National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 8, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS received a request from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to a marine geophysical survey in the Nauru Basin of greater Micronesia in the northwest (NW) Pacific Ocean. 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.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to Bay State Wind, LLC (Bay State Wind), to incidentally harass marine mammals during marine site characterization surveys off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lease Area OCS-A 0500 and the associated export cable route (ECR) area.