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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 195 / Wednesday, October 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules
most recently recorded in Narragansett Bay in October of 2016 Hayes et al., 2019. There are no recent records of common dolphins far up rivers, however such occurrences would only show up in the stranding database if the stranding network responded, and there is no centralized clearinghouse for opportunistic sightings of that type. In Rhode Island, there are occasional opportunistic reports of common dolphins in Narragansett Bay up as far as the Providence River, usually in winter.

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Harbor Porpoise Harbor porpoises are found in northern temperate and subarctic coastal and offshore waters in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In the western North Atlantic, harbor porpoises are found in the northern Gulf of Maine and southern Bay of Fundy region in waters generally less than 150
m deep, primarily during the summer July to September. During fall October to December and spring April to June, harbor porpoises are widely dispersed between New Jersey and Maine. Lower densities of harbor porpoises occur during the winter January to March in waters off New York to New Brunswick, Canada Hayes et al., 2019.
Harbor Seal Harbor seals occur in all nearshore waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans and adjoining seas above approximately 30N Burns, 2009. They are year-round residents in the coastal waters of eastern Canada and Maine, occurring seasonally from southern New England to New Jersey from September through late May. Harbor seals northern movement occurs prior to pupping season that takes place from May through June along the Maine coast. In autumn to early winter, harbor seals move southward from the Bay of Fundy to southern New England Hayes et al., 2019. Overall, there are five recognized subspecies of harbor seal, two of which occur in the Atlantic Ocean. The western Atlantic harbor seal is the subspecies likely to occur in the proposed project area. There is some uncertainly about the overall population stock structure of harbor seals in the western North Atlantic Ocean. However, it is theorized that harbor seals along the eastern U.S. and Canada are all from a single population Temte et al., 1991.
Harbor seals are regularly observed around all coastal areas throughout Rhode Island, and occasionally well inland up bays, rivers, and streams. In general, rough estimates indicate that approximately 100,000 harbor seals can be found in New England waters
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DeAngelis, 2020. It should be noted for all the seals that the available data are strongly dominated by stranding records, which comprised 446 out of 507 total records for harbor seals 88
percent Kenny and Vigness-Raposa, 2010. Seals are very difficult to detect during surveys, since they tend to be solitary and the usual sighting cue is only the seals head above the surface.
Of the available records, 52.5 percent are in spring, 31.2 percent in winter, 9.5
percent in summer, and 6.9 percent in fall. In Rhode Island, there are no records offshore of the 90-m isobath.
Based on seasonal monitoring in Rhode Island, seals begin to arrive in Narragansett Bay in September, with numbers slowly increasing in March before dropping off sharply in April. By May, seals have left Narragansett Bay DeAngelis, 2020.
Seasonal nearshore marine mammal surveys were conducted at NAVSTA
Newport between May 2016 and February 2017. The surveys were conducted along the western shoreline of Coasters Harbor Island northward to Coggeshall Point and eastward to include Gould Island. The only species that was sighted during the survey was harbor seal. During the spring survey, one harbor seal was sighted on 12 May 2016. The seal was observed near the surface of the water and engaged in several small dives during the encounter. A group of three harbor seals was sighted on 1 February 2017, during the winter survey. All three of the harbor seals were at the surface and watched the vessel pass. One dead harbor seal carcass was observed in the 12 May 2016 survey and reported to the Mystic Aquarium Stranding Network Moll et al., 2016, 2017; Navy, 2017b.
In Rhode Island waters, harbor seals prefer to haul out on well-isolated intertidal rock ledges and outcrops.
Numerous Naval Station employees have reported seals hauled out on an intertidal rock ledge north-northwest of Coddington Point named The Sisters that is 0.9 miles from the project area see Figure 41 of the application NUWC Division, 2011. This haulout has been studied by the NUWC Division Newport since 2011 and has demonstrated a steady increase in use during winter months when harbor seals are present in the bay. Harbor seals are rarely observed at The Sisters haulout in the early fall SeptemberOctober but consistent numbers in mid-November 010 animals are regularly observed with a gradual increase of 20+ animals until peak numbers in the upper 40s occur during March, typically at low tide. The number of harbor seals begins to drop off in April, and by mid-May
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they are not observed hauled out at all DeAngelis, 2020. Haulout spaces at The Sisters haulout site is primarily influenced by tide level, swell, and wind direction splashing the haul out Moll et al., 2017; DeAngelis, 2020.
Including The Sisters haulout, there are 22 haul out sites in Narragansett Bay see Figure 41 of the application;
however, none of these 22 other haulouts are within the project area.
During a one-day Narragansett Bay-wide count in 2018, there were at least 423
seals observed, and all 22 haulout sites were represented. Preliminary results from the bay-wide count for 2019
recorded 572 harbor seals; this count also included counts from Block Island DeAngelis, 2020.
Gray Seal The Western North Atlantic stock of gray seal occurs in the project area. The western North Atlantic stock is centered in Canadian waters, including the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic coasts of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador, Canada, and the northeast U.S. continental shelf Hayes et al.
2017. In general, this species can be found year-round in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Maine Hayes et al., 2019.
Gray seal occurrences in Rhode Island are mostly represented by stranding records155 of 193 total records 80
percent. Gray seal records in the region are primarily from the spring approximately 87 percent, with much smaller numbers in all other seasons 5.7 percent in winter, 5.2 percent in summer, and 2.1 percent in fall.
Strandings were broadly distributed along ocean-facing beaches in Long Island and Rhode Island, with a few spring records in Connecticut Kenny and Vigness-Raposa, 2010. As with other seals, habitat use by gray seals in Rhode Island is poorly known. They are seen mainly when stranded or hauled out and infrequently at sea. There are very few observations of gray seals in Rhode Island other than strandings. The annual numbers of gray seal strandings in the Rhode Island study area since 1993 have fluctuated markedly, from a low of 1 in 1999 to a high of 24 in 2011
Kenney, 2020. The very strong seasonality observed in gray seal occurrence in Rhode Island between March and June is clearly related to the timing of pupping in JanuaryFebruary.
Most stranded individuals encountered in Rhode Island area appear to be postweaning juveniles and starved or starving juveniles Nawojchik, 2002;
Kenney, 2005. Annual informal surveys conducted since 1994 observed a small number of gray seals in Narragansett Bay in 2016 ecoRI News, 2016.

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