Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Pier 171 Repair and Replacement Project in Newport, Rhode Island.

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[RTID 0648-XE969]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Pier 171 Repair and Replacement Project in Newport, Rhode Island.</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice; proposed incidental harassment authorization; request for comments on proposed authorization and possible renewal. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to Pier 171 Repair and Replacement Project in Newport, Rhode Island (RI). Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS is also requesting comments on a possible one-time, 1-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorization and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments and information must be received no later than October 6, 2025. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Comments should be addressed to Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service and should be submitted via email to <E T="03">ITP.gatzke@noaa.gov.</E> Electronic copies of the 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/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act.</E> In case of problems accessing these documents, please call the contact listed below. <E T="03">Instructions:</E> NMFS is not responsible for comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period. Comments, including all attachments, must not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted online at <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act</E> without change. All personal identifying information ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> name, address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Jennifer Gatzke, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</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 IHA is provided to the public for review. 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 and 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 definitions of all applicable MMPA statutory terms used above are included in the relevant sections below and can be found in section 3 of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1362) and NMFS regulations at 50 CFR 216.103. <HD SOURCE="HD1">National Environmental Policy Act</HD> To comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) and NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) 216-6A, NMFS must review our proposed action ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> the issuance of an IHA) with respect to potential impacts on the human environment. This action is consistent with categories of activities identified in Categorical Exclusion B4 (IHAs with no anticipated serious injury or mortality) of the Companion Manual for NAO 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 has preliminarily determined that the issuance of the proposed IHA qualifies to be categorically excluded from further NEPA review. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Summary of Request</HD> On February 27, 2025, NMFS received a request from U.S. Navy (Navy) for an IHA to take marine mammals incidental to the Pier 171 Repair and Replacement Project in Newport, RI. Following NMFS' review of the application, the Navy submitted a revised version deemed adequate and complete on June 23, 2025. The Navy is requesting incidental take of 7 species of marine mammals, by Level B harassment only. Neither the Navy nor NMFS expect serious injury or mortality to result from this activity and, therefore, an IHA is appropriate. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Description of Proposed Activity</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">Overview</HD> The Navy is proposing the Stillwater Basin Upgrade Project (project) located at Naval Station Newport (NAVSTA Newport), Stillwater Basin in Coddington Cove, Newport, RI. The project consists of partial demolition, repair, and replacement of the deteriorating and unstable Pier 171. Pier 171 was originally constructed in 1943 and is primarily used to berth Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport vessels. Figure 1 provides a site overview and the site location. <GPH SPAN="3" DEEP="391"> <GID>EN05SE25.000</GID> </GPH> <HD SOURCE="HD2">Dates and Duration</HD> The proposed IHA would be valid for the statutory maximum of 1 year from the date of effectiveness, and would become effective upon written notification from the applicant to NMFS but not beginning later than 1 year from the date of issuance or extending beyond 2 years from the date of issuance. Pier 171 is the northernmost pier within Stillwater Basin and the Navy proposes to conduct in-water activities from March 1, 2026-February 28, 2027. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Specific Geographic Region</HD> Coddington Cove, RI is a protected embayment on the western side of Aquidneck Island in Narragansett Bay. The cove is protected immediately north of Pier 171 by a 1.2 kilometer (km) (4,000 foot (ft)) long rubble-mound breakwater, and to the south by the Coddington Point peninsula (Figure 1). The cove covers an area of 5.5 square km (km <SU>2</SU> ) (1.6 square nautical miles) with water depths up to 15 m (50 ft). The area is a restricted area and is closed to all commercial and recreational vessel traffic, unless authorized by the appropriate personnel (33 CFR 334.81). According to a 2015 bathymetric survey, water depths in the proposed project area are less than 34 ft (10 m) mean lower low water (NAVFAC 2015). Water depths in the pier are maintained via periodic dredging to accommodate the berthing of large ships. Water temperature ranges from 36 degrees Fahrenheit (°F; 2 degrees Celsius (°C)) in winter to 68 °F (20 °C) in summer, with salinity about 31 parts per thousand (ppt). Substrate surrounding the timber piles of the pier include chunks of asphalt, sand, shell, mud, silt, and natural fluvial deposits. Proposed repairs would occur in these shallow nearshore waters (less than 34 ft; 10 m). <HD SOURCE="HD2">Detailed Description of the Specified Activity</HD> This construction project involves the proposed repair and replacement of Pier 171 within Coddington Cove (Figure 1) from March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027. The Navy originally proposed the Stillwater Basin Upgrade Project located at Naval Station Newport (NAVSTA Newport) in 2023, but the project was postponed. The project consists of partial demolition, repair, and replacement of the deteriorating and unstable Pier 171, with approximately 37 total days of pile driving. Pier 171 was originally constructed in 1943 and is primarily used to berth Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport vessels. Upgrades to this L-shaped pier are necessary to support the Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (LDUUV) and the Extra Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (XLUUV) Programs. As part of these program requirements, Pier 171 requires the ability to support a gross vehicle weight limit of 20,000 pounds (lb; 9,072 kilograms (kg)). The existing 166 12-inch (in) to 14-in (30-35 cm) timber piles will be repaired and/or replaced with approximately 165 12-in to 14-in (30-35 cm) timber piles, with fender systems located along both the north and south sides of the pier. Stressors ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 151k characters. 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