counts of pups in California, Oregon, British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska, as well as counts of non-pups in the same regions plus Washington has increased steadily since the 1980s. Stock increase has been attributed to escalation of pup counts in all regions NMFS 2013.
Steller sea lion numbers at NWSR
ranged from 20 to 355 animals between 1997 and 2000 CCR 2001. Counts of
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