60-day FRN

67984

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 191 / Monday, October 3, 2016 / Notices

100 Boardman Street, Boston, MA
02128; phone: (617) 567–6789.
Council address: New England
Fishery Management Council, 50 Water
Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Information Collection;
Comment Request; Applications and
Reporting Requirements for the
Incidental Take of Marine Mammals by
Specified Activities (Other Than
Commercial Fishing Operations) Under
the Marine Mammal Protection Act

Agenda

AGENCY:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director,
New England Fishery Management
Council; telephone: (978) 465–0492.

The committee will review
information provided by the Council’s
Scallop Plan Development Team (PDT)
and recommend the overfishing levels
(OFLs) and acceptable biological catches
(ABCs) for Atlantic sea scallops for
fishing years 2016 and 2017. They will
discuss other issues related to
improving control rules and ABC
recommendations for groundfish and
other stocks, including ecosystem
information, how to deal with
information from multiple stock
assessment models and other
information. Other business will be
discussed as needed.
Although non-emergency issues not
contained in this agenda may come
before this group for discussion, those
issues may not be the subject of formal
action during this meeting. Action will
be restricted to those issues specifically
listed in this notice and any issues
arising after publication of this notice
that require emergency action under
section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens
Act, provided the public has been
notified of the Council’s intent to take
final action to address the emergency.
Special Accommodations
This meeting is physically accessible
to people with disabilities. Requests for
sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aids should be directed to
Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, at
(978) 465–0492, at least 5 days prior to
the meeting date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: September 28, 2016.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

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National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
The Department of
Commerce, as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to
comment on proposed and/or
continuing information collections, as
required by the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995.
DATES: Written comments must be
submitted on or before December 2,
2016.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments
to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental
Paperwork Clearance Officer,
Department of Commerce, Room 6616,
14th and Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230 (or via the
Internet at JJessup@doc.gov).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection
instrument and instructions should be
directed to Dale Youngkin, (301) 427–
8401 or ITP.Youngkin@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:

I. Abstract
This request is for an extension of a
currently approved information
collection.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act
of 1972 (MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.)
prohibits the ‘‘take’’ of marine mammals
unless otherwise authorized or
exempted by law. Among the provisions
that allow for lawful take of marine
mammals, sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D)
of the MMPA direct the Secretary of
Commerce 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, after notice and opportunity for
public comment, we find that the taking
will have a negligible impact on the
affected species or stock(s) and will not
have an unmitigable adverse impact on
the availability of the species or stock(s)

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for subsistence uses (where relevant).
The National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) also must set forth the
permissible methods of taking; other
means of effecting the least practicable
adverse impact on the species or stock
and its habitat (mitigation); and
requirements pertaining to the
monitoring and reporting of such taking.
Issuance of an incidental take
authorization (Authorization) under
section 101(a)(5)(A) or 101(a)(5)(D) of
the MMPA requires three sets of
information collection: (1) A complete
application for an Authorization, as set
forth in our implementing regulations at
50 CFR 216.104, which provides the
information necessary for us to make the
necessary statutory determinations,
including estimates of take and an
assessment of impacts on the affected
species and stocks; (2) information
relating to required monitoring; and (3)
information related to required
reporting. These collections of
information enable us to: (1) Evaluate
the proposed activity’s impact on
marine mammals; (2) arrive at the
appropriate determinations required by
the MMPA and other applicable laws
prior to issuing the authorization; and
(3) monitor impacts of activities for
which we have issued Authorizations to
determine if our predictions regarding
impacts on marine mammals remain
valid.
On August 4, 2016, NMFS published
a Federal Register Notice (81 FR 51694)
notifying the public of its new
Technical Guidance for Assessing the
Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on
Marine Mammal Hearing (Guidance).
This guidance established new
thresholds for predicting auditory
injury, which equates to Level A
harassment (a type of take) under the
MMPA. In that Federal Register Notice
we stated that we would consider the
effect of the Guidance, specifically
whether a revision in the burden hour
estimates is appropriate, and invite
public comment on its assessment.
Although NMFS has updated the
acoustic thresholds and these changes
may necessitate new methodologies for
calculating impacts, NMFS does not
anticipate that the new guidance will
substantially add to the overall burden
to applicants for incidental take
authorizations. This is due to the fact
that, recognizing that action proponents
have varying abilities to model and
estimate exposure, and that the new
guidance may be more complex than
some action proponents are able to
incorporate, NMFS provided an
alternative methodology with an
associated spreadsheet for use as an aid.
Action proponents already using more

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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 191 / Monday, October 3, 2016 / Notices
complex modeling capabilities would
simply modify their modeling efforts
using the new criteria, and action
proponents without the ability to do
more complex modeling may opt to use
the alternative methodology
spreadsheet. Therefore, the estimated
time per response is not affected by the
guidance.

use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB
approval of this information collection;
they also will become a matter of public
record.

II. Method of Collection
Respondents have a choice of
submitting either electronic or paper
forms. Methods of submittal include
email, mail, overnight delivery service,
and/or facsimile transmissions.

Dated: September 27, 2016.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.

III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0648–0151.
Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Regular submission
(extension of a currently approved
information collection).
Affected Public: Not-for-profit
institutions; state, local, or tribal
governments; businesses or other forprofit organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
95.
Estimated Time per Response: 255
hours for an Incidental Harassment
Authorization (IHA) application; 11
hours for an IHA interim report (if
applicable); 115 hours for an IHA draft
annual report; 14 hours for an IHA final
annual report (if applicable); 1,100
hours for the initial preparation of an
application for new regulations; 70
hours for an annual Letter of
Authorization (LOA) application; 220
hours for an LOA draft annual report; 65
hours for a LOA final annual report (if
applicable); 625 hours for a LOA draft
comprehensive report; and 300 hours
for an LOA final comprehensive report.
Response times will vary for the public
based upon the complexity of the
requested action.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 14,109.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $360 in recordkeeping/reporting
costs and $0 in capital costs.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the
proposed collection of information; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XE297

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to
Specified Activities; Taking Marine
Mammals Incidental to a Pier
Construction and Support Facilities
Project, Port Angeles, WA
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; issuance of an incidental
harassment authorization.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
regulations implementing the Marine
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as
amended, notification is hereby given
that we have issued an incidental
harassment authorization (IHA) to the
U.S. Navy (Navy) to incidentally harass
marine mammals during construction
activities associated with the Pier
Construction and Support Facilities
Project at Port Angeles, WA.
DATES: This authorization is effective
from November 1, 2016 to October 31,
2017.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laura McCue, Office of Protected
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427–8401.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:

Availability
An electronic copy of the Navy’s
application and supporting documents,
as well as a list of the references cited
in this document, may be obtained by
visiting the Internet at:
www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/
incidental.htm. A memorandum
describing our adoption of the Navy’s
Environmental Assessment (2016) and
our associated Finding of No Significant
Impact, prepared pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act, are
also available at the same site. In case

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67985

of problems accessing these documents,
please call the contact listed above (see
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
Background
Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the
MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) direct
the Secretary of Commerce to allow,
upon request by U.S. citizens who
engage in a specified activity (other than
commercial fishing) within a specified
area, the incidental, but not intentional,
taking of small numbers of marine
mammals, providing that certain
findings are made and the necessary
prescriptions are established.
The incidental taking of small
numbers of marine mammals may be
allowed only if NMFS (through
authority delegated by the Secretary)
finds that the total taking by the
specified activity during the specified
time period will (i) have a negligible
impact on the species or stock(s) and (ii)
not have an unmitigable adverse impact
on the availability of the species or
stock(s) for subsistence uses (where
relevant). Further, the permissible
methods of taking and requirements
pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring
and reporting of such taking must be set
forth, either in specific regulations or in
an authorization.
The allowance of such incidental
taking under section 101(a)(5)(A), by
harassment, serious injury, death, or a
combination thereof, requires that
regulations be established.
Subsequently, a Letter of Authorization
may be issued pursuant to the
prescriptions established in such
regulations, providing that the level of
taking will be consistent with the
findings made for the total taking
allowable under the specific regulations.
Under section 101(a)(5)(D), NMFS may
authorize such incidental taking by
harassment only, for periods of not more
than one year, pursuant to requirements
and conditions contained within an
IHA. The establishment of prescriptions
through either specific regulations or an
authorization requires notice and
opportunity for public comment.
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.’’ Except with
respect to certain activities not pertinent
here, section 3(18) of 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; or (ii) has the potential to disturb

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