Section 218.155 - Requirements for monitoring and reporting(a)Unauthorized take. Navy personnel must notify NMFS immediately (or as soon as operational security considerations allow) if the specified activity identified in § 218.150 is thought to have resulted in the mortality or serious injury of any marine mammals, or in any Level A harassment or Level B harassment of marine mammals not authorized under this subpart.(b)Monitoring and reporting under the LOA. The Navy must conduct all monitoring and reporting required under the LOA, including abiding by the U.S. Navy's Marine Species Monitoring Program. Details on program goals, objectives, project selection process, and current projects are available at www.navymarinespeciesmonitoring.us.(d)Annual GOA Marine Species Monitoring Report. The Navy must submit an annual report of the GOA Study Area monitoring, which will be included in a Pacific-wide monitoring report and include results specific to the GOA Study Area, describing the implementation and results from the previous calendar year. Data collection methods must be standardized across Pacific Range Complexes including the Mariana Islands Training and Testing (MITT), Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing (HSTT), Northwest Training and Testing (NWTT), and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Study Areas to allow for comparison among different geographic locations. The report must be submitted to the Director, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, either within 3 months after the end of the calendar year, or within 3 months after the conclusion of the monitoring year, to be determined by the adaptive management process. NMFS will submit comments or questions on the report, if any, within 3 months of receipt. The report will be considered final after the Navy has addressed NMFS' comments, or 3 months after submittal if NMFS does not provide comments on the report. This report will describe progress of knowledge made with respect to intermediate scientific objectives within the GOA Study Area associated with the Integrated Comprehensive Monitoring Program. Similar study questions must be treated together so that progress on each topic can be summarized across all Navy ranges. The report need not include analyses and content that does not provide direct assessment of cumulative progress on the monitoring plan study questions. This will continue to allow the Navy to provide a cohesive monitoring report covering multiple ranges (as per Integrated Comprehensive Monitoring Program goals), rather than entirely separate reports for the GOA, NWTT, HSTT, and MITT Study Areas.(e)GOA Annual Training Report. Each year in which training activities are conducted in the GOA Study Area, the Navy must submit one preliminary report (Quick Look Report) to NMFS detailing the status of applicable sound sources within 21 days after the completion of the training activities in the GOA Study Area. Each year in which activities are conducted, the Navy must also submit a detailed report (GOA Annual Training Report) to the Director, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, within 3 months after completion of the training activities. NMFS must submit comments or questions on the report, if any, within one month of receipt. The report will be considered final after the Navy has addressed NMFS' comments, or one month after submittal if NMFS does not provide comments on the report. The annual reports must contain information about the major training exercise (MTE), including the information listed in paragraphs (e)(1) and (2) of this section. The annual report, which is only required during years in which activities are conducted, must also contain cumulative sonar and explosive use quantity from previous years' reports through the current year. Additionally, if there were any changes to the sound source allowance in the reporting year, or cumulatively, the report must include a discussion of why the change was made and include analysis to support how the change did or did not affect the analysis in the GOA Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS/OEIS) (https://www.goaeis.com/) and MMPA final rule (88 FR 690, January 4, 2023). The analysis in the detailed report must be based on the accumulation of data from the current year's report and data collected from previous annual reports. The final annual/close-out report at the conclusion of the authorization period (year seven) will also serve as the comprehensive close-out report and include both the final year annual use compared to annual authorization as well as a cumulative 7-year annual use compared to 7-year authorization. This report must also note any years in which training did not occur. NMFS must submit comments on the draft close-out report, if any, within 3 months of receipt. The report will be considered final after the Navy has addressed NMFS' comments, or 3 months after the submittal if NMFS does not provide comments. Information included in the annual reports may be used to inform future adaptive management of activities within the GOA Study Area. In addition to the information discussed above, the GOA Annual Training Report must include the following information. (1)MFAS/HFAS. The Navy must submit the following information for the MTE conducted in the GOA Study Area. (i)Exercise information (for each MTE).(B) Date that exercise began and ended.(D) Number and types of active sources used in the exercise.(E) Number and types of passive acoustic sources used in exercise.(F) Number and types of vessels, aircraft, etc., participating in exercise.(G) Total hours of observation by Lookouts.(H) Total hours of all active sonar source operation.(I) Total hours of each active sonar source bin.(J) Wave height (high, low, and average during exercise).(ii)Individual marine mammal sighting information for each sighting in each exercise where mitigation was implemented.(A) Date/time/location of sighting.(B) Species (if not possible, indication of whale/dolphin/pinniped).(C) Number of individuals.(D) Initial detection sensor (e.g., sonar or Lookout).(E) Indication of specific type of platform observation made from (including, for example, what type of surface vessel or testing platform).(F) Length of time observers maintained visual contact with marine mammal.(I) Sound source in use at the time of sighting.(J) Indication of whether animal was less than 200 yd (182.9 m), 200 to 500 yd (182.9 to 457.2 m), 500 to 1,000 yd (457.2 to 914.4 m), 1,000 to 2,000 yd (914.4 to 1,828.8 m), or greater than 2,000 yd (1,828.8 m) from sonar source.(K) Whether operation of sonar sensor was delayed, or sonar was powered or shut down, and how long the delay was.(L) If source in use is hull-mounted, true bearing of animal from ship, true direction of ship's travel, and estimation of animal's motion relative to ship (opening, closing, parallel).(M) Lookouts shall report, in plain language and without trying to categorize in any way, the observed behavior of the animals (such as animal closing to bow ride, paralleling course/speed, floating on surface and not swimming, etc.) and if any calves present.(iii) An evaluation (based on data gathered during all of the MTEs) of the effectiveness of mitigation measures designed to minimize the received level to which marine mammals may be exposed. This evaluation shall identify the specific observations that support any conclusions the Navy reaches about the effectiveness of the mitigation.(2)Summary of sources used.(i) This section shall include the following information summarized from the authorized sound sources used in all training events: (A)Total hours. Total annual hours or quantity (per the LOA) of each bin of sonar or other non-impulsive source; and(B)Number of explosives. Total annual number of each type of explosive exercises and total annual expended/detonated rounds (bombs, large-caliber projectiles) for each explosive bin.(f)Pre-event notification. The Navy must coordinate with NMFS prior to conducting exercises within the GOA Study Area. This may occur as a part of coordination the Navy does with other local stakeholders. 88 FR 690 , 2/3/2023 through 2/2/2030