Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Marine Site Characterization Surveys Off the Coast of Delaware

AGENCY:

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice; issuance of incidental harassment authorization.

SUMMARY:

NMFS has received a request from Ørsted Wind Power North America, LLC (Ørsted) and its designees, Garden State Offshore Energy, LLC (Garden State) and Skipjack Offshore Energy, LLC (Skipjack), for the re-issuance of a previously issued incidental harassment authorization (IHA) with the only change being effective dates. The initial IHA authorized take of marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys in coastal waters off of Delaware and New Jersey. The project has been delayed and none of the work covered in the initial IHA has been conducted. The scope of the activities and anticipated effects remain the same, authorized take numbers are not changed, and the required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting remains the same as included in the initial IHA. NMFS is, therefore, issuing a second identical IHA to cover the incidental take analyzed and authorized in the initial IHA.

DATES:

This authorization is effective from May 10, 2023, through May 9, 2024. The initial IHA was effective from May 10, 2022, through May 9, 2023. Ørsted has requested issuance with new effective dates of May 10, 2023, through May 9, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

An electronic copy of the final 2022 IHA previously issued to Ørsted, Ørsted's application, and the Federal Register notices proposing and issuing the initial IHA may be obtained by visiting https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/incidental-take-authorization-orsted-wind-power-north-america-llc-marine-site. In case of problems accessing these documents, please call the contact listed below (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT ).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Alyssa Clevenstine, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 427–8401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (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 authorization is provided to the public for review.

An authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stock(s), will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses (where relevant), and if the permissible methods of taking and requirements pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring, and reporting of such takings are set forth.

NMFS has defined “negligible impact” in 50 CFR 216.103 as an impact resulting from the specified activity that cannot be reasonably expected to, and is not reasonably likely to, adversely affect the species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or survival.

The MMPA states that the term “take” means to harass, hunt, capture, kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine mammal.

Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent here, the MMPA defines “harassment” as any act of pursuit, torment, or annoyance which (i) has the potential to injure a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has the potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering (Level B harassment).

Summary of Request

On September 16, 2021, NMFS published final notice of our issuance of an IHA authorizing take of 16 species of marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys in coastal waters off of Delaware in the areas of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)-A 0482 and 0519 and along potential export cable routes to landfall locations in Delaware and New Jersey (87 FR 30182). The effective dates of that IHA were May 10, 2022, through May 9, 2023. On February 23, 2023, Ørsted informed NMFS that the project was delayed. None of the work identified in the initial IHA ( i.e., geophysical, geotechnical, and geohazard data collection) has occurred. Ørsted submitted a request to re-issue the IHA, which would be effective from May 10, 2023, through May 9, 2024, in order to conduct the marine site characterization survey work that was analyzed and authorized through the previously issued IHA.

Summary of Specified Activity and Anticipated Impacts

The planned activities (including mitigation, monitoring, and reporting), authorized incidental take, and anticipated impacts on the affected stocks are the same as those analyzed and authorized through the previously issued IHA.

As part of their overall marine site characterization survey operations, Ørsted plans to conduct high-resolution geophysical (HRG) and geotechnical surveys in Lease Areas OCS–A 0482 and 0519, and the associated export cable route areas. The purpose of the marine site characterization surveys is to collect data concerning seabed (geophysical, geotechnical, and geohazard), ecological, and archeological conditions within the footprint of offshore wind facility development. Surveys are also conducted to support engineering design and to map Unexploded Ordnance (UXO).

The location, timing, and nature of the activities, including the types of equipment planned for use, are identical to those described for the initial IHA. The mitigation and monitoring are also as prescribed in the initial IHA.

Species that have the potential to be taken by the planned activities can be found in the initial 2022 Federal Register notices (87 FR 15922; 87 FR 30182). A description of the methods and inputs used to estimate take anticipated to occur and, ultimately, the take that was authorized is found in the previous documents referenced above. NMFS has reviewed recent Stock Assessment Reports, information on relevant Unusual Mortality Events, and recent scientific literature, and determined that no new information affects our original analysis of impacts under the initial IHA.

We refer to the documents related to the previously issued IHA, which include the Federal Register notice of the issuance of the initial 2022 IHA for Ørsted's construction work (87 FR 30182), Ørsted's application, the Federal Register notice of the proposed IHA (87 FR 15922), and all associated references and documents.

On August 1, 2022, NMFS announced proposed changes to the existing NARW vessel speed regulations to further reduce the likelihood of mortalities and serious injuries to endangered NARWs from vessel collisions, which are a leading cause of the species' decline and a primary factor in an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event (87 FR 46921). Should a final vessel speed rule be issued and become effective during the effective period of this IHA (or any other MMPA incidental take authorization), the authorization holder would be required to comply with any and all applicable requirements contained within the final rule. Specifically, where measures in any final vessel speed rule are more protective or restrictive than those in this or any other MMPA authorization, authorization holders would be required to comply with the requirements of the rule. Alternatively, where measures in this or any other MMPA authorization are more restrictive or protective than those in any final vessel speed rule, the measures in the MMPA authorization would remain in place. The responsibility to comply with the applicable requirements of any vessel speed rule would become effective immediately upon the effective date of any final vessel speed rule and, when notice is published of the effective date, NMFS would also notify COSW if the measures in the speed rule were to supersede any of the measures in the MMPA authorization such that they were no longer applicable.

Determinations

Ørsted will conduct activities as analyzed in the initial 2022 IHA. As described above, the number of authorized takes of the same species and stocks of marine mammals are identical to the numbers that were found to meet the negligible impact and small numbers standards and authorized under the initial IHA and no new information has emerged that would change those findings. The issued 2023 IHA includes identical required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures as the initial IHA, and there is no new information suggesting that our analysis or findings should change.

Based on the information contained here and in the referenced documents, NMFS has determined the following: (1) the required mitigation measures will effect the least practicable impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat; (2) the authorized takes will have a negligible impact on the affected marine mammal species or stocks; (3) the authorized takes represent small numbers of marine mammals relative to the affected stock abundances; and (4) Ørsted's activities will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on taking for subsistence purposes as no relevant subsistence uses of marine mammals are implicated by this action.

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) 216–6A, NMFS must review our proposed action with respect to environmental consequences on the human environment.

This action is consistent with categories of activities identified in Categorical Exclusion B4 (incidental take authorizations 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 determined that the issuance of the initial IHA qualified to be categorically excluded from further NEPA review. NMFS has determined that the application of this categorical exclusion remains appropriate for this IHA.

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) requires that each Federal agency insure that any action it authorizes, funds, or carries out is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of designated critical habitat. To ensure ESA compliance for the issuance of IHAs, NMFS consults internally whenever we propose to authorize take for endangered or threatened species.

NMFS Office of Protected Resources previously determined that issuance of the initial 2022 IHA falls within the scope of activities analyzed in NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office's programmatic consultation regarding geophysical surveys along the U.S. Atlantic coast in the three Atlantic Renewable Energy Regions (completed June 29, 2021; revised September 2021).

Authorization

NMFS has issued an IHA to Ørsted for marine site characterization survey activities associated with the specified activity from May 10, 2023, through May 9, 2024. All previously described mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements from the initial 2022 IHA are incorporated.