Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Military Readiness Activities in the Hawaii-California Training and Testing Study Area

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 218</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 250708-0120]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 0648-BN44</RIN> <SUBJECT>Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Military Readiness Activities in the Hawaii-California Training and Testing Study Area</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule; proposed letters of authorization; request for comments. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Department of the Navy (including the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps) (Navy) and on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) and U.S. Army (Army) (hereafter, Navy, Coast Guard, and Army are collectively referred to as the Action Proponents) for Incidental Take Regulations (ITR) and multiple associated Letters of Authorization (LOAs) pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The requested regulations would govern the authorization of take of marine mammals incidental to training and testing activities, and modernization and sustainment of ranges conducted in the Hawaii-California Training and Testing (HCTT) Study Area over the course of seven years from December 2025 through December 2032. NMFS requests comments on this proposed rule. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the promulgation of the requested ITR and issuance of the LOAs; agency responses to public comments will be summarized in the final rule, if issued. The Action Proponents' activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the MMPA, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (2004 NDAA) and the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2019 (2019 NDAA). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments and information must be received no later than August 15, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> A plain language summary of this proposed rule is available at: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NOAA-NMFS-2025-0028.</E> You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2025-0028, by any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Electronic Submission:</E> Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Visit <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> and type NOAA-NMFS-2025-0028 in the Search box. Click on the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments. • <E T="03">Mail:</E> Submit written comments to Ben Laws, Incidental Take Program Supervisor, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3225. • <E T="03">Fax:</E> (301) 713-0376; Attn: Ben Laws. <E T="03">Instructions:</E> Comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing at: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> without change. All personal identifying information ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> name, address, <E T="03">etc.</E> ), confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter “N/A” in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous). Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF file formats only. A copy of the Action Proponents' Incidental Take Authorization (ITA) application and supporting documents, as well as a list of the references cited in this document, may be obtained online at: <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-military-readiness-activities.</E> In case of problems accessing these documents, please call the contact listed below (see <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> ). <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Leah Davis, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Purpose and Need for Regulatory Action</HD> This proposed rule, if promulgated, would provide a framework under the authority of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) to allow for the authorization of take of marine mammals incidental to the Action Proponents' training and testing activities and modernization and sustainment of ranges (which qualify as military readiness activities) involving the use of active sonar and other transducers, air guns, and explosives (also referred to <E T="03">as</E> “in-water detonations”); pile driving and vibratory extraction; land-based missile and target launches; and vessel movement in the HCTT Study Area. The HCTT Study Area includes areas in the north-central Pacific Ocean, from California west to Hawaii and the International Date Line, and including the Hawaii Range Complex (HRC) and Temporary Operating Area (TOA), Southern California (SOCAL) Range Complex, Point Mugu Sea Range (PMSR), Silver Strand Training Complex, areas along the Southern California coastline from approximately Dana Point to Port Hueneme, and the Northern California (NOCAL) Range Complex (see figure 1.1-1 of the rulemaking and LOA application (hereafter referred to as the application)). Please see the Legal Authority for the Proposed Action section for relevant definitions. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Legal Authority for the Proposed Action</HD> The MMPA prohibits the “take” of marine mammals, with certain exceptions. Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) 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 proposed or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed authorization is provided to the public for review and the opportunity to submit comment. Authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stock(s) and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stock(s) for taking for subsistence uses (where relevant). Further, NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking; other “means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact” on the affected species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for certain subsistence uses (collectively referred to as “mitigation”); and requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of the takings. The MMPA defines “take” to mean to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine mammal (16 U.S.C. 1362). The Preliminary Analysis and Negligible Impact Determination section discusses the definition of “negligible impact.” The 2004 NDAA (Pub. L. 108-136) amended section 101(a)(5) of the MMPA to remove the “small numbers” and “specified geographical region” provisions, 16 U.S.C. 1371(a)(5)(F), and amended the definition of “harassment” in section 3(18)(B) of the MMPA as applied to a “military readiness activity” to read as follows: (1) Any act that injures or has the significant potential to injure a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A Harassment); or (2) Any act that disturbs or is likely to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild by causing disruption of natural behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, surfacing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering, to a point where such behavioral patterns are abandoned or significantly altered (Level B Harassment). 16 U.S.C. 1362(18)(B). The 2004 NDAA also amended the MMPA to establish in section 101(a)(5)(A)(iii) that “[f]or a military readiness activity . . . , a determination of `least practicable adverse impact' . . . shall include consideration of personnel safety, practicality of implementation, and impact on the effectiveness of the military readiness activity.” 16 U.S.C. 1371(a)(5)(A)(iii). On August 13, 2018, the 2019 NDAA (Pub. L. 115-232) amended the MMPA to allow ITRs for military readiness activities to be issued for up to 7 years. 16 U.S.C. 1371(a)(5)(A)(ii). <HD SOURCE="HD1">Summary of Major Provisions Within the Proposed Rule</HD> The major provisions of this proposed rule are as follows: • The proposed authorization of take of marine mammals by Level A harassment and/or Level B harassment; • The proposed authorization of take of marine mammals by mortality or serious injury (M/SI); • The proposed use of defined powerdown and shutdown zones (based on activity); • Proposed measures to reduce the likelihood of vessel strikes; • Proposed activity limitations in certain areas and times that are biologically important ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> for foraging, migration, reproduction) for marine mammals; • The proposed implementation of a Notification and Reporting Plan (for dead, live stranded, or marine mammals struck by any vessel engaged in military readiness activities); and • The proposed implementation of a robust monitoring plan to improve our understanding of the environmental effects resulting from the Action Propon ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 1373k characters. 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