Draft Environmental Analysis of a Marine Geophysical Survey by the R/V Marcus G. Langseth in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, October–November 2015

Prepared for

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 61 Route 9W, P.O. Box 1000 Palisades, NY 10964-8000

and

National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences 4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 725 Arlington, VA 22230

by

LGL Ltd., environmental research associates 22 Fisher St., POB 280 King City, Ont. L7B 1A6

16 April 2015

LGL Report FA0041-1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ...... iv

LIST OF ACRONYMS ...... vi

I. PURPOSE AND NEED ...... 1 Mission of NSF...... 1 Purpose of and Need for the Proposed Action...... 1 Background of NSF-funded Marine Seismic Research ...... 2 Regulatory Setting ...... 2

II. ALTERNATIVES INCLUDING PROPOSED ACTION ...... 2 Proposed Action ...... 2 (1) Project Objectives and Context ...... 2 (2) Proposed Activities ...... 4 (3) Monitoring and Mitigation Measures ...... 6 Alternative 1: Alternative Survey Timing ...... 13 Alternative 2: No Action Alternative ...... 14 Alternatives Considered but Eliminated from Further Analysis ...... 14 (1) Alternative E1: Alternative Location ...... 14 (2) Alternative E2: Use of Alternative Technologies ...... 14

III. AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT ...... 14 Physical Environment and Oceanography ...... 17 Protected Areas ...... 17 Marine Mammals ...... 19 (1) Mysticetes ...... 23 (2) Odontocetes ...... 24 Sea Turtles ...... 30 (1) Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) ...... 31 (2) Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) ...... 34 (3) Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) ...... 35 Seabirds ...... 35 (1) Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii) ...... 35 (2) Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) ...... 36 Fish, Essential Fish Habitat, and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern ...... 36 (1) Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna lewini) ...... 36 (2) Adriatic Sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii) ...... 37 (3) European Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) ...... 37 (4) Sawback Angelshark (Squatina aculeata) ...... 37 (5) Smoothback Angelshark (Squatina oculata) ...... 37 (6) Angelshark (Squatina squatina) ...... 38

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page ii Table of Contents

(7) Common Guitarfish (Rhinobatos rhinobatos) ...... 38 (8) Blackchin Guitarfish (Rhinobatos cemiculus) ...... 38 (9) Undulate Ray (Raja undulata) ...... 38 Fisheries ...... 38 (1) Commercial Fisheries ...... 39 (2) Recreational Fisheries ...... 40 (3) Aquaculture ...... 41 Recreational SCUBA Diving ...... 41

IV. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES...... 41 Proposed Action ...... 41 (1) Direct Effects on Marine Mammals and Sea Turtles and Their Significance ...... 41 (2) Direct Effects on Invertebrates, Fish, Fisheries, and EFH and Their Significance ...... 58 (3) Direct Effects on Seabirds and Their Significance ...... 61 (4) Indirect Effects on Marine Mammals, Sea Turtles, Seabirds and Fish and Their Significance ...... 61 (5) Direct Effects on Recreational SCUBA Divers and Dive Sites and Their Significance ...... 62 (6) Cumulative Effects ...... 62 (7) Unavoidable Impacts ...... 65 (8) Coordination with Other Agencies and Processes ...... 65 Alternative Action: Another Time ...... 66 No Action Alternative ...... 66

V. LIST OF PREPARERS ...... 67

VI. LITERATURE CITED ...... 68

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page iii Abstract

ABSTRACT Researchers from Oregon State University, with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), propose to conduct a high-energy seismic survey from the R/V Marcus G. Langseth (Langseth) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea during 12 October–14 November 2015. The NSF-owned Langseth is operated by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (L-DEO). The proposed seismic survey would use a towed array of 36 airguns with a total discharge volume of ~6600 in3. The seismic survey would take place within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Greece, including its territorial waters, in water depths ~20–3000+ m. On behalf of L-DEO, the U.S. State Department will seek authorization from Greece for clearance to work in its EEZ. NSF, as the funding and action agency, has a mission to “promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…”. The proposed seismic survey would collect data in support of a research proposal that has been reviewed under the NSF merit review process and identified as an NSF program priority. It would provide data necessary to study the crustal magma plumbing of the Santorini volcanic system in the Aegean Sea. In addition, on behalf of scientists from Ifremer, the French Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, the researchers and Langseth would support the collection of 2D data along the megathrust fault between Peloponnesus and Crete in the Hellenic subduction zone in southwestern Greece. This Draft Environmental Analysis (EA) addresses NSF’s requirements under Executive Order 12114, “Environmental Effects Abroad of Major Federal Actions”, for the proposed NSF federal action. As operator of the Langseth, L-DEO is requesting an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) from the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to authorize the incidental, i.e., not intentional, harassment of small numbers of marine mammals should this occur during the seismic survey. The issue regarding whether the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) applies to U.S. activities occurring within the EEZs of foreign States remains unsettled as a matter of law. Therefore, the submission of the IHA application to NMFS does not constitute a waiver or adoption of any position regarding that issue. The analysis in this document also supports the IHA application process and provides information on marine species that are not addressed by the IHA application, including sea turtles, seabirds, fish, and invertebrates that are listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), including candidate species. As analysis on endangered/ threatened species was included, this document will also be used to support ESA Section 7 consultations with NMFS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Alternatives addressed in this EA consist of a corresponding program at a different time with issuance of an associated IHA and the no action alternative, with no IHA and no seismic survey. This document tiers to the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement for Marine Seismic Research Funded by the National Science Foundation or Conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (June 2011) and Record of Decision (June 2012), referred to herein as PEIS. Numerous species of marine mammals inhabit the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Several of these species are listed as Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA): the sperm, North Atlantic right, humpback, sei, and fin whales, and the Mediterranean monk seal. Other marine ESA-listed species that could occur in the area are the Endangered leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles, Audouin’s gull, and slender- billed curlew, and the Threatened green turtle. The Endangered Adriatic and European sturgeons, and the scalloped hammerhead shark could also occur in or near the survey areas. Potential impacts of the seismic survey on the environment would be primarily a result of the operation of the airgun array. A multibeam echosounder and sub-bottom profiler would also be operated

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page iv Abstract during the survey. Impacts would be associated with increased underwater noise, which could result in avoidance behavior by marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds, and fish, and other forms of disturbance. An integral part of the planned survey is a monitoring and mitigation program designed to minimize potential impacts of the proposed activities on marine animals present during the proposed research, and to document as much as possible the nature and extent of any effects. Injurious impacts to marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds have not been proven to occur near airgun arrays, and are not likely to be caused by the other types of sound sources to be used. However, a precautionary approach would still be taken and the planned monitoring and mitigation measures would reduce the possibility of any effects. Protection measures designed to mitigate the potential environmental impacts to marine mammals and sea turtles would include the following: ramp ups; two dedicated observers maintaining a visual watch during all daytime airgun operations; two observers before and during ramp ups during the day; no start ups during poor visibility or at night unless at least one airgun has been operating; passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) via towed hydrophones during both day and night to complement visual monitoring; and power downs (or if necessary shut downs) when marine mammals or sea turtles are detected in or about to enter designated exclusion zones. The acoustic source would also be powered or shut down in the event an ESA-listed seabird were observed diving or foraging within the designated exclusion zones. Observers would also watch for any impacts the acoustic sources may have on ESA-listed fish species. L-DEO and its contractors are committed to applying these measures in order to minimize effects on marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds, fish and other environmental impacts. With the planned monitoring and mitigation measures, unavoidable impacts to each species of marine mammal and sea turtle that could be encountered would be expected to be limited to short-term, localized changes in behavior and distribution near the seismic vessel. At most, effects on marine mammals may be interpreted as falling within the U.S. MMPA definition of “Level B Harassment” for those species managed by NMFS. No long-term or significant effects would be expected on individual marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds, fish, the populations to which they belong, or their habitats.

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page v List of Acronyms

LIST OF ACRONYMS ~ approximately ACCOBAMS Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area AMVER Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue ASC-BW Areas of Special Concern for Beaked Whales CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species dB decibel DNA Deoxyribonucleic Acid DoN Department of the Navy DPS Distinct Population Segment EA Environmental Analysis EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone EFH Essential Fish Habitat EIS Environmental Impact Statement EO Executive Order ESA (U.S.) Endangered Species Act ESU Evolutionarily Significant Unit EU European Union EZ Exclusion Zone FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FM Frequency Modulated GIS Geographic Information System GoM Gulf of Mexico h hour HAPC Habitat Areas of Particular Concern hp horsepower HRTRP Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan Hz Hertz IHA Incidental Harassment Authorization (under MMPA) in inch IOC Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO IODP Integrated Ocean Drilling Program IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature IWC International Whaling Commission kHz kilohertz km kilometer kt knot L-DEO Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory LFA Low-frequency Active (sonar) m meter MAFMC Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council MBES Multibeam Echosounder MCS Multi-Channel Seismic MFA Mid-frequency Active (sonar)

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page vi List of Acronyms min minute MMPA (U.S.) Marine Mammal Protection Act ms millisecond n.mi. nautical mile NEFSC Northeast Fisheries Science Center NMFS (U.S.) National Marine Fisheries Service NRC (U.S.) National Research Council NSF National Science Foundation OAWRS Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing OBIS Ocean Biogeographic Information System OCS Outer Continental Shelf OEIS Overseas Environmental Impact Statement p or pk peak PEIS Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement PI Principal Investigator PTS Permanent Threshold Shift PSO Protected Species Observer RL Received level rms root-mean-square R/V research vessel s second SAFMC South Atlantic Fishery Management SAR U.S. Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Report SBP Sub-bottom Profiler SEFSC Southeast Fisheries Science Center SEL Sound Exposure Level (a measure of acoustic energy) SPL Sound Pressure Level TTS Temporary Threshold Shift UNEP United Nations Environment Programme U.S. United States of America USCG U.S. Coast Guard USD U.S. Dollars USGS U.S. Geological Survey USFWS U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service USN U.S. Navy μPa microPascal vs. versus WCMC World Conservation Monitoring Centre

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page vii I. Purpose and Need

I. PURPOSE AND NEED The purpose of this Draft Environmental Analysis (EA) is to provide the information needed to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed action, including the use of a 36- airgun array during the proposed seismic survey. This Draft EA was prepared under Executive Order 12114, “Environmental Effects Abroad of Major Federal Actions” (EO 12114). This Draft EA tiers to the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (OEIS) for Marine Seismic Research funded by the National Science Foundation or Conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (NSF and USGS 2011) and Record of Decision (NSF 2012), referred to herein as the PEIS. The Draft EA provides details of the proposed action at the site-specific level and addresses potential impacts of the proposed seismic survey on marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds, fish, and invertebrates. The Draft EA will also be used in support of an application for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and Section 7 consultations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The IHA would allow the non-intentional, non-injurious “take by harassment” of small numbers of marine mammals during the proposed seismic survey by L-DEO in the eastern Mediterranean Sea during October–November 2015. The issue regarding whether the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) applies to U.S. activities occurring within the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of foreign States remains unsettled as a matter of law. Therefore, the submission of the IHA application to the National Marine Fisheries Service does not constitute a waiver or adoption of any position regarding that issue. On behalf of L-DEO, the U.S. State Department will seek authorization from Greece for clearance to work in its EEZ. To be eligible for an IHA under the U.S. MMPA, the proposed “taking” (with mitigation measures in place) must not cause serious physical injury or death of marine mammals, must have negligible impacts on the species and stocks, must “take” no more than small numbers of those species or stocks, and must not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stocks for legitimate subsistence uses. Mission of NSF The National Science Foundation (NSF) was established by Congress with the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (Public Law 810507, as amended) and is the only federal agency dedicated to the support of fundamental research and education in all scientific and engineering disciplines. Further details on the mission of NSF are described in § 1.2 of the PEIS. Purpose of and Need for the Proposed Action As noted in the PEIS, § 1.3, NSF has a continuing need to fund seismic surveys that enable scientists to collect data essential to understanding the complex Earth processes beneath the ocean floor. The primary purpose of the proposed action is to collect 3D marine-land seismic data on and around the island of Santorini (officially known as Thira) to study the crustal magma plumbing of the Santorini volcanic system. The dataset would allow scientists to determine the depth, geometry, and melt content of magma reservoirs throughout the crust and at the boundary between the crust and mantle; whether these magma bodies are connected by dike systems or by vertical, crystal-rich complexes; and the structure and properties of the surrounding crust. In addition, on behalf of scientists from Ifremer, French Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, the proposed activity would collect 2D seismic reflection data to image the megathrust fault between Peloponnesus and Crete Island in the Hellenic subduction zone off southwestern Greece. The proposed activities would continue to meet NSF’s critical need to foster a better understanding of Earth processes.

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page 1 I. Purpose and Need

Background of NSF-funded Marine Seismic Research The background of NSF-funded marine seismic research is described in § 1.5 of the PEIS. Regulatory Setting The regulatory setting of this EA is described in § 1.8 of the PEIS, including the  Executive Order 12114;  Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA); and  Endangered Species Act (ESA).

II. ALTERNATIVES INCLUDING PROPOSED ACTION In this Draft EA, three alternatives are evaluated: (1) the proposed seismic survey and associated issuance of an associated IHA, (2) a corresponding seismic survey at an alternative time, along with issuance of an associated IHA, and (3) no action alternative. Additionally, two alternatives were considered but were eliminated from further analysis. A summary table of the proposed action, alternatives, and alternatives eliminated from further analysis is provided at the end of this section. Proposed Action The project objectives and context, activities, and monitoring/mitigation measures for L-DEO’s planned seismic survey are described in the following subsections.

(1) Project Objectives and Context As noted previously, the main goal of the proposed research is to collect and analyze seismic refraction data on and around the island of Santorini (Thira) to examine the crustal magma plumbing of the Santorini volcanic system. Models of how magma evolution at arc volcanoes generates the dominantly silicic magmas that form the continental crust, and of the dynamics that control magma migration, storage, and eruption, require better physical constraints on the geometry, crystal content, and the nature of interconnections of magmas at all depths throughout the crust. To address these outstanding issues, a high-resolution 3D seismic refraction survey would be conducted at the active and semi- submerged Santorini Volcano (Fig. 1) that takes advantage of high-density spatial sampling of the seismic wave field and state-of-the-art travel time and waveform inversion methods to provide new insights into the structure of the whole crustal magmatic system and its surroundings. The results from the proposed study would test the following three hypotheses: (1) Crystallization of mafic melts occurs in shallow crustal magma chambers; (2) Magma evolves continuously as it resides in and moves through multiple levels of magma reservoirs; and (3) Differentiation and/or mixing with melts of surrounding rock occurs almost entirely in the lower crust. To test these hypotheses and achieve the project’s goals, the Principal Investigators (PIs) Drs. E. Hooft and D. Toomey (University of Oregon) propose to sample the seismic wave field that propagates throughout the entire crust beneath the volcano by collecting high-density, 3D marine and land seismic data using the R/V Marcus G. Langseth (Langseth) airgun source. The proposed analysis would include (1) dense, 3D isotropic and anisotropic travel time tomography to resolve the first-order structure of the magma plumbing system and surrounding crust, including an initial estimate of the volume and geometry of melt bodies throughout the crust and uppermost mantle as well as the thermal and compositional structure of the edifice and its surroundings; and (2) full waveform inversion tomography and waveform modeling to refine travel time

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Page Figure 1. Location of the proposed seismic survey in the eastern Mediterranean Sea during October–November 2015. Also shown are marine

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protected areas, the 6-n.mi. zone of the Greek territorial seas, and the NAMFI (NATO Missile Firing Installation) guided missile range.

II. Alternatives Including Proposed Action

tomography images and to obtain higher resolution and more accurate recovery of the elastic properties throughout the crust, including an estimate of the sharpness of magma chamber boundaries, and the spatial connections, melt content, and distribution of magma bodies. 3D anisotropic travel time tomography together with the novel application of full waveform inversion to this dataset would provide unprecedented resolution, allowing scientists to determine the depth, geometry and melt content of magma reservoirs throughout the crust and at the boundary between the crust and mantle; whether these magma bodies are connected by dike systems or by vertical, crystal-rich complexes; and the structure and properties of the surrounding crust. In addition, on behalf of scientists from Ifremer, 2D seismic reflection data would be collected along a single transect line to image in depth the megathrust fault between Peloponnesus and Crete in the Hellenic subduction zone off southwestern Crete. The data would be used to identify the structural markers of the downdip and updip limits of the seismogenic zone and their along-strike variations. The Hellenic subduction zone has the highest rate of seismic activity in Europe; several large magnitude earthquakes have occurred off Peloponnesus in the past. The Santorini portion of the study also involves international collaboration with scientists from Greece. Dr. P. Nomikou (University of Athens) would be on board during the entire seismic survey, and Prof. C. Papazachos (University of Thessaloniki) would be in charge of installation and recovery of land seismometers on Santorini (Thira).

(2) Proposed Activities

(a) Location of the Activities

II. Alternatives II. Inc The proposed Santorini survey area is located between ~36.1–36.8°N and ~24.7–26.1°E in the Aegean Sea; the transect line across the Hellenic subduction zone starts in the Aegean Sea at ~36.4°N, 23.9°E and runs to the southwest, ending at ~34.9°N, 22.6°E (Fig. 1). Water depths in the survey areas are ~20–3000+ m. The seismic survey would be conducted within the EEZ and territorial waters of

Greece. Greece considers its territorial seas to extend out to 6 n.mi. as opposed to the typical 12-n.mi. l

uding ProposedAction limit. Just over half of the line km in the Santorini survey area are located within Greek territorial seas; most (92%) of the Hellenic subduction zone transect line is located outside of the territorial seas.

(b) Description of Activities The procedures to be used for the marine geophysical survey would be similar to those used during

previous surveys by L-DEO and would use conventional seismic methodology. The survey would involve one source vessel, the Langseth, which is owned by NSF and operated on its behalf by Columbia University’s L-DEO. The Langseth would deploy an array of 36 airguns as an energy source with a total volume of ~6600 in3. The receiving system would consist of 93 ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) and 30 land seismometers for the Santorini survey in the Aegean Sea, and a single 8-km hydrophone streamer for the Hellenic subduction zone transect line that extends from the Aegean Sea to the southwest of Crete. As the airgun array is towed along the survey lines, the seismometers would receive the returning acoustic signals internally for later analysis, and the hydrophone streamer would transfer the data to the on-board processing system. A total of ~1258 km of transect lines would be surveyed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Fig. 1). There could be additional seismic operations in the Santorini survey area in the Aegean Sea associated with turns, airgun testing, and repeat coverage of any areas where initial data quality is sub-standard. In our calculations [see § IV(3)], 25% has been added for those additional operations. Repeat coverage

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would not be anticipated for the Hellenic subduction zone line that extends from the Aegean Sea to the southwest of Crete, and therefore no additional coverage was added. In addition to the operations of the airgun array, a multibeam echosounder (MBES) and a sub- bottom profiler (SBP) would also be operated from the Langseth continuously throughout the survey. All planned geophysical data acquisition activities would be conducted by L-DEO with on-board assistance by the scientists who have proposed the study. The vessel would be self-contained, and the crew would live aboard the vessel.

(c) Schedule The Langseth would depart from Piraievs, Greece, on 12 October 2015 and spend one day in transit to the proposed survey areas. The entire program would take ~29 days, including ~15–16 days of seismic surveying, 11 days of OBS deployment/retrieval, and 1 day of streamer deployment/retrieval. The Langseth would arrive at Iraklio, Crete, on 14 November. Some minor deviation from these dates is possible, depending on logistics and weather. The ensuing analysis takes a seasonal approach in case of scheduling issues. (d) Vessel Specifications The Langseth is described in § 2.2.2.1 of the PEIS. The vessel speed during seismic operations would be ~4.5 kt (~8.3 km/h).

(e) Airgun Description During the survey, the Langseth full array consisting of four strings with 36 airguns (plus 4 spares) and a total volume of ~6600 in3, would be used. The airgun arrays are described in § 2.2.3.1 of the PEIS, Alternatives II. Inc and the airgun configurations are illustrated in Figures 2-11 to 2-13 of the PEIS. The 4-string array would be towed at a depth of 9 or 12 m; the shot intervals would range from 35 to 170 s (~80 to 390 m) for OBS lines and ~22 s (50 m) for multi-channel seismic (MCS) lines with the streamer.

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(f) OBS and Land-based Seismometers Description and Deployment uding ProposedAction The Langseth would deploy a total of 93 OBSs at the beginning of the study and then recover the instruments after all of the proposed seismic profiles have been surveyed. In addition, 30 land seis- mometers would be used for the study; 29 would be located on Santorini (Thira) and one on Anáfi. The OBSs that would be used during the cruise include 30 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

(WHOI) and 63 Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) OBSs. The WHOI D2 OBSs have a height of ~1 m and a maximum diameter of 50 cm. The anchor is made of hot-rolled steel and weighs 23 kg. The anchor dimensions are 2.5 × 30.5 × 38.1 cm. The SIO L-Cheapo OBSs have a height of ~0.9 m and a maximum diameter of 97 cm. The anchors are 36-kg iron grates with dimensions 7 × 91 × 91.5 cm. Once an OBS is ready to be retrieved, an acoustic release transponder interrogates the instrument at a frequency of 8–11 kHz, and a response is received at a frequency of 11.5–13 kHz. The burn-wire release assembly is then activated, and the instrument is released from the anchor to float to the surface. On land, seismic data would be acquired from 30 seismometers. Twenty existing, permanent land seismometers are located on Santorini, one permanent seismometer is located on Anáfi, and an additional nine temporary seismometers would be deployed on Santorini. The nine seismometers would be deployed typically in pre-disturbed areas. Seismometer installation usually involves using hand tools to

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page 5 II. Alternatives Including Proposed Action

dig a small trench (e.g., 15 cm deep and wide and ~46 cm long), Land-based deployments would follow Greek regulations and would be removed upon conclusion of the survey.

(g) Additional Acoustical Data Acquisition Systems Along with the airgun operations, two additional acoustical data acquisition systems would be operated from the Langseth during the survey: a multibeam echosounder (MBES) and sub-bottom profiler (SBP). The ocean floor would be mapped with the Kongsberg EM 122 MBES and a Knudsen Chirp 3260 SBP. These sources are described in § 2.2.3.1 of the PEIS.

(3) Monitoring and Mitigation Measures Standard monitoring and mitigation measures for seismic surveys are described in § 2.4.1.1 and 2.4.2 of the PEIS and are described to occur in two phases: pre-cruise planning and operations. The following sections describe the efforts during both stages for the proposed activities.

(a) Planning Phase As discussed in § 2.4.1.1 of the PEIS, mitigation of potential impacts from the proposed activities begins during the planning phase of the proposed activities. Several factors were considered during the planning phase of the proposed activities, including Energy Source.—Part of the considerations for the proposed marine seismic survey was to evaluate whether the research objectives could be met with a smaller energy source than the full 36-airgun, 6600-in3 Langseth array, and it was decided that the scientific objectives for the survey could not be met using a

smaller source as they would not be sufficient to penetrate the lower crust and upper mantle to address the Alternatives II. Inc magma plumbing architecture. Because the choice of tow depth for each line would not be made until the survey, we have assumed in the impacts analysis and take estimate calculations the use of the 12-m tow depth for all lines, as that would result in the farthest sound propagation. Survey Timing.—The PIs worked with L-DEO and NSF to identify potential times to carry out the

l survey taking into consideration key factors such as environmental conditions (i.e., the seasonal presence uding ProposedAction of marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds), weather conditions, equipment, and optimal timing for other proposed seismic survey using the Langseth. Most marine mammal species are expected to occur in the area year-round, so altering the timing of the proposed project likely would result in no net benefits for those species. Mitigation Zones.—During the planning phase, mitigation zones for the proposed marine seismic

survey were calculated based on modeling by L-DEO for both the exclusion and the safety zones. Received sound levels have been predicted by L-DEO’s model (Diebold et al. 2010, provided as Appendix H in the PEIS), as a function of distance from the airguns, for the 36-airgun array at any tow depth and for a single 1900LL 40-in3 airgun, which would be used during power downs. This modeling approach uses ray tracing for the direct wave traveling from the array to the receiver and its associated source ghost (reflection at the air-water interface in the vicinity of the array), in a constant-velocity half- space (infinite homogeneous ocean layer, unbounded by a seafloor). In addition, propagation measurements of pulses from the 36-airgun array at a tow depth of 6 m have been reported in deep water (~1600 m), intermediate water depth on the slope (~600–1100 m), and shallow water (~50 m) in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) in 2007–2008 (Tolstoy et al. 2009; Diebold et al. 2010). For deep and intermediate-water cases, the field measurements cannot be used readily to derive mitigation radii, as at those sites the calibration hydrophone was located at a roughly constant depth of

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350–500 m, which may not intersect all the sound pressure level (SPL) isopleths at their widest point from the sea surface down to the maximum relevant water depth for marine mammals of ~2000 m. Figures 2 and 3 in Appendix H of the PEIS show how the values along the maximum SPL line that connects the points where the isopleths attain their maximum width (providing the maximum distance associated with each sound level) may differ from values obtained along a constant depth line. At short ranges, where the direct arrivals dominate and the effects of seafloor interactions are minimal, the data recorded at the deep and slope sites are suitable for comparison with modeled levels at the depth of the calibration hydrophone. At longer ranges, the comparison with the mitigation model—constructed from the maximum SPL through the entire water column at varying distances from the airgun array—is the most relevant. The results are summarized below. In deep and intermediate water depths, comparisons at short ranges between sound levels for direct arrivals recorded by the calibration hydrophone and model results for the same array tow depth are in good agreement (Fig. 12 and 14 in Appendix H of the PEIS). Consequently, isopleths falling within this domain can be predicted reliably by the L-DEO model, although they may be imperfectly sampled by measurements recorded at a single depth. At greater distances, the calibration data show that seafloor-reflected and sub- seafloor-refracted arrivals dominate, whereas the direct arrivals become weak and/or incoherent (Fig. 11, 12, and 16 in Appendix H of the PEIS). Aside from local topography effects, the region around the critical distance (~5 km in Fig. 11 and 12, and ~4 km in Fig. 16 in Appendix H of the PEIS) is where the observed levels rise closest to the mitigation model curve. However, the observed sound levels are found to fall almost entirely below the mitigation model curve (Fig. 11, 12, and 16 in Appendix H of the PEIS). Thus, analysis of the GoM calibration measurements demonstrates that although simple, the L-DEO model is a robust tool for conservatively estimating mitigation radii. In shallow water (<100 m), the depth of the calibration hydrophone (18 m) used during the GoM calibration survey was appropriate to sample the Alternatives II. Inc maximum sound level in the water column, and the field measurements reported in Table 1 of Tolstoy et al. (2009) for the 36-airgun array at a tow depth of 6 m can be used to derive mitigation radii. The proposed survey would acquire data with the 36-airgun array at tow depths of 9 and 12 m. For deep water (>1000 m), we use the deep-water radii obtained from L-DEO model results down to a

l maximum water depth of 2000 m (Fig. 2 and 3). The radii for intermediate water depths (100–1000 m) uding ProposedAction are derived from the deep-water ones by applying a correction factor (multiplication) of 1.5, such that observed levels at very near offsets fall below the corrected mitigation curve (Fig. 16 in Appendix H of the PEIS). The shallow-water radii are obtained by scaling the empirically-derived measurements from the GoM calibration survey to account for the differences in tow depth between the calibration survey (6 m) and the proposed survey (9 and 12 m). A simple scaling factor is calculated from the ratios of the isopleths calculated by the deep-water L-DEO model, which are essentially a measure of the energy radiated by the source array: the 150-decibel (dB) Sound Exposure Level (SEL)1 corresponds to deep- water radii of 9334 m and 11,250 m for 9 and 12-m tow depths, respectively (Fig. 2 and 3), and 7244 m for a 6-m tow depth (Fig. 4), yielding scaling factors of 1.29 and 1.55 to be applied to the shallow-water 6-m tow depth results. Similarly, the 170 dB SEL corresponds to deep-water radii of 927 and 1117 m for 9 and 12-m tow depths (Fig. 2) and 719 m for 6-m tow depth (Fig. 4), yielding the same 1.29 and 1.55 ______

1 SEL (measured in dB re 1 μPa2 · s) is a measure of the received energy in the pulse and represents the SPL that would be measured if the pulse energy were spread evenly across a 1-s period. Because actual seismic pulses are less than 1 s in duration in most situations, this means that the SEL value for a given pulse is usually lower than the SPL calculated for the actual duration of the pulse. In this EA, we assume that rms pressure levels of received seismic pulses would be 10 dB higher than the SEL values predicted by L-DEO’s model.

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FIGURE 2. Modeled deep-water received sound levels (SELs) from the 36-airgun array planned for use during the survey in the eastern Mediterranean Sea at a 9-m tow depth. Received rms levels (SPLs) are expected to be ~10 dB higher. The plot at the top provides the radius to the 170-dB SEL isopleth as a proxy for the 180-dB rms isopleth, and the plot at the bottom provides the radius to the 150-dB SEL isopleth as a proxy for the 160-dB rms isopleth.

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FIGURE 3. Modeled deep-water received sound levels (SELs) from the 36-airgun array planned for use during the survey in the eastern Mediterranean Sea at a 12-m tow depth. Received rms levels (SPLs) are expected to be ~10 dB higher. The plot at the top provides the radius to the 170-dB SEL isopleth as a proxy for the 180-dB rms isopleth, and the plot at the bottom provides the radius to the 150-dB SEL isopleth as a proxy for the 160-dB rms isopleth.

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FIGURE 4. Modeled deep-water received sound levels (SELs) from the 36-airgun array at a 6-m tow depth used during the GoM calibration survey. Received rms levels (SPLs) are expected to be ~10 dB higher. The plot at the top provides the radius to the 170 dB SEL isopleth as a proxy for the 180-dB rms isopleth, and the plot at the bottom provides the radius to the 150-dB SEL isopleth as a proxy for the 160-dB rms isopleth.

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scaling factors. Measured 160-, 180-, and 190-dB re 1µParms distances in shallow water for the 36-airgun array towed at 6 m depth were 17.5 km, 1.6 km, and 458 m, respectively, based on a 95th percentile fit (Tolstoy et al. 2009). Multiplying by 1.29 to account for the tow depth difference between 6 and 9 m yields distances of 22.58 km, 2.06 km, and 591 m, respectively. Multiplying by 1.55 to account for the tow depth difference between 6 and 12 m yields distances of 27.13 km, 2.48 km, and 710 m, respectively. Measurements have not been reported for the single 40-in3 airgun. The 40-in3 airgun fits under the low-energy source category in the PEIS. In § 2.4.2 of the PEIS, Alternative B (the Preferred Alternative) conservatively applies an exclusion zone (EZ) of 100 m for all low-energy acoustic sources in water depths >100 m. This approach is adopted here for the single Bolt 1900LL 40-in3 airgun that would be used during power downs. L-DEO model results are used to determine the 160-dBrms radius for the 40-in3 airgun at 12-m tow depth in deep water (Fig. 5). For intermediate-water depths, a correction factor of 1.5 was applied to the deep-water model results. For shallow water, a scaling of the field measurements obtained for the 36-airgun array was used: the 150-dB SEL level corresponds to a deep- water radius of 431 m for the 40-in3 airgun at 12-m tow depth (Fig. 4) and 7244 for the 36-airgun array at 6-m tow depth (Fig. 2), yielding a scaling factor of 0.0595. Similarly, the 170-dB SEL level corresponds to a deep-water radius of 43 m for the 40-in3 airgun at 12-m tow depth (Fig. 4) and 719 m for the 36-gun array at 6-m tow depth (Fig. 2), yielding a scaling factor of 0.0598. Measured 160-, 180-, and 190-dB re

1µParms distances in shallow water for the 36-airgun array towed at 6-m depth were 17.5 km, 1.6 km, and 458 m, respectively, based on a 95th percentile fit (Tolstoy et al. 2009). Multiplying by 0.0595 and 0.0598 to account for the difference in array sizes and tow depths yields distances of 1041 m, 96 m, and 27 m, respectively.

Table 1 shows the distances at which the 160-, 180-, and 190- dB re 1µParms sound levels are expected to be received for the 36-airgun array and the single (mitigation) airgun. The 180- and 190-dB re 1 μParms distances are the safety criteria as specified by NMFS (2000) for cetaceans and pinnipeds, respectively. The 180-dB distance would also be used as the exclusion zone for sea turtles, as required by NMFS in most other recent seismic projects per the IHAs. Enforcement of mitigation zones via power and shut downs would be implemented in the Operational Phase. Southall et al. (2007) made detailed recommendations for new science-based noise exposure criteria. In December 2013, NOAA published draft guidance for assessing the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals (NOAA 2013), although at the time of preparation of this Draft EA, the date of release of the final guidelines and how they will be implemented are unknown. As such, this Draft EA has been prepared in accordance with the current NOAA acoustic practices, and the procedures are based on best practices noted by Pierson et al. (1998), Weir and Dolman (2007), Nowacek et al. (2013), and Wright (2014).

(b) Operational Phase Marine mammals and sea turtles are known to occur in the proposed survey areas. However, the number of individual animals expected to be approached closely during the proposed activities would be relatively small in relation to regional population sizes. To minimize the likelihood that potential impacts could occur to the species and stocks, monitoring and mitigation measures proposed during the operational phase of the proposed activities, which are consistent with the PEIS and past IHA requirements, include 1. monitoring by protected species observers (PSOs) for marine mammals, sea turtles, and ESA- listed seabirds that dive near the vessel (and observing for potential impacts of acoustic sources on ESA-listed fish);

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FIGURE 5. Modeled deep-water received sound levels (SELs) from a single 40-in3 airgun towed at 12 m depth, which is planned for use as a mitigation gun during the proposed survey in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Received rms levels (SPLs) are expected to be ~10 dB higher. The plot at the top provides the radius to the 170-dB SEL isopleths as a proxy for the 180-dB rms isopleth, and the plot at the bottom provides the radius to the 150-dB SEL isopleth as a proxy for the 160-dB rms isopleth.

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TABLE 1. Predicted distances to which sound levels 190-, 180-, and 160-dB re 1 μParms are expected to be received during the proposed survey in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. For the single mitigation airgun, the EZ is the conservative EZ for all low-energy acoustic sources in water depths >100 m defined in the PEIS.

Tow Depth Water Depth Predicted rms Radii (m) Source and Volume (m) (m) 190 dB 180 dB 160 dB >1000 m 100 100 4311 Single Bolt airgun, 40 9 or 12 100–1000 m 100 100 6472 in3 <100 m 273 963 10413 >1000 m 2861 9271 57801 4 strings, 36 airguns, 9 100–1000 m 4292 13912 86702 6600 in3 <100 m 5913 20603 22,5803 >1000 m 3481 11161 69081 4 strings, 36 airguns, 12 100–1000 m 5222 16742 10,3622 6600 in3 <100 m 7103 24803 27,1303 1 Distance is based on L-DEO model results. 2 Distance is based on L-DEO model results with a 1.5 x correction factor between deep and intermediate water depths. 3 Distance is based on empirically derived measurements in the GoM with scaling applied to account for differences in tow depth.

2. passive acoustic monitoring (PAM); 3. PSO data and documentation; and 4. mitigation during operations (speed or course alteration; power-down, shut-down, and ramp- up procedures; and special mitigation measures for rare species, species concentrations, and sensitive habitats). Five independently contracted PSOs would be on board the survey vessel with rotating shifts to allow two observers to monitor for marine species during daylight hours, and one observer to conduct PAM during day- and night-time seismic operations. The proposed operational mitigation measures are standard for all high energy seismic cruises, per the PEIS and are described in the IHA application, and therefore are not discussed further here. Special mitigation measures were considered for this cruise. It is unlikely that concentrations of large whales would be encountered, but if so, they would be avoided. With the proposed monitoring and mitigation provisions, potential effects on most if not all individuals would be expected to be limited to minor behavioral disturbance. Those potential effects would be expected to have negligible impacts both on individual marine mammals and on the associated species and stocks. Ultimately, survey operations would be conducted in accordance with all applicable U.S. federal regulations, including IHA requirements, as well as Greek regulations. Alternative 1: Alternative Survey Timing An alternative to issuing the IHA for the period requested and to conducting the project then would be to conduct the project at an alternative time, implementing the same monitoring and mitigation measures as under the Proposed Action, and requesting an IHA to be issued for that alternative time. The proposed time for the cruise in October–November 2015 is the most suitable time logistically for the Langseth and the participating scientists. An evaluation of the effects of this Alternative is given in § IV.

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Alternative 2: No Action Alternative An alternative to conducting the proposed activities is the “No Action” alternative, i.e., do not issue an IHA and do not conduct the research operations. If the research was not conducted, the “No Action” alternative would result in no disturbance to marine mammals due to the proposed activities. Although the No-Action Alternative is not considered a reasonable alternative because it does not meet the purpose and need for the Proposed Action, it is included and carried forward for analysis in § IV. Alternatives Considered but Eliminated from Further Analysis

(1) Alternative E1: Alternative Location The goal of the proposed research is to examine and gain increased knowledge about the crustal magma plumbing of the Santorini volcanic arc system. The survey location and design has been specifically identified because Santorini is a semi-submerged volcano that is located on relatively thin crust. The airgun source would ensonify the magmatic architecture of the lower crust and upper mantle beneath the volcano with much greater density than would be possible for a subaerial volcano. The density of ensonification is required to perform full waveform inversion analysis, which would provide images that have an order of magnitude greater resolution than traditional first-arrival tomography. A location other than within the Santorini volcanic arc system would not meet the research goals. The proposed research underwent the NSF merit review process, and the science, including the site location, was determined to be meritorious. The collection of 2D data along the megathrust fault between Peloponnesus and Crete in the Hellenic subduction zone in southwestern Greece is proposed by scientists from Ifremer in support of their specific research goals. (2) Alternative E2: Use of Alternative Technologies

As described in § 2.6 of the PEIS, alternative technologies to the use of airguns were investigated to conduct high-energy seismic surveys. At this time, these technologies are still not feasible, commercially viable, or appropriate to meet the Purpose and Need. Additional details about these technologies are given in the Final USGS EA (RPS 2014). Table 2 provides a summary of the proposed action, alternatives, and alternatives eliminated from further analysis.

III. AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT As described in the PEIS, Chapter 3, the description of the affected environment focuses only on those resources potentially subject to impacts. Accordingly, the discussion of the affected environment (and associated analyses) has focused mainly on those related to marine biological resources, as the proposed short-term activities have the potential to impact marine biological resources within the Project area. These resources are identified in § III, and the potential impacts to these resources are discussed in § IV. Initial review and analysis of the proposed Project activities determined that the following resource areas did not require further analysis in this EA:

 Air Quality/Greenhouse Gases—Project vessel emissions would result from the proposed activities; however, these short-term emissions would not result in any exceedance of Federal Clean Air standards. Emissions would be expected to have a negligible impact on the air quality within the survey areas;

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TABLE 2. Summary of Proposed Action, Alternatives Considered, and Alternatives Eliminated

Proposed Action Description Proposed Action: Under this action, 3D marine-land seismic refraction and 2D seismic reflection surveys are Conduct a marine proposed. When considering transit; equipment deployment, maintenance, and retrieval; geophysical survey and weather; marine mammal activity; and other contingencies, the proposed activities would associated activities in be expected to be completed in ~1 month. The affected environment, environmental the Eastern consequences, and cumulative impacts of the proposed activities are described in § III and Mediterranean Sea IV. The standard monitoring and mitigation measures identified in the NSF PEIS would apply, along with any additional requirements identified by regulating agencies. All necessary permits and authorizations, including an IHA, would be requested from regulatory bodies. Alternatives Description Alternative 1: Under this Alternative, L-DEO would conduct survey operations at a different time of the Alternative Survey year to reduce impacts on marine resources and users, and improve monitoring Timing capabilities. Most marine mammal species are probably year-round residents in the survey areas, so altering the timing of the proposed project likely would not result in net benefits. Further, consideration would be needed for constraints for vessel operations and availability of equipment (including the vessel) and personnel. Limitations on scheduling the vessel include the additional research studies planned on the vessel for 2015 and beyond. The standard monitoring and mitigation measures identified in the NSF PEIS would apply, along with any additional requirements identified by regulating agencies because of the change. All necessary permits and authorizations, including an IHA, would be requested from regulatory bodies. Alternative 2: No Action Under this Alternative, no proposed activities would be conducted and seismic data would not be collected. Whereas this alternative would avoid impacts to marine resources, it would not meet the purpose and need for the proposed action. Geological data of scientific value and relevance increasing our understanding of the crustal magma plumbing of the Santorini volcanic system and the megathrust fault between Peloponnesus and Crete would not be collected. The collection of new data, interpretation of these data, and introduction of new results into the greater scientific community and applicability of these data to other similar settings would not be achieved. No permits and authorizations, including an IHA, would be needed from regulatory bodies, as the proposed action would not be conducted. Alternatives Eliminated Description from Further Analysis Alternative E1: The survey location has been specifically identified because Santorini is a semi-submerged Alternative Location volcano that is located on relatively thin crust. The airgun source would ensonify the magmatic architecture of the lower crust and upper mantle beneath the volcano with much greater density than would be possible for a subaerial volcano. One of the purposes of this study is to understand the crustal magma plumbing of the Santorini volcanic system. The proposed science underwent the NSF merit review process, and the science, including the site location, was determined to be meritorious. In addition, the megathrust fault of the Hellenic subduction zone is an area with high seismicity in Europe and is proposed by scientists from Ifremer in support of their specific research goals. Alternative E2: Use of Under this alternative, L-DEO would use alternative survey techniques, such as marine Alternative vibroseis, that could potentially reduce impacts on the marine environment. Alternative Technologies technologies were evaluated in the PEIS, § 2.6. At this time, however, these technologies are still not feasible, commercially viable, or appropriate to meet the Purpose and Need.

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 Land Use—The majority of proposed activities would be in the marine environment, with the exception of the temporary installation and retrieval of land seismometers. No changes to current land uses or activities in the Project area would result from the proposed Project;  Safety and Hazardous Materials and Management—No hazardous materials would be generated or used during proposed activities. All Project-related wastes would be disposed of in accordance with Federal and international requirements;  Geological Resources (Topography, Geology and Soil)—The proposed Project would result in only a minor displacement of soil and seafloor sediments. Land seismometers would be small, approximately the size of a soda can; deployment and retrieval would involve minimal ground disturbance and would comply with Greek regulations. Proposed marine or land-based activities would not adversely affect geologic resources; thus, no significant impacts would be anticipated;  Water Resources—No discharges to the marine environment that would adversely affect marine water quality are expected in the Project area. Therefore, there would be no impacts to water resources resulting from the proposed Project activities;  Terrestrial Biological Resources—The majority of the proposed Project activities would occur in the marine environment. Land seismometers would be small, approximately the size of a soda can; deployment and retrieval would involve minimal ground disturbance and would comply with Greek regulations. The land seismometers would not impact terrestrial biological resources;  Visual Resources—Marine activities would not be expected to have a negative impact on any visual resources. Land-based activities would be short-term and would not be expected to affect the local view shed. Tourism is anticipated to be low during the fall, in particular on Santorini;  Socioeconomic and Environmental Justice—Implementation of the proposed Project would not affect, beneficially or adversely, socioeconomic resources, environmental justice, or the protection of children. Land-based activities would be short term. No changes in the population or additional need for housing or schools would occur. Human activities in the area around the survey vessel would be limited to commercial and recreational fishing activities, other vessel traffic, and SCUBA diving. Fishing, vessel traffic, SCUBA diving, and potential impacts are described in further detail in § III and IV. No other socioeconomic impacts would be anticipated as result of the proposed activities; and

 Cultural Resources—There are a number of shipwrecks in the marine portion of the Project area (DoN 2008); shipwrecks are discussed further in § IV. Airgun sounds would have no effects on solid structures; no significant impacts on shipwrecks would be anticipated (§ IV). There are several culturally and archaeologically important sites on the islands where land-based instruments would be deployed, including on Santorini (e.g., Akrotiri, the Ancient town of Thira, the Village of Oia), Therasia, and Anáfi (e.g., Kastelli, Katalymatsa archeological site). No instruments would be deployed at these sites. In addition, there are protected areas on the islands of Santorini, Christianna, and Anáfi (Natura 2000 2013; IUCN and UNEP-WCMC 2015). No impacts to cultural resources would be anticipated.

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Physical Environment and Oceanography The Mediterranean Sea covers ~2.5 million km2, and extends ~3800 km from east to west and ~900 km from north to south. It is a semi-enclosed area composed of two similar-size basins, the western Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The western Mediterranean Sea has a triangular shape and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar. The eastern Mediterranean Sea is separated from western Mediterranean Sea by the Strait of Sicily, and has a more irregular and complex topography composed of a succession of deep valleys, ridges, and pits. The eastern Mediterranean Sea consists of the Ionian Basin, the Adriatic and the Aegean seas, and the Levantine Basin, which occupies the easternmost part of the Mediterranean. The Aegean Sea has more than 2000 islands scattered throughout the region; Santorini Island (Thira) is located in the Cyclades island group in the southern Aegean Sea. This area, including Santorini, is home to major hydrothermal vent fields (Dando et al. 1999). Mediterranean waters include Atlantic water in the upper layer that flows into the basin through the Strait of Gibraltar; this inflow is offset by evaporation and outflow of Levantine Intermediate Water, which flows westward, out into the Atlantic, after forming in the eastern basin (Bentivegna et al. 2007). In the Mediterranean, evaporation is greater than the combined precipitation and river runoff; thus the water is saltier than in other seas in Europe (EEA 2002). The shelf and slope of the Mediterranean Sea are narrow in most areas (EEA 2002). The oceanographic dynamics of the Mediterranean Sea are diverse, as are the water circulation patterns (IUCN 2012). The main surface currents in the Aegean Sea flow northward along the west coast of Turkey, southward along the east coast of Greece, and westward across the Sea of Crete south of Santorini (Thira) Island (see Casale et al. 2007). Gyres, upwellings, and fronts at different times of the year cause variable biological productivity within the Mediterranean, resulting in the region being recognized as biodiversity hotspot (IUCN 2012). The Mediterranean is considered a low-productivity ecosystem (EEA 2002) with a mean primary production of 432 mgC/m2/day; the highest values occur during February–May (SAUP 2015). Protected Areas Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are established as a tool for the preservation of biodiversity, often by restricting or banning certain fishing methods (Gormley et al. 2012). By protecting sensitive environments and threatened species, MPAs also contribute to increasing the productivity of fishing areas, regulating the uses of the sea, promoting sustainable tourism, and possibly creating new employment-generating activities (Abdulla et al. 2008). A further step beyond the creation of MPAs is the establishment of a network of MPAs, whereby MPAs interconnect and are interdependent, increasing their integrity by decreasing overall vulnerability (Abdulla et al. 2008). Countries in the Mediterranean Sea are currently struggling with establishing a coherent network of effectively managed MPAs (Gabrié et al. 2012 in Bustamante et al. 2014), with over half of the MPAs lacking a management plan (Bustamante et al. 2014) and the existence of data gaps regarding the effects of human recreational activities (e.g., trampling, anchoring, diving) on Mediterranean MPAs (Milazzo et al. 2002). To date, there are ~100 MPAs established in the Mediterranean Sea region (Pelagos Institute 2015); several of the MPAs identified by Wood (2007), Natura 2000 (2013), ACCOBAMS (2014), IUCN and UNEP-WCMC (2015), and MAPAMED (n.d.) are near the proposed survey areas (Fig. 1).

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The MPA Folégandros Anatoliki Mechri Dytiki Sikino Kai Thalassia Zoni (FAMDSKTZ) is located ~7 km to the north of the Santorini survey area in the Aegean Sea. FAMDSKTZ protects 19 species of birds, two plant species, one snake species, and the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), and various marine habitat types, including Posidonia beds (Neptune grass; Posidonia oceanica), reefs, vegetated coastal cliffs with endemic sea lavenders (Limonium spp.), salt meadows, coastal shrubs (Sarcopterium spinosum phryganas), calcareous rocky slopes, and caves (EEA 2013a). The MPA Anáfi: Chersonisos Kalamos‒Roukounas is ~10 km southeast of the Santorini survey area near the island of Anáfi. It protects the Mediterranean monk seal and several marine habitat types, including Posidonia beds, vegetated coastal cliffs with endemic sea lavenders, salt meadows (Juncetalia maritimi), embryonic shifting dunes, coastal shrubs (S. s. phryganas), calcareous rocky slopes, and submerged/partially submerged sea caves (EEA 2013b). MPAs are also located ~15–20 km to the north of the Santorini survey area, near the islands of Káros and Iráklia, and around islands ~20–30 km away (Fig. 1). Many of the islands in the Cyclades, including Santorini (Thira), Anáfi, and Christianna (where land seismometers would be located) also include protected terrestrial areas; land seismometers would not be deployed in these areas. There are eight MPAs in the immediate vicinity of Crete, each extending from the coastline and also inclusive of terrestrial components. In an east‒west orientation, these MPAs include: 1) Voreioanatoliko Akro Kritis: Dionysades, Elasa Kai Chersonisos Sidero (akra Mavro Mouri - Vai - Akra Plakas) Kai Thalassia Zoni; 2) Prassano Farangi - Patsos - Sfakoryako Rema - Paralia Rethymnou Kai Ekvoli Geropotamou, Akr. Lianos Kavos – Perivolia; 3) Asfendou - Kallikratis Kai Paraktia Zoni; 4) Lefka Ori Kai Paraktia Zoni; 5) Ormos Sougias - Vardia - Farangi Lissou Mechri Anydrous Kai Paraktia Zoni; 6) Imeri Kai Agria Gramvoussa - Tigani Kai Falasarna - Pontikonisi, Ormos Livadi – Viglia; 7) Paralia Apo Chrysoskalitissa Mechri Akrotirio Krios; and 8) Nisos Elafonisos Kai Paraktia Thalassia Zoni. All eight MPAs are Sites of Community Importance under the Habitats Directive (Natura 2000 2013; IUCN and UNEP-WCMC 2015). Several high sea MPAs have also been proposed for the eastern Mediterranean: two of these are located in the northern Aegean Sea, and a third one was proposed for the Sea of Crete (Öztürk 2009). There is also a proposed MPA that extends from southwestern Crete to the islands of Kythira, Peloponnese, and Zakynthos (Hoyt 2011; ACCOBAMS 2014). In addition to the MPAs, ACCOBAMS has proposed Areas of Special Concern for Beaked Whales (ASC-BW) in the Mediterranean to be considered for spatial mitigation during the use of intense anthropogenic sound sources (ACCOBAMS 2013). These ASC-BWs include areas where beaked whales have stranded, high-use areas for beaked whales, and a 50 n.mi. buffer zone around both (ACCOBAMS 2013). The entire proposed survey areas in the southern Aegean Sea and west and southwest of Crete are located within an ASC-BW. Greece is one of 22 contracting parties signed into the Barcelona Convention, which includes the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) as part of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (UNEP MAP 2007). As part of the Barcelona Convention, Greece signed the Specially Protected Areas Protocol in 1982, which was replaced by the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean in 1995 (Anonymous 1995, 1999; Treaties Office Database 2008). This Protocol entails several obligations, including taking necessary measures to “protect, preserve and manage in a sustainable and environmentally sound way areas of particular natural or cultural value, notably by the establishment of specially protected areas [SPAs]” and to “protect, preserve and manage threatened or endangered species of flora and fauna” (Anonymous 1995, 1999). The objectives of the establishment of SPAs are to safeguard (Anonymous 1999:L 322/4)

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“ … representative types of coastal and marine ecosystems of adequate size to ensure their long- term viability and to maintain their biological diversity;” “ … habitats which are in danger of disappearing in their natural area of distribution in the Mediterranean or which have a reduced natural area of distribution as a consequence of their regression or on account of their intrinsically restricted area;” “ … habitats critical to the survival, reproduction and recovery of endangered, threatened or endemic species of flora or fauna;” and “ … sites of particular importance because of their scientific, aesthetic, cultural or educational interest.” In light of these obligations and objectives, Natura 2000, a European-wide network of nature protection areas, was established under the 1992 Habitats Directive by the European Council (EC 2015). It comprises special areas of conservation (SACs) and SPAs, with the aim of ensuring the “long-term survival of Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats” (EC 2015). Several marine habitat types are listed as requiring marine Natura 2000 sites, including (1) sandbanks that are slightly covered by sea water all the time, (2) Posidonia beds, (3) estuaries, (4) mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide, (5) coastal lagoons, (6) large shallow inlets and bays, (7) reefs, (8) submarine structures made by leaking gases, and (9) submerged or partially submerged sea caves (EC 2007). Whereas these nine habitat types are present throughout Greece’s marine waters (MEECC 2014), there are currently no additional Natura 2000 sites in or near the proposed survey area other than the MPAs described above. In 2006, the European Council adopted the Mediterranean Regulation ([EC] 1967/2006), which, in addition to those protection measures listed above, prohibits fishing practices that could damage the physical environment within Natura 2000 sites (e.g., using explosives and pneumatic hammers), and includes restrictions on fishing gear, protection zones, and minimum sizes. A further measure of the European Council’s dedication towards the management and conservation of natural areas and threatened species and their habitats is the regional creation of lists of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) (Anonymous 1999). These sites “are of importance for conserving the components of biological diversity in the Mediterranean; contain ecosystems specific to the Mediterranean area or the habitats of endangered species; [and] are of special interest at the scientific, aesthetic, cultural or educational levels” (Anonymous 1999). At least as of 2010, Greece had not yet put forth a SPAMI list (UNEP MAP RAC/SPA 2010); thus, it is currently unclear whether any such sites exist in the proposed survey area. Marine Mammals Twenty-three species of cetaceans (6 mysticetes and 17 odontocetes) and 2 pinniped species have been reported in the Mediterranean Sea (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006; Bellido et al. 2007; Gilmartin and Forcada 2009; IUCN 2012). Six of the 23 species are listed under the U.S. ESA as Endangered: the North Atlantic right, humpback, fin, sei, and sperm whales; and the Mediterranean monk seal. General information on the taxonomy, ecology, distribution and movements, and acoustic capabilities of marine mammals are given in § 3.6.1, § 3.7.1 and § 3.8.1 of the PEIS. The general distributions of marine mammals in various regions of the North Atlantic Ocean are discussed in the PEIS in § 3.6.2 and § 3.6.3 for mysticetes, § 3.7.2 and § 3.7.3 for odontocetes, and § 3.8.2 and § 3.8.3 for pinnipeds. The rest of this section deals with species distribution in the Mediterranean Sea. The main sources of information used here include reports and articles prepared by scientists from a number of Mediterranean

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research institutes including: Tethys Research Institute (Italy), MOm/Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal (Greece), Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute (Greece), and the Hellenic Centre for Μarine Research (Greece). Reports and working papers produced by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and scientific journal articles were also used. Information on the occurrence near the proposed survey areas in October–November, habitat, population size, and conservation status for each of the cetacean and pinniped species that have been reported in the Mediterranean Sea is presented in Table 3. Twelve of these marine mammals (North Atlantic right, gray, sei, dwarf sperm, northern bottlenose, Gervais’ beaked, Sowerby’s beaked, Blainville’s beaked, killer, and long-finned pilot whales; Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin; and hooded seal) either are considered vagrants in the Mediterranean Sea or have never been recorded in the eastern Mediterranean basin. Therefore, these species are extremely unlikely to occur near the proposed survey areas and are only briefly mentioned below. Detailed descriptions of the resident and visitor species in the Mediterranean Sea follow Table 3. The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) was historically abundant in the eastern North Atlantic where harvest activity was recorded from 1059 to 1982 (Aguilar 1986; Brown 1986). It has been suggested that the intense harvest activity in the 1900s had a catastrophic effect on this population; the eastern North Atlantic population likely numbers in the low tens of whales today and is considered a “relict” population by the IWC (IWC 2001). There have been only two confirmed occurrences of right whales in the Mediterranean Sea since the 1800s: one whale was captured off the coast of Italy in February 1877; and two whales were sighted off Algeria in January 1888, one of which was captured (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) historically existed in the North Atlantic, where it is believed to have been eradicated in the 1700s (Lindquist 2000). In May 2010, a single gray whale was sighted and photographed off the Israeli Mediterranean shore, and then later in Spanish Mediterranean waters; this is the first recorded occurrence of a gray whale in the North Atlantic since the 1700s, and the first recorded occurrence in the Mediterranean Sea (Scheinin et al 2011; IUCN 2012). Scheinin et al. (2011) thought it most likely that it was a vagrant individual from the population of gray whales found in the eastern North Pacific. The sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) migrates seasonally, and in the eastern North Atlantic it has been observed to summer as far north as the sea between Greenland and Iceland; it might winter in the Canary Islands or farther south (Prieto et al. 2012). Occurrences (strandings and sightings) of the sei whale in the western Mediterranean Sea are considered extralimital: there were two confirmed occurrences off the coast of Spain in June 1952 and September 1973; and three confirmed occurrences off the coast of France in June 1921, August 1987, and September 1987 (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). The dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima) is widely distributed in tropical and warm temperate shelf and slope waters (McAlpine 2009). There are only two confirmed occurrences, both strandings, of the dwarf sperm whale in the Mediterranean Sea: one on the western coast of Italy in May 1988 and a second on Sicily in September 2002 (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). The northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) is only found in the North Atlantic. There have been only two confirmed occurrences in the Mediterranean Sea: a mother and calf stranded and were captured off the coast of France in 1880, and one whale was sighted off Spain in the Alboran Sea (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006).

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TABLE 3. The habitat, occurrence, regional population sizes, and conservation status of marine mammals that could occur in or near the proposed survey areas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Regional IUCN Occurrence Abundance Global3 / Species in Oct–Nov Habitat Estimate1 ESA2 Mediterranean4 CITES5 Mysticetes North Atlantic right Extremely 4906; whale unlikely Coastal, shelf vagrant E EN / N.A I Extremely N.A.; Gray whale unlikely Coastal vagrant7 NL LC / N.A. I Coastal, banks, 11,5708; Humpback whale Rare pelagic visitor E LC / N.A. I 107,2059; Common minke whale Rare Shelf, pelagic visitor NL LC / N.A. I Extremely Pelagic, shelf 12-13,00010; Sei whale unlikely edges vagrant E EN / N.A. I 24,88711; Fin whale Rare Pelagic, coastal ~500012 E EN / VU I Odontocetes 13,19014; Sperm whale Uncommon Slope, pelagic 200–250s14 E VU / EN I Extremely Shelf, slope, N.A.; Dwarf sperm whale unlikely pelagic vagrant NL DD / N.A. II 653215; Cuvier’s beaked whale Common Slope ~200?16 NL LC / DD II Northern bottlenose Extremely Offshore, deep 40,00017; whale unlikely canyons vagrant NL DD / N.A. I Extremely 709218; Gervais’ beaked whale unlikely Offshore vagrant NL DD / N.A. II Sowerby’s beaked Extremely Offshore, deep 709218; whale unlikely canyons vagrant NL DD / N.A. II Blainville’s beaked Extremely 709218; whale unlikely Pelagic, slope vagrant NL DD / N.A. II Rough-toothed dolphin Uncommon Pelagic, shelf N.A.; visitor19 NL LC / L.C. II Indo-Pacific humpback Extremely N.A.; dolphin unlikely Coastal vagrant NL NT / N.A. I Common bottlenose Coastal, dolphin Common offshore Low 10,000s20 NL LC / VU II Striped dolphin Common Pelagic, slope 233,58421 NL LC / VU II Short-beaked common dolphin Uncommon Coastal, pelagic 19,42822 NL LC / EN II Slope, offshore 18,25015; Risso’s dolphin Uncommon islands 300023 NL LC / DD II False killer whale Rare Pelagic N.A.; visitor NL DD / N.A. II Extremely Killer whale unlikely Coastal, pelagic N.A.; visitor24 NL DD / N.A. II Long-finned pilot Extremely Pelagic, shelf, whale unlikely slope 780,00025 NL DD / DD II Harbor porpoise Rare Coastal 1000s26 NL LC / EN27 II Pinnipeds Hooded seal Extremely Pack ice, N.A.; unlikely pelagic vagrant NL VU / N.A. NL Mediterranean monk seal Common Coastal 250–35028 E(F) CR29 I N.A. = Data not available or species status was not assessed. 1 Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara (2006) except as noted; vagrant species are currently found only occasionally, whereas visitor species do not reproduce within a region but regularly occur there. 2 U.S. Endangered Species Act (NMFS 2015a): E = Endangered; T = Threatened; NL = Not Listed; F = Foreign. 3 Classification from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2014): CR = Critically Endangered; EN = Endangered; VU = Vulnerable; NT = Near Threatened; LC = Least Concern; DD = Data Deficient. 4 IUCN conservation status of species resident in the Mediterranean Sea (IUCN 2012, 2014). 5 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (UNEP-WCMC 2015): Appendix I = Threaten-

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ed with extinction; Appendix II = not necessarily now threatened with extinction but may become so unless trade is closely controlled; NL = Not Listed. 6 Abundance estimate for the North Atlantic (IWC 2015). 7 IUCN (2012) 8 Estimate for the Western North Atlantic (Stevick et al. 2003). 9 Northeast Atlantic (Skaug et al. 2004). 10 North Atlantic (Cattanach et al. 1993). 11 Central and Northeast Atlantic (Víkingsson et al. 2009). 12 Estimated number of adults in the Mediterranean population (IUCN 2012). 13 For the northeast Atlantic, Faroes-Iceland, and the U.S. east coast (Whitehead 2002). 14 Estimated population size for the Hellenic Trench (Frantzis et al. 2014). 15 Western North Atlantic (Waring et al. 2014). 16 An estimated 96–100 in the Gulf of Genova (eastern Ligurian Sea) and ~102 in the northern Alboran Sea (Cañadas 2011). 17 Eastern North Atlantic (NAMMCO 1995). 18 Estimate for Mesoplodon spp. in the western North Atlantic (Waring et al. 2014). 19 A resident population in the eastern Mediterranean likely exists; population is unknown (IUCN 2012). 20 Estimate for entire Mediterranean Sea (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). 21 Forcada and Hammond (1998) for the western Mediterranean plus Gómez de Segura et al. (2006) for the central Spanish Mediterranean. 22 Northern Alboran Sea (Cañadas 2006). 23 Estimate for the western Mediterranean (Perrin et al 1990 in Gaspari 2004; Pelagos Sanctuary 2015). 24 IUCN (2012) classified the killer whale as a vagrant in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. 25 Pilot whale estimate (Globicephala spp.) for the central and eastern North Atlantic (IWC 2015); there are no records of pilot whales in the eastern Mediterranean basin (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). 26 The Black Sea population is estimated at several thousand to the low tens of thousands (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). 27 The Black Sea harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena relicta is considered endangered by the IUCN. 28 Northeastern Mediterranean (MOm 2009). 29 The Mediterranean monk seal has a single IUCN classification.

Gervais’ beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus) occurs in tropical and warmer temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland to southeast Brazil (MacLeod et al. 2006; Jefferson et al. 2008). There is a single confirmed occurrence of Gervais’ beaked whale in the Mediterranean Sea: a female stranded in the Ligurian Sea on the coast of Italy in August 2001 (Podestà et al 2005 in Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). Sowerby’s beaked whale (M. bidens) is the most northerly distributed of all the Atlantic species of Mesoplodon, where it occurs offshore and is often associated with deep canyons (Wojtek et al. 2014). There are two occurrences of Sowerby’s beaked whale in the Mediterranean Sea: one female (tentative identification) stranded off the coast of Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea in November 1927, and two whales (likely identification) stranded alive and released off the coast of France in August 1996 (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). Blainville’s beaked whale (M. densirostris) is the most widely distributed Mesoplodon species (Mead 1989), although it is generally limited to pelagic tropical and warmer temperate waters (Jefferson et al. 2008). There is a single confirmed occurrence of Blainville’s beaked whale in the Mediterranean Sea: a female stranded off the east coast of Spain in February 1983 (Casinos and Filella 1981 in Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). The killer whale (Orcinus orca) is cosmopolitan and widely distributed and has been observed in all oceans of the world (Ford 2009). There are 26 known occurrences of killer whales in the western Mediterranean Sea and three known occurrences in the east: one off the coast of Israel, one captured between Sicily and Malta, and a pod sighted in the Ionian Sea in the 1970s (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). The long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) occurs in temperate and subpolar waters and is found in the western Mediterranean Sea (Jefferson et al. 2008). However, there are no records of the long-finned pilot whale in the eastern Mediterranean basin (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006).

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The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) is found in coastal areas along the northern rim of the Indian Ocean and ranges north into the Red Sea (Jefferson et al. 2008). There are four known occurrences of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea: one sighting off the coast of Egypt, and three sightings in August 2000 off the coast of Israel (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). The hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) occurs throughout the central and western North Atlantic Ocean, and the limits of its distribution are correlated with the arctic pack ice. However, numerous extralimital records, particularly of juvenile seals, exist (Kovacs and Lavigne 1986). Bellido et al. (2007) documented eight occurrences of young hooded seals in the Alboran Sea during 1996–2006, and suggested that this is the eastern limit to the incursion of hooded seals into the Mediterranean Sea.

(1) Mysticetes

Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) The humpback whale is cosmopolitan in distribution and is most common over the continental shelf and in coastal areas (Jefferson et al. 2008). In the North Atlantic, humpback whales migrate annually from high-latitude foraging areas in the summer to breeding grounds in the West Indies in winter (Clapham et al. 1993; Stevick et al. 1998; Kennedy et al. 2014). Four feeding aggregations of North Atlantic humpbacks have been identified: the Gulf of Maine, eastern Canada, West Greenland, and the eastern North Atlantic (Stevick et al. 2006). Until very recently, humpback whales were considered extremely rare in the Mediterranean; before 1989, there were only two confirmed records of occurrence (in 1885 and 1986; Aguilar 1989). However, there have been an additional 12 confirmed records since 1990, and 8 of these have come from the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Frantzis et al. 2004; Frantzis 2009). There are three records of humpbacks in Greek Seas: two records from the Ionian Sea (one sighting and one whale found dead in a net), and one record of a whale sighted in the Aegean Sea in April 2001 in the Bay of Tolo to the northwest of the Santorini area (Frantzis et al. 2004). Frantzis et al. (2004) suggested that the recent increase in humpback whale occurrence in the Mediterranean might be attributable to spillover from an expanding North Atlantic population.

Common Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) The minke whale has a cosmopolitan distribution that spans polar, temperate, and tropical regions (Jefferson et al. 2008). Four stocks are recognized in the North Atlantic: the Canadian East Coast, West Greenland, Central North Atlantic, and Northeast Atlantic stocks (Donovan 1991). However, genetic data suggest that there might be as few as two stocks in the North Atlantic (Anderwald et al. 2011). Some populations are known to migrate from high latitude summer feeding grounds to lower latitude winter breeding areas (Jefferson et al. 2008). The minke whale is considered a visitor in the Mediterranean Sea; North Atlantic minke whales enter the Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar (IUCN 2012). There are 30 records of minke whales in the Mediterranean Sea; 24 are from the western basin (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006; Öztürk et al. 2011). Two of the records from the eastern basin are from the Aegean Sea: a young minke whale was found dead, floating near Skiathos Island, northwestern Aegean Sea, in May 2000 (Verriopoulou et al. 2001); and another stranded on the coast of Turkey in August 2005 (Öztürk et al. 2011). The four other

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occurrences in the eastern basin are for the coast of Israel (3) and the Adriatic Sea (1; Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006).

Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) The fin whale is widely distributed in all the world’s oceans (Gambell 1985), but is most abundant in temperate and cold waters (Aguilar 2009). Most populations migrate seasonally between temperate waters where mating and calving occur in winter, and polar waters where feeding occurs in the summer. However, fin whale movements have been reported to be complex, and not all populations follow this simple pattern (Jefferson et al. 2008). Although a separate population of fin whales thought to be resident in the Mediterranean has been identified based on genetic data (Bérubé et al. 1998), fin whales from the northeast North Atlantic population sometimes penetrate into the Mediterranean Sea (Castellote et al. 2010; Giménez et al. 2013). The current population in the Mediterranean is believed to be ~5000 adults (IUCN 2012). Population structure in the Mediterranean is unknown: Mediterranean fin whales might belong to a single panmictic population or a number of metapopulations within the Mediterranean basin (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. 2003). Fin whales most commonly occur offshore, but can also be found in coastal areas (Aguilar 2009). In the North Atlantic, they are known to use the shelf edge as a migration route between summer feeding areas in high latitudes and southern wintering grounds (Evans 1987). Sergeant (1977) suggested that fin whales tend to follow steep slope contours, either because they detect them readily, or because the contours are areas of high biological productivity. Fin whales in the Mediterranean are primarily observed in deep offshore waters, although they also occur over the continental shelf (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. 2003). They have been observed to concentrate in areas of high productivity, such as the Ligurian-Corsican-Provencal Basin in the western Mediterranean Sea, particularly in the summer, but there is also evidence of seasonal movements between central and western portions of the basin to exploit available prey resources (Aissi et al. 2008). Although fin whales regularly occur in the western and central Mediterranean, they are very rare in the Aegean Sea and Levantine basins (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. 2003). There are 36 sightings of fin whales recorded in Greek seas, the majority (31) of which occurred in the north Ionian Sea and Saronikos Gulf in the western Aegean Sea. Additionally, four sightings have been reported along the Hellenic Trench, including south of Crete and the waters between Kythira and Crete; no sightings were reported for the Cyclades or Sea of Crete (Frantzis 2009). Ten fin whale strandings were reported for Greek seas, including Saronikos Gulf; half of all strandings occurred after 1991 (Frantzis 2009). (2) Odontocetes

Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) The sperm whale is widely distributed and occurs from the edge of the polar pack ice to the Equator in both hemispheres (Whitehead 2009). In general, it is distributed over large temperate and tropical areas that have high secondary productivity and steep underwater topography, such as volcanic islands (Jaquet and Whitehead 1996); its distribution and relative abundance can vary in response to prey availability, most notably squid (Jaquet and Gendron 2002). Sperm whales in the Mediterranean comprise a single population that is genetically different from that in the Atlantic (Drouot et al. 2004; Engelhaupt et al. 2009) and likely is small and isolated (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). There is no reliable population estimate for the sperm whale population in the Mediterranean basin, but it is thought to number in the low hundreds (IUCN 2012). Frantzis et al. (2014) reported that 181 individual

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sperm whales have been photo-identified along the Hellenic Trench and suggested a local population size of 200–250 individuals. Sperm whales can be found throughout the Mediterranean Sea, predominantly near steep slope and deep offshore waters (>2500 m) over the continental shelf where their primary prey, mesopelagic squid, are most abundant (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. 2003; Azzellino et al. 2008; Moulins et al. 2008; Boisseau et al. 2010). There are numerous occurrences of sperm whales in the eastern Mediterranean, including frequent sightings in Greek seas, primarily along the Hellenic Trench including the waters between Kythira and Crete (Frantzis 2009; Frantzis et al. 2014). Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara (2006) identified the region of the Aegean Sea and south to the Hellenic Trench as being an area of “regular” occurrence for sperm whales. Notarbartolo di Sciara and Bearzi (2010) consider the Hellenic Trench to be critical habitat for Mediterranean sperm whales. Frantzis et al. (2014) conducted summer surveys between 1998 and 2009 along the Hellenic Trench and observed a pronounced peak in sperm whale distribution along the 1000-m contour; 74% of visual encounters occurred within 3 km of the contour. Boisseau et al. (2010) encountered 17 groups of sperm whales in the Crete Trench during May–July 2007, with an encounter rate of 0.06 whales/100 n.mi. Sperm whale records exist throughout the Aegean Sea, including reported sightings for the Sea of Crete, east of Íos in the Cyclades, and north of Rhodes Island (Frantzis et al. 2003; Frantzis 2009; Dede et al. 2012). However, no sperm whales were sighted during a survey through the southern Aegean Sea during 2000 (Gannier et al. 2002). Sperm whales have also been detected acoustically in Rhodes Basin, south of Cyprus, western Crete, and in the Ikaria Basin, western Turkey (Gannier et al. 2002; Ryan et al. 2014). Additionally, 43 sightings of sperm whales were reported in Turkish waters during 1994–2012 (Öztürk et al. 2013). Twenty-six sperm whale strandings have been recorded in Greece, including in the Cyclades (one each at the islands of Íos and Náxos) and the northern and southwestern coasts of Crete (Frantzis et al. 2003; Frantzis 2009).

Cuvier’s Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris) Cuvier’s beaked whale is probably the most widespread and common of the beaked whales, although it is not found in high-latitude polar waters (Heyning 1989). It is rarely observed at sea and is known mostly from strandings; it strands more commonly than any other beaked whale (Heyning 1989). Cuvier’s beaked whale occurs in the western and eastern basins of the Mediterranean Sea (Notarbartolo di Sciara 2002). Dalebout et al. (2005) examined mitochondrial DNA from Cuvier’s beaked whales worldwide and recommended that whales in the Mediterranean Sea be considered an evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) distinct from other populations in the North Atlantic. Population size in the Mediterranean Sea is unknown except for two small areas: there are ~96–100 whales in the Gulf of Genova (eastern Ligurian Sea) and ~102 whales in the northern Alboran Sea (Cañadas 2011). Cuvier’s beaked whale is found in deep water over and near the continental slope (Gannier and Epinat 2008; Jefferson et al. 2008). Slope waters at depths between 200–2000 m appear to be preferred habitat of Cuvier’s beaked whale in the Mediterranean Sea (DoN 2008). Deep-sea mud volcanoes in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, including the Napoli Mud Volcano in the Olimpi Mud Diapr Field south of Crete, are thought to show evidence of having been visited by Cuvier’s beaked whales during foraging dives (Woodside et al. 2006). Cañadas et al. (2012) compiled 23 sets of survey data (totaling 420,050 km of survey effort and 456 sightings over 21 years) and modeled habitat use by Cuvier’s beaked whales in the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the waters in the proposed survey areas have been identified as being areas of medium predicted density relative to other areas of the Mediterranean (Cañadas et al. 2012). The Hellenic Trench is considered to be critical habitat for the Cuvier’s beaked whale (Notarbartolo di Sciara and Bearzi

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2010). Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara (2006) identified the coastal waters of southern Crete as being an area of “regular” occurrence for Cuvier’s beaked whale, where numerous sightings have been reported (Frantzis 2009). Sightings in the Aegean Sea have been reported for the Sea of Crete south of Santorini (1) and in the northwestern Aegean Sea (3, Frantzis 2009). Boisseau et al. (2010) encountered one group of three beaked whales, assumed to be Cuvier’s beaked whales, in the Crete Trench during May–July 2007. Wojtek and Norman (2013) compiled stranding records of Cuvier’s beaked whales worldwide and found 56 stranding events totaling 88 whales in Greece during 1803–2012. In the Mediterranean, strandings have been especially frequent along the Ligurian and Ionian coasts (Cañadas et al. 2012). Numerous stranding records exist for the northern and southern Aegean Sea (Frantzis 2009), including one record of a group of three whales that stranded at Melos Island in January 1999 (Podestá et al. 2006). Several strandings have also been reported for the northern and southern coasts of Crete, and one stranding was reported on the northern coast of Kythira (Podestá et al. 2006; Frantzis 2009). A mass stranding of Cuvier’s beaked whales, coincident with naval exercises in the area, occurred in April 2014 in southeast Crete (Aguilar de Soto et al. 2014; Frantzis 2014).

Rough-toothed Dolphin (Steno bredanensis) The rough-toothed dolphin is distributed worldwide in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate waters (Miyazaki and Perrin 1994). It is generally seen in deep, oceanic water, although it can occur in shallow coastal waters in some locations (Jefferson et al. 2008). Previously considered an occasional visitor to the Mediterranean Sea (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006), regular occurrences of rough- toothed dolphins have since been documented in the eastern Mediterranean, where a resident population is thought to exist (Frantzis 2009). Population figures for the Mediterranean Sea are unknown (IUCN 2012). There are a number of occurrences of rough-toothed dolphins in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, but no sightings have been reported for the Aegean Sea or the waters around Crete (Frantzis 2009). There are two records in the Ionian Sea: a group of ~160 was sighted 170 km south of Sicily in September 1985, and a pod of 8 was sighted 150 km west of Kefalonia Island in September 2003 (Watkins et al. 1987, Lacey et al. 2005 in Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). A group of nine rough-toothed dolphins was sighted off Libya in July–September 2003 (Boisseau et al. 2010). Three groups were sighted near Cyprus: six individuals were seen north of Cyprus in June 2007 (Boisseau et al. 2010), and three and nine were observed south of Cyprus in August–September 2013 (Ryan et al. 2014). Seven of the 10 records of rough-toothed dolphins in Israel are strandings (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006).

Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) The bottlenose dolphin occurs in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters throughout the world; more is known about this species of dolphin than any other (Jefferson et al. 2008). However, modern field studies on the Mediterranean population did not begin until the late 1980s; therefore, much less is known about the bottlenose dolphins in this basin (Notarbartolo di Sciara and Bearzi 2005 in Bearzi et al. 2008). In many parts of the world, coastal and offshore ecotypes have been distinguished based on morphological, ecological, and physiological features (Jefferson et al. 2008). There is evidence suggestive of the existence of these ecotypes in the Mediterranean: dolphins from coastal Spain were distinguished from dolphins from offshore islands (i.e., Balearic Islands) based on contaminant profiles in their blubber (Borrell et al. 2007). Mediterranean bottlenose dolphins were found to be genetically differentiated from bottlenose dolphins inhabiting the contiguous eastern North Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea (Natoli et al. 2005). Natoli et al. (2005) also found

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that bottlenose dolphins in the eastern and western Mediterranean basins could be differentiated from one another. The total population size in the Mediterranean is unknown but has been estimated to be in the low 10,000s based on surveys completed in smaller areas (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). It is thought that bottlenose dolphin abundance is declining in the Mediterranean based on local abundance trends and recent patterns in sightings and strandings (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). Bottlenose dolphins are patchily distributed in coastal waters and around offshore islands and archipelagos throughout the Mediterranean (Bearzi et al. 2008). Frantzis (2009) reported 305 sightings and 234 strandings of bottlenose dolphins throughout Greek Seas and along Greek coasts, respectively; both sightings and strandings were widely distributed. Sightings and strandings have been reported throughout the Aegean Sea and along the Hellenic Trench (Frantzis 2009). Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara (2006) identified the Cyclades as being an area of “regular” occurrence for bottlenose dolphins. Sightings have been reported for a number of islands in the Cyclades, including the group of islands north of Íos, the coastal waters of western, northern, and southern Crete; Kythira, and Antikythera (Frantzis 2009). Strandings have been reported for Santorini and Íos, as well as numerous other islands in the Cyclades, and along the northern and western coasts of Crete (Frantzis 2009). Boisseau et al. (2010) reported six and two sightings of bottlenose dolphins during surveys of the Crete Trench during May–July 2007 and the Sea of Crete in September 2007, respectively. Gannier (2005) also sighted bottlenose dolphins in the Sea of Crete during surveys of the Levantine basin. During a dedicated harbor porpoise survey in the northern Aegean Sea in July 2013, the bottlenose dolphin was the most frequently encountered species and was most commonly observed in coastal waters; the encounter rate was 0.011 groups per 100 km (Ryan et al. 2014).

Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) The striped dolphin has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical to warm temperate waters (Perrin et al. 1994). Its primary range in the eastern Atlantic extends between ~30°S and ~50°N (Jefferson et al. 2008). Genetic studies indicate that the Mediterranean and eastern North Atlantic populations are isolated from each other with limited gene flow across the Strait of Gibraltar (García-Martinez et al. 1999; Valsecchi et al. 2004; Bourret et al. 2007). Population structure within the Mediterranean basin is uncertain, but genetic variation has been found within regions and between dolphins sampled inshore vs. offshore (Bourret et al. 2007; Gaspari et al. 2007a). The striped dolphin is the most abundant dolphin in the Mediterranean Sea (IUCN 2012), although its abundance appears to decrease towards the eastern basin, likely reflecting a gradient in decreasing productivity (Notarbartolo di Sciara and Birkun 2010). There were an estimated 117,880 striped dolphins in the western Mediterranean subpopulation in 1991 (Forcada et al. 1994), and Forcada and Hammond (1998) provided an abundance estimate of 217,806. However, current abundance is thought to have declined because of disease outbreak, high levels of pollutants, and bycatch in pelagic driftnets (IUCN 2012). There are no population estimates for striped dolphins in the eastern Mediterranean basin. The striped dolphin is pelagic and seems to prefer deep water seaward of the continental shelf (Davis et al. 1998). Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara (2006) classified much of the northern Mediterranean Sea, from the Strait of Gibraltar to Turkey just east of Rhodes Island, including the Aegean Sea and south to the Hellenic Trench, as its “regular” range. In Greece, the striped dolphin occupies continental slope and pelagic habitats; it is also occasionally found close to the coast where the continental slope is very steep (Frantzis 2009). Frantzis (2009) reported 523 sightings and 197 strandings throughout Greek seas and along coastlines, respectively. Sighting and stranding records exist throughout

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the Aegean Sea (Frantzis 2009). Frantzis (2009) reported numerous sightings in the Sea of Crete, south of Santorini, as well as off the western and southern coasts of Crete, south of Kythira and in the waters around Antikythera; strandings were reported for Santorini and other islands in the Cyclades, and for the northern and western coasts of Crete. Boisseau et al. (2010) encountered eight groups of striped dolphins in the Crete Trench during May–July 2007, with an encounter rate of 0.32 animals/100 n.mi. During a survey in the Sea of Crete, Boisseau et al. (2010) sighted four groups of striped dolphins; the encounter rate was 0.56 animals/100 n.mi. Striped dolphins were also seen in the Sea of Crete during surveys of the Levantine Basin by Gannier (2005). Almost 50% of the sightings made by Ryan et al. (2014) during their 2013 vessel-based survey were of striped dolphins: there were 10 sightings (group sizes 2–18) made during July–August in the northern Aegean Sea, and 6 sightings (group sizes 2–18) made during August– September in the Levantine Sea; the encounter rate in the Aegean Sea was 0.019 groups/100 km. The majority of sightings were made in offshore waters, but several were made in more coastal waters in the Aegean Sea (Ryan et al. 2014). Striped dolphins have also been sighted near Cyprus and Israel (Boisseau et al. 2010; Dede et al. 2012; Kerem et al. 2012).

Short-beaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) The short-beaked common dolphin is an oceanic species that is widely distributed in temperate to tropical waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (Jefferson et al. 2008). It was widespread and abundant throughout much of the Mediterranean Sea until the population declined relatively quickly in the late 1960s; suggested causes of the decline included incidental bycatch in fishing gear, a reduction in prey availability, and high levels of pollutants (Bearzi et al. 2003). Today the short-beaked common dolphin is relatively abundant in the Alboran Sea, Sicily Channel around Malta, eastern Ionian Sea, Aegean Sea, and off western Sardinia and Israel (IUCN 2012). Cañadas and Hammond (2008) estimated an abundance of 19,428 in the Alboran Sea based on surveys from 1992 to 2004. Information on population size and trends is lacking for other areas in the Mediterranean (IUCN 2012). In the Atlantic Ocean, short-beaked common dolphins usually occur along the shelf break at depths 200– 300 m or over prominent underwater topography such as seamounts (Evans 1994). Cañadas and Hammond (2008) modeled habitat use in the Alboran Sea and found that groups with calves and groups that were feeding preferred more coastal waters. In Greece, the short-beaked common dolphin is present in the inner Ionian Sea and in the deeper waters of the eastern Gulf of Corinth; it is present and potentially common in portions of the Aegean Sea at water depths <200 m (Frantzis 2009). Frantzis (2009) reported a total of 140 sightings and 55 strandings in Greece, including sightings in the northern and southern Aegean Sea; several sightings have been reported for the Cyclades, and a single sightings were made off Kythira and in the Sea of Crete, just south of Santorini (Frantzis 2009). There is a record of a single short-beaked common dolphin stranding in Crete in September 1991 (Van Bressem et al. 1993). Boisseau et al. (2010) encountered one group of six short-beaked common dolphins in the Crete Trench during May–July 2007. Ryan et al. (2014) encountered 16 groups (group sizes 1–15) in the Thracian Sea during July 2013, and two groups of two (one offshore and one in coastal waters) during July–August 2103 in the Aegean Sea; the encounter rate in the Aegean Sea was 0.004 groups/100 km. There were three sightings of common dolphins in the coastal waters of Turkey in the Aegean Sea in spring 2005 (Dede and Öztürk 2007), and one sighting of two dolphins in water 2000 m deep west of Crete in July 2008 (Dede et al. 2012).

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Risso’s Dolphin (Grampus griseus) Risso’s dolphin is distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical oceans (Baird 2009a). It has an apparent preference for the continental shelf and slope waters (Jefferson et al. 2014), occurring in steep sections of the shelf 400–1000 m deep (Baird 2009a); it is also known to frequent seamounts and escarpments (Kruse et al. 1999). Risso’s dolphins in the Mediterranean are genetically distinct from those in the eastern Atlantic (Gaspari et al. 2007b). Population abundance in the entire Mediterranean Sea is unknown (IUCN 2012), but a population size of 3000 individuals has been proposed (Perrin et al. 1990 in Gaspari 2004; Pelagos Sanctuary 2015) suggested a population size of 3000 individuals. Gómez de Segura et al. (2006) provided an abundance estimate of 493 Risso’s dolphins for the central Spanish Mediterranean, and Airoldi et al. (2005) estimated the population size in the Ligurian Sea at 267 dolphins. Risso’s dolphin is found throughout the Mediterranean Sea, although most occurrences have been recorded in the northwestern part of the basin (Bearzi et al. 2011; Jefferson et al. 2014). There are 38 sightings and 34 strandings in Greece; the sightings are mainly from the Aegean Sea, but the strandings are roughly equally spread throughout the Ionian, Aegean, and Sea of Cretes (Frantzis 2009). Sightings have been made in the Cyclades, just south of eastern Amorgós; sightings have also been reported for the waters off northwestern Crete near Antikythera, southwestern Crete, and a single sighting was reported just east of Kythira (Frantzis 2009). Boisseau et al. (2010) encountered two groups of Risso’s dolphins in the Crete Trench during May–July 2007, with an encounter rate of 0.06 dolphins/100 n.mi. There are also stranding records throughout the Cyclades, including Santorini, Melos, and Astipalea; and along the northwest coast of Crete (Frantzis et al. 2003; Frantzis 2009). Risso’s dolphins were sighted near the Akté Peninsula, northern Aegean Sea, in July 2013, and between Rhodes and Cyprus, and to the southwest of Crete in August–September 2013 (Ryan et al. 2014). There was as single sighting off the coast of Turkey in July 2008 (Dede et al. 2012), and five strandings were reported along the Turkish coast during 1997–2011 (Öztürk et al. 2011).

False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens) The false killer whale is found worldwide in tropical and temperate waters generally between 50ºN and 50ºS (Odell and McClune 1999). It is widely distributed, but not abundant anywhere (Carwardine 1995). False killer whales generally inhabit deep, offshore waters, but sometimes are found over the continental shelf and occasionally move into very shallow water (Jefferson et al. 2008; Baird 2009b). False killer whales are gregarious and form strong social bonds, as is evident from their propensity to strand en masse (Baird 2009b). The false killer whale is considered a visitor in the Mediterranean Sea (IUCN 2012). Frantzis (2009) reported 33 records in the Mediterranean Sea: 16 in the western basin and 17 in the eastern basin. The records for the eastern basin include two occurrences in Greece (a group of 7+ whales was photographed between Chios Island and the coast of Turkey in 1992, and single individual stranded in Argolikos Gulf, western Aegean Sea, in 1993), and a live stranding in the Turkish Aegean Sea at Izmir Bay (Frantzis 2009). Ryan et al. (2014) sighted a group of 3–4 false killer whales southwest of Cyprus while conducting a vessel-based survey during August–September 2013.

Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) The harbor porpoise inhabits cool temperate to subarctic waters of the Northern Hemisphere and is most often found in shallow coastal waters (Jefferson et al. 2008). Harbor porpoises in the northern Aegean Sea have been shown to be genetically similar to those in the Black Sea, and porpoises from both

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areas are genetically distinct from those in the Atlantic Ocean (Rosel et al. 2003; Viaud-Martínez et al. 2007). The Black Sea population is estimated at several thousands to the low ten thousands; the subpopulation resident in the northern Aegean Sea is thought to be the smallest (Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006). Frantzis (2009) reported one sighting and 13 strandings of harbor porpoises along the coast of the northern Aegean Sea. Frantzis (2009) also reported two strandings farther south in Greek waters: a harbor porpoise stranded alive in northern Evvoia in summer 2006, and a stranding occurred in the Saronikos Gulf in spring 2008. Ryan et al. (2014) completed the first dedicated survey for harbor porpoises in the northern Aegean Sea in July 2013 and confirmed the presence of porpoises in both Greek and Turkish waters of the Aegean Sea. Harbor porpoise detections were clustered in three areas: north of Thasos, southwest of Alexandroupolis, and Saros Bay (Ryan et al. 2014). In October 2006, a stranded porpoise was discovered on the Turkish coast of the Aegean Sea in Izmir Bay (Güçlüsoy 2008).

Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) The Mediterranean monk seal is the most endangered seal species, with an estimated total population size of 350–450 (Jefferson et al. 2008). Extirpation along most mainland coasts of the Mediterranean has resulted in the existence of only three small, isolated populations in remote locations: the smallest subpopulation in the archipelago of Madeira consists of 30–35 individuals (Pires et al. 2008); a subpopulation in the area of Cabo Blanco, Western Sahara, consists of ~150 individuals (González et al. 2002); and the largest subpopulation, found mainly in caves throughout the northeastern Mediterranean in Greece and Turkey, is estimated at ~250–350 individuals (Güçlüsoy et al. 2004; Gücü et al. 2004; MOm, 2009). The minimum population estimate for Greece is 170–220; this is considered a conservative estimate because several important pupping areas have not been systematically monitored (MOm 2009). The Eastern Mediterranean and Western Saharan populations are reproductively isolated (Schultz 2011). The greatest concentrations of Mediterranean monk seals are found in Greece and are located mainly over the Aegean and Ionian islands, and along the coastlines of the continental central and southern parts of the country (Adamantopoulou et al. 1999). The Mediterranean monk seal is non-migratory and has a very limited home range (Gücü et al. 2004; Dendrinos et al. 2007a; Adamantopoulou et al. 2011). It historically occupied open beaches, rocky shorelines, and spacious arching caves, but now almost exclusively uses secluded coastal caves for hauling out and breeding. Monk seals are more particular when selecting caves for breeding vs. caves for resting (Gücü et al. 2004; Karamanlidis et al. 2004; Dendrinos et al. 2007b). In Greece, the pupping season lasts from August to December with a peak in births during September–October (MOm 2009). Lactation lasts an average of 119 days (Aguilar et al. 2007). Monk seals are thought to be most vulnerable to human disturbance within the first six months after birth (Gücü et al. 2004). Suitable shelters for resting and reproduction have been identified on the islands immediately north of Santorini, including Folégandros, Nisída Kardiótissi, Síkinos, Náxos, Irakleia, and Amorgós; Santorini, Therasia, Christianna, Anáfi, and Íos, the islands in and nearest to the proposed Santorini survey area, do not have suitable shelters for monk seals, nor does Crete (MOm 2009). Sightings of monk seals have been made throughout the Aegean Sea, along the northern and southern coasts of Crete, and near Kythira and Antikythera (MOm 2009). Sea Turtles The Mediterranean Sea is an important breeding area for loggerhead and green turtles (Camiñas 2004). Loggerhead nesting sites in the Mediterranean are located in 10 countries: Cyprus, Egypt, Greece,

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Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Turkey, and Tunisia (Camiñas 2004). For green turtles, 99% of the recorded nesting occur in Cyprus and Turkey, and nesting is also known on the beaches of Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt (Camiñas 2004). Leatherback turtles also occur throughout the Mediterranean but less frequently, and they do not maintain any regular nesting areas in the region (Groombridge 1990; Camiñas 2004). In the Mediterranean, loggerhead and leatherback turtles are listed as Endangered under the ESA, and the green sea turtle is listed as Threatened. On the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2014), the loggerhead and green turtles are listed as Endangered, and the leatherback turtle is listed as Vulnerable. Three other ESA-listed sea turtle species have been reported in the Mediterranean. The Endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) has been observed only rarely in the Mediterranean and is considered extralimital (Laurent and Lescure 1991; Camiñas 2004). Another Endangered sea turtle under the ESA, Kemp’s ridley turtle (Lepidochelys kempii), is also a rare visitor to the western Mediterranean (Groombridge 1990; Tomás and Raga 2007). There is a single record of the Threatened olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) that stranded in Spain (Revuelta et al. 2015). On the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2014), the Hawksbill and Kemp’s ridley turtles are listed as Critically Endangered, and the olive ridley turtle is listed as Vulnerable. As it is unlikely that the these three turtle species would be encountered during the proposed survey, they are not discussed further. General information on the taxonomy, ecology, distribution and movements, and acoustic capabilities of sea turtles is given in § 3.4.1 of the PEIS. The general distribution of sea turtles at various locations in the North Atlantic is discussed in § 3.4.2 and 3.4.3 of the PEIS. The rest of this section focuses on their distribution in the Mediterranean Sea, and more specifically, the Aegean Sea.

(1) Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) The loggerhead turtle is the most abundant species nesting in Mediterranean waters (Broderick et al. 2002; Camiñas 2004); it occurs throughout the western and eastern basins (Camiñas 2004). The main nesting sites are in Greece (Ionian Sea), Turkey, and Cyprus, although minor sites exist throughout the eastern basin (Broderick et al. 2002; Camiñas 2004; IUCN 2012). In the Aegean Sea, major nesting sites have been reported for Rethymno and the Bay of Chania, Crete (Margaritoulis et al. 2003), although the population on Rethymno may be declining (Margaritoulis et al. 2009). Smaller nesting sites occur at Kos and Rhodes islands in the Dodecanese archipelago, Greece, and on southeastern Peloponnesus and Kythira, Greece (Margaritoulis et al. 2003). There is also a moderate nesting area at Bay of Messara, on the southern coast of Crete, and additional major nesting sites occur at Kyparissia and Lakonikos bays, southern Peloponnesus, Greece (Margaritoulis et al. 2003). Approximately 2280–2787 loggerhead turtles nest in the Mediterranean annually (Broderick et al. 2002), with 3375–7085 nests per season (Margaritoulis et al. 2003). Greece is the most important breeding area for loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean, with 1380–1686 nesting females, followed by Turkey (621–759), Cyprus (260–318), Israel (15–18), and Tunisia (5–6) (Broderick et al. 2002). Sporadic nesting is also known to occur in Italy, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Libya (Margaritoulis et al. 2003). Females migrate from foraging areas to nesting beaches, typically breeding every two years during late May to mid August, laying 1.8–2.2 clutches of eggs per breeding season (Broderick et al. 2002). At the beginning of the nesting season in the Mediterranean Sea, females select transient warm patches of water, typically within 200 m of shore and in water <4 m deep (Schofield et al. 2007, 2009). After the breeding season, turtles disperse and overwinter in coastal areas where water temperatures fall below 15C; dives during the winter were made to median depths of 4–24 m and lasted >3 h (Hochscheid

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et al. 2007). Broderick et al. (2007) reported long resting dives of up to 10.2 h at overwintering sites in the eastern Mediterranean. Even though water temperatures were low, turtles tracked with satellite relay data loggers were not obligatory hibernators, moving and foraging throughout the winter (Hochscheid et al. 2007). In the Atlantic, hatchling loggerhead turtles spend ~6.5 to 11.5 y in the oceanic developmental phase before moving to neritic (nearshore) foraging areas (Bjorndal et al. 2000). Casale and Mariani (2014) simulated hatching dispersal from nesting sites in the Mediterranean; they found that hatchlings from the Levantine Basin and southcentral Mediterranean generally remained in those same areas, whereas those from the Ionian Sea dispersed throughout the Ionian and Adriatic seas and the southcentral Mediterranean. Casale et al. (2005) suggested that the Ionian/South Adriatic Sea is an important developmental habitat for loggerheads. Hatchlings from Turkish nesting sites showed the greatest dispersal into the Aegean Sea, with some dispersal into the sea from nesting sites in Cyprus, Crete, and the Ionian Sea (Casale and Mariani 2014). Clusa et al. (2014) reported that young loggerheads do not distribute homogeneously between various foraging grounds, but that their use of specific foraging areas could be related to the surface circulation patterns within the Mediterranean. Casale et al. (2007) reported that some portion of juvenile loggerheads in the Mediterranean showed area fidelity during the oceanic phase, and that all juvenile turtles showed site fidelity during the neritic phase. Fidelity to foraging areas was also demonstrated by post-nesting females (Godley et al. 2003; Broderick et al. 2007), as was fidelity to over-wintering sites and migratory paths (Broderick et al. 2007). Both juvenile and adult foraging stages occur in neritic areas, where foraging for marine invertebrates primarily occurs on the seafloor, although prey can also be taken throughout the water column (Bolten 2003). Long-term (>1 y) residency in a neritic foraging habitat has been shown in western Greece, in Amvrakikos Gulf (Rees et al. 2013). Margaritoulis and Panagopoulou (2010) also reported that Amvrakikos Gulf, Argolikos Bay, and Saronikos Bay in the southwestern Aegean Sea are likely foraging areas for loggerheads, as concentrations of turtles occur there; aggregations are also found around Crete, near Kos and Rhodes islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea, and in the northern Aegean Sea. There is restricted gene flow among nesting populations in the Mediterranean, and animals are somewhat genetically isolated from larger Atlantic populations (Bowen et al. 1993; Encalada et al. 1998; Carreras et al. 2006, 2007, 2011; Monzón-Argüello et al. 2009; Chaieb et al. 2012; Saied et al. 2012). However, some turtles are known to migrate into the western Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean (see Margaritoulis et al. 2003; Camiñas 2004; Carreras et al. 2006, 2011). Loggerhead turtles undergo seasonal migrations in the Mediterranean, some of considerable distance (e.g., Margaritoulis et al. 2003; Bentivegna et al. 2007; Casale et al. 2012a, 2013). Adult females tagged at Zakynthos and Kyparissia Bay, Greece, dispersed widely throughout the eastern basin post-nesting, including to the eastern and northern Aegean Sea, as well as western Crete (Margaritoulis et al. 2003). Movement of adult females that were tagged at the largest Mediterranean rookery at Zakynthos, Greece, showed that the Adriatic Sea and Gulf of Gabès, Tunisia, are important foraging regions for turtles after nesting (Zbinden et al. 2008, 2011); inferences from stable isotope analysis of untracked individuals were also used to assign turtles to those same two foraging areas (Zbinden et al. 2011). Casale et al. (2012b) also reported that tracked juveniles used the Tunisian shelf and offshore waters as a foraging ground for prolonged periods of time. Similarly, work by Garofalo et al. (2013) indicated that the Tunisian shelf and offshore waters, including Lampedusa (Italy), are important foraging areas for turtles that originate in Libya, Crete, Cyprus, and Lebanon. Juvenile and adult turtles tagged in the northern Ionian Sea showed migration patterns to the Adriatic Sea, Gulf of Gabès, as well as the Aegean Sea (Margaritoulis et al. 2003; Casale et al. 2007).

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One adult female turtle that was tagged and released in the northern Adriatic Sea during November 2004 migrated south and around the southern coast of Peloponnesus and into the Cyclades and the Saronic Gulf, then moved south during the spring, passing the Santorini survey area near Santorini, to Crete and eastward around the entire coast of Crete, before moving north again past Peloponnesus, arriving in the Adriatic Sea in August 2005 (Luschi et al. 2013). Another adult female that was tagged in the summer of 2005 at west Peloponnesus moved south along the coast of Peloponnesus, then northward into the Aegean Sea where it remained at Thasos Island from August to October; the turtle then moved along the Turkish coast, remaining in the eastern Aegean Sea until transmission was lost in December (Rees and Margaritoulis 2009). Adult females tagged at Rethymno, Crete, were shown to use the Aegean Sea as their main foraging area, as most tagged turtles were recovered there; other turtles were recovered from the Gulf of Gabès, the Adriatic Sea, and Israel (Margaritoulis and Rees 2011). One tagged turtle that was tracked starting in July 2005 from Crete moved northward to the island of Mykonos in the central Aegean Sea, and during winter headed south and had extended rest periods at Paros and Santorini islands, before moving north again to Mykonos Island for the summer (Margaritoulis and Rees 2011). The turtle remained at Santorini Island from mid February to the end of March 2006 (Margaritoulis and Rees 2011). Groombridge (1990) reported five recoveries of loggerheads in the Aegean Sea that were tagged in Greece, including one record to the northwest of Santorini Island. Loggerheads could also migrate from Turkish nesting sites, through the southern Aegean Sea, en route to foraging areas in the Ionian Sea (Garofalo et al. 2013). A juvenile loggerhead that was tagged in Amvrakikos Bay, western Greece, in May 2003, traveled to Crete, and then moved eastward to Syria, then westward to western Turkey (Rees and Margaritoulis 2009). A second tagged turtle was released at Cape Sounio in the western Aegean Sea in June 2004; it moved southward toward Crete, then on to Libya (Rees and Margaritoulis 2009). Bentivegna et al. (2007) reported that satellite-tagged loggerheads migrated from Italy to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. One individual traveled to the west coast of Crete during fall and onwards to Libya during winter, and then to the southeastern Aegean Sea during spring (Bentivegna et al. 2007). Another tracked individual migrated from Italy to Libya over the fall/winter, and then traveled westward through the Sea of Crete during spring before arriving in the Ionian Sea during summer (Bentivegna et al. 2007). Loggerhead turtles outfitted with satellite relay data loggers were shown to overwinter in the Adriatic Sea and Gulf of Gabès, and the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas (Hochscheid et al. 2007). They have also been documented to overwinter in coastal areas of Greece, Libya, Egypt, and Syria (Bentivegna et al. 2007; Broderick et al. 2007; Casale et al. 2013). Corsini-Foka et al. (2013) reported that strandings of loggerhead turtles increased at Rhodes Island, Greece, in the southeastern Aegean Sea during 1984–2011. A total of 102 dead and 37 live strandings were reported, most during summer (57) with equal numbers of strandings during fall, winter, and spring (Corsini-Foka et al. 2013). Small loggerhead turtles also frequently strand in other regions adjacent to the Aegean Sea, including northern Crete, Saronikos Bay in the west, and along the coast in the northern Aegean Sea; larger loggerheads are often found stranded near major nesting sites, such as northern Crete (Koutsodendris et al. 2006). Panagopoulos et al. (2003) reported 957 loggerhead turtle strandings for Greece during 1992–2000, with most during summer; 26 occurred in the Cyclades island group where Santorini is located, 33 in the Dodecanese islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea, and 96 on Crete. Koutsodendris et al. (2006) reported 1610 loggerhead turtle strandings for Greece during 1990–2005. There are >300 records of loggerhead turtles in the OBIS database for the eastern Mediterranean, including for the Aegean Sea and for the waters west and south of Crete. There are 26 records (six for the month of October) for the Aegean Sea, including the Cyclades and the Sea of Crete (OBIS 2015).

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Loggerhead turtles are likely to occur in and near the proposed survey areas.

(2) Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) A genetically distinct sub-population of the green turtle occurs in the Mediterranean Sea (Encalada et al. 1996), and there is also genetic variation among the different nesting beaches in the Mediterranean (Bagda et al. 2012). Green turtles are restricted to the eastern basin of the Mediterranean, where they nest primarily in Turkey and Cyprus (Kasparek et al. 2001; Camiñas 2004). A total of ~339–360 females nest annually on Mediterranean beaches, mostly in Turkey (Canbolat 2004) followed by Cyprus (Broderick et al. 2002). Nesting in smaller numbers also occurs in Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Syria (Kasparek et al. 2001; Brodkerick et al. 2002; Camiñas 2004; Rees et al. 2008; IUCN 2012). Although green turtles do not typically nest in Greece, a nesting female was found in Rethymno, northern Crete, in 2007 (Margaritoulis and Panagopoulou 2010), and signs of nesting were also found on Rhodes Island in 2002 (Gambi 2003 in Corsini-Foka et al. 2013). The nesting interval is 3 y, and the clutch frequency per female is 2.9–3.1 (Broderick et al. 2002); 350–1750 clutches are laid annually (Kasparek et al. 2001). Nesting in the Mediterranean occurs from late May to early September, with a peak between mid June and early August (Broderick et al. 2002). Green turtles are thought to remain in the eastern Mediterranean year-round and are generally restricted to neritic environments of the eastern Levantine basin, including waters near Cyprus, Mersin Bay and the Gulf of Iskenderun in Turkey, and along Egypt’s north coast (Broderick et al. 2002). Casale and Mariani (2014) simulated hatching dispersal from nesting sites in the Mediterranean; they found that hatchlings from nesting sites in Turkey, Syria, and Cyprus dispersed throughout the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea, including the Aegean Sea as well as western and southern Crete. Young green turtles start their lives as oceanic omnivores and then switch to an herbivorous diet during the recruitment as adults into neritic habitat (Cardona et al. 2010). They forage on jellyfish and invertebrates as hatchlings, jellyfish and tunicates as juveniles, and seagrass as adults (Camiñas 2004). Foraging areas are found along the coast of Turkey (Broderick et al. 2007; Türkekan and Yerli 2011) and the coastal waters of Egypt (Godley et al. 2002). Strandings on Rhode Island indicate that the waters around the island have suitable foraging areas for juveniles (Koutsodendris et al. 2006; Corsini-Foka et al. 2013). Lakonikos Bay on Peloponnesus, southern Greece, is also thought to have suitable feeding habitat for juveniles (Margaritoulis and Teneketzis 2003; Koutsodendris et al. 2006). Overwintering mainly occurs in northern Africa, including coastal waters of Libya and Egypt, but has also been documented for southern Turkey (Godley et al. 2002; Broderick et al. 2007; Türkekan and Yerli 2011). Fidelity of post- nesting females to foraging areas, over-wintering sites, and migratory paths has been demonstrated (Godley et al. 2002; Broderick et al. 2007). Corsini-Foka et al. (2013) reported that strandings of green turtles increased at Rhodes Island, Greece, in the southeastern Aegean Sea during 1984–2011, especially those of juveniles. A total of 15 dead and 27 live strandings were reported, most during winter (16), followed by summer (11), autumn (10), and spring (5). Panagopoulos et al. (2003) reported 74 green turtle strandings for Greece during 1992–2000, mostly during summer; there were no stranding reports for the Cyclades, 8 for the Dodecanese islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea, and 6 for Crete. Koutsodendris et al. (2006) reported 109 green turtle strandings for Greece during 1990–2005, including records for Saronikos Bay, Rhodes Island, northern Crete, Lakonikos and Argolikos bays on Peloponnesus, and the Ionian cost. There are no green turtle sightings for the Aegean Sea or near Crete in the OBIS database (OBIS 2015). Green turtles are likely to occur in and near the proposed survey areas.

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(3) Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) In the Mediterranean, the leatherback turtle is considered a visitor from the Atlantic Ocean (Casale et al. 2003; Camiñas 2004). It can be found throughout the Mediterranean Sea year-round, although most records have been reported during summer (Casale et al. 2003). Most observations are of large juveniles and single adults within the central and western basins (Casale et al. 2003; Camiñas 2004). Only a small number of leatherbacks are thought to nest in the Mediterranean, occasionally in Israel and on the south coast of Sicily (Groombridge 1990). Casale et al. (2003) reported 411 leatherback records for the Mediterranean, including several for the Aegean Sea and the Cyclades. Margaritoulis (1986) reported 11 leatherbacks for the Aegean Sea during 1982–1984. Casale et al. (2003) suggested that the Aegean Sea could be an area where they aggregate to feed. Margaritoulis and Panagopoulou (2010) reported that low numbers occur in Greece; five were reported for all of Greece during 1992–2000 (Panagopoulos et al. 2003). There are no sightings of leatherback turtles for the Mediterranean in the OBIS database (OBIS 2015). Given the paucity of sightings in Greece, leatherback turtles likely would not be encountered during the proposed survey. Seabirds Two ESA-listed seabird/shorebird species have ranges that overlap the survey areas: the Endangered Audouin’s gull and slender-billed curlew. On the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2014), Audouin’s gull is listed as Near Threatened, and the slender-billed curlew is listed as Critically Endangered. General information on the taxonomy, ecology, distribution and movements, and acoustic capabilities of seabird families are given in § 3.5.1 of the PEIS.

(1) Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii) Audouin’s gull, a Mediterranean-breeding endemic, has an estimated population of ~65,000 birds comprising ~21,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2015a). In Greece, the breeding population is estimated at 350–500 breeding pairs (2010 estimate), which is a 28% decrease from an estimated 700–900 pairs in the late 1990s (Fric et al. 2012). It breeds on coastal islets, offshore islands, and peninsulas in the Mediterranean from Portugal and Morocco to the Aegean Sea, Turkey, and Cyprus (del Hoyo et al. 1996). In Greece, breeding colonies tend to be small and sparsely distributed, and occur on Anáfi Island and islets off Crete, in addition to ~70 other locations (Fric et al. 2012). These gulls typically return to colonies from late February to mid April, with fledging peaking in early–mid July (BirdLife International 2015a). Following breeding, they disperse around the Mediterranean coast, with most young and some adults migrating past Gibraltar to winter on the northwestern coast of Africa (del Hoyo et al. 1996). Another wintering population occurs along the Aegean coast of Turkey (BirdLife International 2015a). The wintering distribution of Audouin’s gulls breeding in Greece is largely unknown, but it is suspected that they winter predominantly in northern and western Africa (Fric et al. 2012). Audouin’s gull nesting habitat is typically on offshore islands or islets covered in large stones, the sea holly Eryngium, grass, and low bushes, although in the Ebro delta of Spain it breeds on saltmarsh and a sandy peninsula (BirdLife International 2015a). Feeding areas are typically coastal or pelagic, but sometimes include rice fields, marshes, and tourist beaches. Primarily, this species forages on epipelagic fish within ~30 km from shore, although it may range much farther on occasion (BirdLife International 2015a). During the non-breeding season, it prefers sheltered bays and beaches, especially where stream mouths or other freshwater is present, and marinas. It typically does not range inland or far offshore.

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Because of its piscivorous diet and coastal distribution, it is possible that Audouin’s Gull could be encountered during the proposed survey; as the survey takes place outside of the breeding season, the birds are expected to be dispersed around the Mediterranean coast.

(2) Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) The slender-billed curlew could be extinct; no current breeding, wintering, or migratory populations are known. The last confirmed sighting was in Hungary in 2001, and if this species persists, its numbers are extremely low (BirdLife International 2015b). Formerly it bred in Siberia, from where it would migrate west-southwest through central and eastern Europe, including Greece. Wintering populations were found discontinuously from north Africa, e.g., Morocco, to the Middle East, e.g., Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia (del Hoyo et al. 1996). It is thought to have had peak spring and fall migrations in March and September, respectively (BirdLife International 2015b). On wintering and staging sites, the slender-billed curlew used a variety of habitats including saltmarsh, grasslands, lagoons, tidal mudflats, fishponds, and other areas near water (del Hoyo et al. 1996). Large coastal wetlands were probably the preferred sites, with most records occurring in close proximity to the sea. Given the current population status of the slender-billed curlew, in addition to the locations and habitats of its formerly known wintering and migratory stop-over sites, it is extremely unlikely that any individuals would be encountered during the proposed survey. Fish, Essential Fish Habitat, and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern There are three marine fish species listed under the ESA as Endangered that could occur in or near the survey areas: the eastern Atlantic distinct population segement (DPS) of scalloped hammerhead shark, Adriatic sturgeon, and European sturgeon. In addition, there are six marine fish species that are candidates for ESA listing based on a petition by WildEarth Guardians (2013): the sawback angelshark, smoothback angelshark, angelshark, guitarfish, blackchin guitarfish, and undulate ray (NMFS 2015a). On the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2014), the aforementioned angelsharks and sturgeons are listed as Critically Endangered, the guitarfishes and undulate ray are listed as Endangered, and the Eastern Central Atlantic subpopulation of scalloped hammerhead shark is listed as Vulnerable. The ESA- listed and candidate species are described below. There are no ESA-listed or candidate marine invertebrate species that could occur in the survey areas (NMFS 2015a). There is no Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) and there are no habitats of particular concern (HAPC) in the EEZ of Greece.

(1) Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna lewini) The scalloped hammerhead shark inhabits warm temperate and tropical waters (Maguire et al. 2006; Miller et al. 2014; NMFS 2015b). It occurs in coastal pelagic and estuarine water, but it is also known to inhabit open water over continental and insular shelves, as well as deeper waters, with depths up to 1000 m (Miller et al. 2014; NMFS 2015b). Females move inshore to give birth to litters of 1‒41 pups (Miller et al. 2014). The scalloped hammerhead shark is very mobile and partly migratory (Maguire 2006), travelling <100 km to >1900 km between aggregations of food sources, but eventually returning to its original habitat, displaying site fidelity (Miller et al. 2014). Juveniles and adults may be solitary or travel in pairs; they also school in productive regions, such as over seamounts or near islands (Miller et al. 2014).

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(2) Adriatic Sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii) The Adriatic sturgeon is currently thought to be restricted to the Adriatic Sea (Kottelat and Freyhof 2007), but historically, it may also have occurred in the Iberian Peninsula (Meadows and Coll 2013; NMFS 2015c). It is a benthic estuarine and anadromous species that does not enter marine water outside of estuaries (Kottelat and Freyhoff 2007). From February to March, it ascends rivers for spawning in areas with low currents along river banks (Billard and Lecointre 2001). The young undergo a marine growth period in estuaries with sand or mud bottoms where water depths are 10‒40 m (NMFS 2015c). Adriatic sturgeons have drastically decreased in number over the last 50 years, and the population in the eastern Adriatic Sea has probably been extirpated (NMFS 2015c). A stocking program reintroduced Adriatic sturgeon to Italy, but the last natural spawning event was reported there during the 1980s (NMFS 2015c).

(3) European Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) The European (also known as Atlantic) sturgeon is currently thought to be restricted to a small population that breeds in the Gironde system in southwestern France; however, the last reproduction by wild individuals was reported there in 1994 (Meadows and Coll 2013). It is a benthic anadromous species that inhabits water depths <200 m (Meadows and Coll 2013). It can tolerate a wide range of salinities, spending most of its life in coastal marine water and moving into freshwater to spawn (Meadows and Coll 2013). Spawning occurs from March to August (Billard and Lecointre 2001). Females lay 800,000‒2,400,000 sticky eggs at depths 2‒10 m in rivers or estuaries with gravel bottoms to which the eggs adhere (Meadows and Coll 2013). Eggs hatch after 3‒14 days; when young-of-the-year are ~6 months, they slowly make their way down the river and spend the next year or two in the estuary (Rosenthal et al. n.d.). During 2‒6 y of age, juveniles alternate between spending time in the estuary and at sea; at 7‒8 y, they occur in marine waters of the continental shelf (Rosenthal et al. n.d.).

(4) Sawback Angelshark (Squatina aculeata) The sawback angelshark inhabits coastal waters and outer continental shelves in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean (Compagno 1984). It is more common in the eastern Atlantic compared with the Mediterranean; migration through the Strait of Gibraltar is unlikely (Capapé et al. 2005). It used to occur along all coasts of the Mediterranean, but it has been disappearing from certain regions (Bradai et al. 2012). Nonetheless, it is known to occur in the western basin (Compagno 1984), the central Mediterranean (e.g., Capapé et al. 2005; Ragonese et al. 2013), and there are also records for the eastern Mediterranean Sea, including the Aegean Sea (e.g., Başusta 2002; Filiz et al. 2005). The sawback angelshark is a benthic marine species that occurs in water depths 30‒500 m (Compagno 1984). It likely has a biannual reproductive cycle, with parturition likely occurring from May to July; litter sizes range from 8 to 12 (Capapé et al. 2005).

(5) Smoothback Angelshark (Squatina oculata) The smoothback angelshark, also known as monkfish, occurs in warm-temperate and tropical regions of the eastern Atlantic, from Morocco to Angola, as well as the Mediterranean (Compagno 1984). Recent captures have been reported for the central Mediterranean (e.g., Ragonese et al. 2013). It is a benthic marine species, inhabiting continental shelves and slopes in water depths >20‒500 m, but usually 50‒100 m (Compagno 1984). It likely has a biannual reproductive cycle, giving birth to 5‒8 pups between February and April (Capapé et al. 1990).

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(6) Angelshark (Squatina squatina) Historically, the distributional range of the angelshark included the northeast and eastern central Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, and Black Sea (OSPAR 2010). However, populations throughout its range have been severely depleted or even extirpated, including populations in the northern Mediterranean, West Africa, and the Black Sea (OSPAR 2010). Production in the Mediterranean and Black seas is considered to be low, based on landings (Bradai et al. 2012). Nonetheless, recent captures have been reported for the central Mediterranean (e.g., Ragonese et al. 2013). In its northern range, the angelshark shows seasonal migrations, moving northward during the summer months (Compagno 1984). It is a benthic marine species that inhabits continental shelves in temperate waters, occurring inshore to water depths of at least 150 m (Compagno 1984); occasionally, it enters estuaries and brackish waters (OSPAR 2010). Young are born during the winter, with litter sizes ranging from 7‒18 young, depending on the size of the female (Capapé et al. 1990).

(7) Common Guitarfish (Rhinobatos rhinobatos) The common guitarfish, also known as violinfish, is a demersal marine species, occurring in the eastern Atlantic, from the southern Bay of Biscay southwards to Angola, including the Mediterranean (Frose and Pauly 2015a). In the Mediterranean Sea, it appears to be more common in the southern regions (Bertrand et al. 2000, Baino et al. 2001 in Bradai et al. 2012). It occurs on sandy and muddy substrates in the intertidal zone to depths of ~100 m (Froese and Pauly 2015a). The common guitarfish reproduces annually (Bradai et al. 2012). Young are born during during the summer (Ismen et al. 2007), with females producing 4‒12 pups per litter (Bradai et al. 2012).

(8) Blackchin Guitarfish (Rhinobatos cemiculus) The blackchin guitarfish is a demersal marine species that inhabits the eastern Atlantic, from the northern coast of Portugal down to Angola, including the Mediterranean Sea (Froese and Pauly 2015b). It occurs over sandy or muddy substrates in water depths of 9‒100 m (Froese and Pauly 2015b). In the Mediterranean, it is apparently more prevalent in the southern regions (Bertrand et al. 2000, Baino et al. 2001 in Bradai et al. 2012). It has an annual reproductive cycle, with parturition occurring during the summer (Capapé and Zaouali 1994). Females likely produce one litter per year and 5‒12 pups per litter (Capapé and Zaouali 1994).

(9) Undulate Ray (Raja undulata) The undulate ray has a patchy distribution in the eastern Atlantic, including the western Mediterranean Sea (Froese and Pauly 2015c). It is a benthic marine species, inhabiting sandy and muddy substrates in shelf water with depths of 50‒200 m (Froese and Pauly 2015c). Juveniles appear to use coastal lagoons and estuaries (Moura et al. 2007). Undulate rays have an annual reproductive cycle that varies depending on location (Moura et al. 2007). Eggs are deposited in sandy or muddy flats (McEachran and Dunn 1998), and litter sizes range from 4 to 12 (Bradai et al. 2012). Fisheries The 2002‒2006 commercial fisheries information described below is from all water depths in the EEZ of Greece (SAUP 2011). Other sources used here are the Hellenic Communication Service (HCS 2000), the United Nations Environment Programme‒Mediterranean Action Pan‒Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (UNEP MAP RAC/SPA 2003), the Food and Agriculture Organization of

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the UN (Cacaud 2005; FAO 2006), the Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science (Pawson et al. 2007), the National Statistical Service of Greece (NSSG 2009), the European Environment Agency (EEA 2010), Fishing Fever Gr (2014), GRReporter (2010), the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM 2014a,b), the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES 2014), Angloinfo (2015), and Zorbas Island (2015).

(1) Commercial Fisheries

Greece has a multi-gear and multi-species fishery that included almost 18,500 professional fishing vessels, most (94%) <12 m long, in 2005 (FAO 2006). In 2014, 589 Greek vessels with overall lengths >15 m were authorized to fish in the GFCM area (the Mediterranean and Black seas); vessels ≥15 m that were not entered into the GFCM Authorized Vessel List (AVL) record were deemed unauthorized to fish for, retain on board, transship, or land species covered by the GFCM (GFCM 2014a). Fisheries in Europe are managed by an annual quota (total allowable catch, TAC) system; however, the majority of fish stocks in the Aegean Sea are currently overfished (EEA 2010). The predominant species caught in the Aegean Sea include European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus, sardine Sardina pilchardus, European hake Merluccius merluccius, flounder, sea bream, wrasse, scorpion fish, common pandora Pagellus erythrinus, anglerfish, Mediterranean horse mackerel Trachurus mediterraneus, skate, lobster, pink and brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus duorarum and either Farfantepenaeus sp. or Crangon crangon, red mullet Mullus barbatus, common octopus Octopus vulgaris and squid (FAO 2006; EOL 2015). During spring and early summer, coastal fisheries mainly capture brown shrimp (FAO 2006). During winter, the coastal fleet primarily harvests cuttlefish and octopus, purse seiners mainly harvest anchovy and sardine, and trawlers mainly harvest red mullet, hake, octopus, prawn, shrimp, and crayfish; no information for fall was available (FAO 2006). The primary cartilaginous fishes taken in the Mediterranean include dogfish Squalus acanthias, thresher sharks Alopias spp., mako sharks Isurus spp., porbeagle shark Lamna nasus, and blue shark Prionace glauca (UNEP MAP RAC/SPA 2003). Other commercially important cartilaginous fishes in the Mediterranean include angelsharks Squatina spp., catsharks Scyliorhinus spp. and Galeus melastomus, hound sharks Mustelus spp. and Galeorhinus galeus, requiem sharks Carcharhinus falciformis, C. limbatus, C. obscurus, and C. plumbeus, skates Leucoraja spp. and Raja spp., and stingrays Dasyatis spp. (UNEP MAP RAC/SPA 2003). The main fishing gear types in Greece include bottom trawls and purse seines for offshore fisheries, and gillnets, trammel nets, longlines, traps/pots, and trolls (FAO 2006; SAUP 2011; GFCM 2014a). Other gear types used in the region include boat dredges, ring nets, seine nets, and hooks/gorges (NSSG 2009; SAUP 2011; GFCM 2014a). The total aggregated catch in the Greek EEZ (including waters outside of the Aegean Sea) was 858,040 t during 2002–2006 (the most recent data available), with catch values 134,191‒281,629 t per year (SAUP 2011). Catches were dominated by “mixed group” (53% of total), European anchovy (14%), European pilchard (sardine; 10%), bogue Boops boops (4%), European hake (4%), picarel Spicara smaris (4%), common octopus (3%), Mediterranean horse mackerel and Atlantic chub mackerel Scomber colias (2% each), swordfish (2%), and mullets (1%). The most predominant gear types in the Greek EEZ during 2002‒2006 were gillnets (21% of total), bottom trawls (19%), purse seines (16%) and mid-water trawls (14%), with lesser components (≤6% each) of “other gears”, lampara-like nets, seine nets, hooks/gorges, traps, shrimp trawls, beach seines, and tuna longlines (SAUP 2011). The majority of the catch was taken by Greece (71% of total for 2002–2006), followed by Italy (16%), Egypt and Libya (4% each), Ukraine

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(2%), and Spain, the Russian Federation, and France (1% each). The Greek proportion of the catch declined from ~84% in 2002, 2003, and 2004 to ~77% in 2005 and ~47% in 2006 (SAUP 2011). The Greek catch continued to decline from 2007 to 2011 (OECD 2013:200).

(2) Recreational Fisheries

Recreational fisheries in Greece are conducted for leisure and to supplement the diet, and include boat-based fishing, shore-based angling, spear fishing, and shellfish collection (Moutopoulos et al. 2013). Recreational fisheries in the Mediterranean are regulated by individual Member States, congruent with the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy and existing European Union (EU) legislation (Cacaud 2005). Generally, restrictions in place for commercial fisheries also apply to recreational fisheries, with additional restrictions such as gear types and daily limits (Cacaud 2005). In Greek waters, recreational fishers are prohibited from fishing with light sources; fishing from a vessel in lagoons/breeding ponds; harvesting clams, crabs, oysters or corals; selling their catch; and fishing with nets, more than one rod, explosives, or compressed gas (Pawson et al. 2007; GRReporter 2010; Angloinfo 2015). Additional prohibitions are in place for spearfishing, including its prohibition during the month of May, immediately after sunset, and within 200 m of other vessels (GRReporter 2010). In Greece, it is strictly prohibited to fish recreationally for tuna, eel, and various species of shark (ICES 2014). All recreational fishers in Greece must register and obtain a fishing lisence from local port authorities if using a boat; fishing from shore does not require a licence, unless using a spear (HCS 2000; GRReporter 2010). The European Commission has advocated establishing obligations for recreational fishers in the Mediterranean to report their catch and effort information (COM 2002 in Gaudin and Young 2007); however, these practices have not been undertaken consistently throughout the Mediterranean (Gaudin and Young 2007), and there are no standard recreational fisheries surveys performed in Greece (ICES 2014). A 1996 census in Greece by the Ministry of Merchant Navy Marine estimated that there were ~96,000 marine recreational fishers and ~71,000 vessels that hold a fishing licence (Pawson et al. 2007). This census further indicated that the majority of vessels used were 4‒6 m in length, and that recreational fishers were active for 77 d/y on average, primarily in spring and summer, with activity concentrated around the Aegean Islands. Additional surveys of shore-based recreational fisheries conducted in 2008‒2009 and 2012 indicated mean recreational fishing days per year of 180, 191 and 193 in Kavala, Pagasitikos, and Patraikos Gulf, respectively (north of the survey area in the Aegean Sea), for a total catch of 2553 t in 2010 (Moutopoulos et al. 2013). The total annual recreational fishery production in the Greek region is ~19,000 t (Pawson et al. 2007). Popular species targeted during recreational fisheries include jacks, red pandora Pagellus bellottii, bogue, striped sea bream Lithognathus mormyrus, large-eyed dentex Dentex macrophthalmus, horse mackerel, and Couches sea bream Pagrus pagrus (Pawson et al. 2007). European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax, annular sea bream Diplodus annularis, white sea bream Diplodus sargus sargus, and gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata dominate shore-based catches (Moutopoulos et al. 2013). Other important species include rainbow wrasse Coris julis and groupers (Pawson et al. 2007; EOL 2015). Fishing tournaments near the proposed survey areas generally occur in spring and summer (e.g., Palazzo Greco 2012; Fishing Fever Gr 2014; Zorbas Island 2015). Information could not be located on tournaments in the region during fall as of the writing of this report. As the majority of tourists would have departed the area by mid fall, it seems unlikely that many, if any, fishing tournaments would occur in the survey areas during the proposed survey.

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(3) Aquaculture

Aquaculture, particularly marine aquaculture, is an important contributor to primary sector production in Greece, employing thousands and driving the colonization of previously uninhabited islands and rock islands normally excluded from other investments (FAO 2013; OECD 2013). In 2012, Greek aquaculture production totaled 137,594 t and was valued at ~779 million USD, with marine aquaculture comprising >97% of both totals (FAO 2014). Greece holds the highest rank in the EU and Mediterranean countries in terms of commercial aquaculture finfish production, which is the primary aquaculture production type in the country (FAO 2013). Production sites are located throughout the Greek coast, with a total of 1054 marine and inland aquaculture farms in 2010 (OECD 2013), although farms are most prevalent in central regions near good infrastructure and export routes (FAO 2013). Production methods include sea cages (reaching perimeters up to 120 m; e.g., seabass and sea bream), raceways (e.g., trout), re-circulation tank systems (e.g., eel and tilapia), and limnothalasses (brackish lagoons; e.g., grey mullet) (FAO 2013). Approximately 80% of Greek aquaculture production is exported to EU markets, with over half of it directed to Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Germany (OECD 2013). In 2012, the most important species for marine aquaculture production in Greece were gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata (54% of total mass and 60% of total value), European seabass (32% and 37%), and Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis (13% and 1%) (FAO 2014). The following species were also included: shi drum Umbrina cirrosa, meagre Argyrosomus regius, red porgy Pagrus pagrus, sharpsnout sea bream Diplodus puntazzo, “other marine fishes”, Atlantic bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus, white sea bream, flathead grey mullet Mugil cephalus, Sciaena spp., European eel Anguilla anguilla, Venus clams Venus sp., European flat oyster Ostrea edulis, Kuruma prawn Penaeus japonicus, common dentex Dentex dentex, and common pandora (FAO 2014). Recreational SCUBA Diving Before 2005, recreational diving was restricted to a relatively small part of the Greek coastline; this restriction has since been lifted and diving is now permitted throughout the seas of Greece (SCUBA Travel 2014). There are at least 40 notable diving sites in the Santorini region and over 70 near Crete, including shipwrecks and natural reef, wall, and cave formations (Mediterranean Dive Club 2015; WannaDive 2015a,b; Skaphandrus 2015; Diving 2006; Crete Diver’s Club 2014; SCUBA Travel 2014; DiveBuddy 2015; Kalypso 2015; Scubakreta 2015). Dive sites in southern Greece for which locations are known are shown in Figure 6. The diving season in the Santorini area typically runs from April to October (WannaDive 2015a) and occurs year-round in the waters of Crete (Scubadiver 2015). Thus, there could be diving activity in the proposed survey areas. However, a period for the survey was chosen with decreased tourism on Santorini, which would reduce potential interactions with divers. Most of the dives sites in the Santorini area are located along the western coast, but the majority of the survey effort would not take place in nearshore areas with dive sites. Additionally, the Hellenic subduction zone transect line is located substantially away from dive sites near Crete and Antikythera.

IV. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES Proposed Action

(1) Direct Effects on Marine Mammals and Sea Turtles and Their Significance The material in this section includes a brief summary of the anticipated potential effects (or lack thereof) of airgun sounds on marine mammals and sea turtles given in the PEIS, and reference to recent

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IV. Environmental ConsequencesEnvironmental IV.

FIGURE 6. Known dive sites in southern Greece, including shipwrecks and natural reef, wall, and cave formations. Source: WannaDive (2015a,b). literature that has become available since the PEIS was released in 2011. A more comprehensive review of the relevant background information, as well as information on the hearing abilities of marine

mammals and sea turtles, appears in § 3.4.4.3, § 3.6.4.3, § 3.7.4.3, § 3.8.4.3, and Appendix E of the PEIS. This section also includes estimates of the numbers of marine mammals that could be affected by the proposed seismic survey scheduled to occur during October–November 2015. A description of the rationale for NSF’s estimates of the numbers of individuals exposed to received sound levels 160 dB re

1 µParms is also provided. Acoustic modeling for the proposed action was conducted by L-DEO, consistent with past EAs and determined to be acceptable by NMFS for use in the calculation of estimated takes under the MMPA (e.g., NMFS 2013a,b).

(a) Summary of Potential Effects of Airgun Sounds As noted in the PEIS (§ 3.4.4.3, § 3.6.4.3, § 3.7.4.3, § 3.8.4.3), the effects of sounds from airguns could include one or more of the following: tolerance, masking of natural sounds, behavioral disturbance, and at least in theory, temporary or permanent hearing impairment, or non-auditory physical or physiological effects (Richardson et al. 1995; Gordon et al. 2004; Nowacek et al. 2007; Southall et al.

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2007). Permanent hearing impairment (PTS), in the unlikely event that it occurred, would constitute injury, but temporary threshold shift (TTS) is not considered an injury (Southall et al. 2007; Le Prell 2012). Rather, the onset of TTS has been considered an indicator that, if the animal is exposed to higher levels of that sound, physical damage is ultimately a possibility. Nonetheless, recent research has shown that sound exposure can cause cochlear neural degeneration, even when threshold shifts and hair cell damage are reversible (Liberman 2013). These findings have raised some doubts as to whether TTS should continue to be considered a non-injurious effect (Weilgart 2014; Tougaard et al. 2015). Although the possibility cannot be entirely excluded, it is unlikely that the proposed survey would result in any cases of temporary or permanent hearing impairment, or any significant non-auditory physical or physio- logical effects. If marine mammals encounter the survey while it is underway, some behavioral distur- bance could result, but this would be localized and short-term. Tolerance.―Numerous studies have shown that pulsed sounds from airguns are often readily detectable in the water at distances of many kilometers (e.g., Nieukirk et al. 2012). Several studies have shown that marine mammals at distances more than a few kilometers from operating seismic vessels often show no apparent response. That is often true even in cases when the pulsed sounds must be readily audible to the animals based on measured received levels and the hearing sensitivity of that mammal group. Although various baleen and toothed whales, and (less frequently) pinnipeds have been shown to react behaviorally to airgun pulses under some conditions, at other times mammals of all three types have shown no overt reactions. The relative responsiveness of baleen and toothed whales are quite variable. Masking.―Masking effects of pulsed sounds (even from large arrays of airguns) on marine mammal calls and other natural sounds are expected to be limited, although there are few specific data on this. Because of the intermittent nature and low duty cycle of seismic pulses, animals can emit and receive sounds in the relatively quiet intervals between pulses. However, in exceptional situations, reverberation occurs for much or all of the interval between pulses (e.g., Simard et al. 2005; Clark and Gagnon 2006), which could mask calls. Situations with prolonged strong reverberation are infrequent. However, it is common for reverberation to cause some lesser degree of elevation of the background level between airgun pulses (e.g., Gedamke 2011; Guerra et al. 2011, 2013; Klinck et al. 2012), and this weaker reverberation presumably reduces the detection range of calls and other natural sounds to some degree. Guerra et al. (2013) reported that ambient noise levels between seismic pulses were elevated as a result of reverberation at ranges of 50 km from the seismic source. Based on measurements in deep water of the Southern Ocean, Gedamke (2011) estimated that the slight elevation of background levels during intervals between pulses reduced blue and fin whale communication space by as much as 36–51% when a seismic survey was operating 450–2800 km away. Based on preliminary modeling, Wittekind et al. (2013) reported that airgun sounds could reduce the communication range of blue and fin whales 2000 km from the seismic source. Nieukirk et al. (2012) and Blackwell et al. (2013) noted the potential for masking effects from seismic surveys on large whales. Some baleen and toothed whales are known to continue calling in the presence of seismic pulses, and their calls usually can be heard between the pulses (e.g., Nieukirk et al. 2012; Broker et al. 2013). Cerchio et al. (2014) suggested that the breeding display of humpback whales off Angola could be disrupted by seismic sounds, as singing activity declined with increasing received levels. In addition, some cetaceans are known to change their calling rates, shift their peak frequencies, or otherwise modify their vocal behavior in response to airgun sounds (e.g., Di Iorio and Clark 2010; Castellote et al. 2012; Blackwell et al. 2013). The hearing systems of baleen whales are undoubtedly more sensitive to low-frequency sounds than are the ears of the small odontocetes that have been studied directly (e.g., MacGillivray et al. 2014). The sounds important to small odontocetes are predominantly at much higher frequencies than are the

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dominant components of airgun sounds, thus limiting the potential for masking. In general, masking effects of seismic pulses are expected to be minor, given the normally intermittent nature of seismic pulses. We are not aware of any information concerning masking of hearing in sea turtles. Disturbance Reactions.―Disturbance includes a variety of effects, including subtle to conspicuous changes in behavior, movement, and displacement. Based on NMFS (2001, p. 9293), NRC (2005), and Southall et al. (2007), we believe that simple exposure to sound, or brief reactions that do not disrupt behavioral patterns in a potentially significant manner, do not constitute harassment or “taking”. By potentially significant, we mean, ‘in a manner that might have deleterious effects to the well-being of individual marine mammals or their populations’. Reactions to sound, if any, depend on species, state of maturity, experience, current activity, repro- ductive state, time of day, and many other factors (Richardson et al. 1995; Wartzok et al. 2004; Southall et al. 2007; Weilgart 2007; Ellison et al. 2012). If a marine mammal does react briefly to an underwater sound by changing its behavior or moving a small distance, the impacts of the change are unlikely to be significant to the individual, let alone the stock or population (e.g., New et al. 2013). However, if a sound source displaces marine mammals from an important feeding or breeding area for a prolonged period, impacts on individuals and populations could be significant (e.g., Lusseau and Bejder 2007; Weilgart 2007). Given the many uncertainties in predicting the quantity and types of impacts of noise on marine mammals, it is common practice to estimate how many marine mammals would be present within a particular distance of industrial activities and/or exposed to a particular level of industrial sound. In most cases, this approach likely overestimates the numbers of marine mammals that would be affected in some biologically important manner. The sound criteria used to estimate how many marine mammals could be disturbed to some biologically important degree by a seismic program are based primarily on behavioral observations of a few species. Detailed studies have been done on humpback, gray, bowhead, and sperm whales. Less detailed data are available for some other species of baleen whales and small toothed whales, but for many species, there are no data on responses to marine seismic surveys. Baleen Whales Baleen whales generally tend to avoid operating airguns, but avoidance radii are quite variable. Whales are often reported to show no overt reactions to pulses from large arrays of airguns at distances beyond a few kilometers, even though the airgun pulses remain well above ambient noise levels out to much longer distances. However, baleen whales exposed to strong noise pulses from airguns often react by deviating from their normal migration route and/or interrupting their feeding and moving away. In the cases of migrating gray and bowhead whales, the observed changes in behavior appeared to be of little or no biological consequence to the animals. They simply avoided the sound source by displacing their migration route to varying degrees, but within the natural boundaries of the migration corridors (Malme et al. 1984; Malme and Miles 1985; Richardson et al. 1995). Responses of humpback whales to seismic surveys have been studied during migration, on summer feeding grounds, and on Angolan winter breeding grounds; there has also been discussion of effects on the Brazilian wintering grounds. Off Western Australia, avoidance reactions began at 5–8 km from the array, and those reactions kept most pods ~3–4 km from the operating seismic boat; there was localized displacement during migration of 4–5 km by traveling pods and 7–12 km by more sensitive resting pods of cow-calf pairs (McCauley et al. 1998, 2000). However, some individual humpback whales, especially males, approached within distances of 100–400 m. Studies examining the behavioral responses of humpback whales to airguns are currently underway off eastern Australia (Cato et al. 2011, 2012, 2013).

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In the northwest Atlantic, sighting rates were significantly greater during non-seismic periods compared with periods when a full array was operating, and humpback whales were more likely to swim away and less likely to swim towards a vessel during seismic vs. non-seismic periods (Moulton and Holst 2010). On their summer feeding grounds in southeast Alaska, there was no clear evidence of avoidance, despite the possibility of subtle effects, at received levels up to 172 re 1 Pa on an approximate rms basis (Malme et al. 1985). It has been suggested that South Atlantic humpback whales wintering off Brazil may be displaced or even strand upon exposure to seismic surveys (Engel et al. 2004), but data from subsequent years indicated that there was no observable direct correlation between strandings and seismic surveys (IWC 2007). There are no data on reactions of right whales to seismic surveys. However, Rolland et al. (2012) suggested that ship noise causes increased stress in right whales; they showed that baseline levels of stress-related faecal hormone metabolites decreased in North Atlantic right whales with a 6-dB decrease in underwater noise from vessels. Wright et al. (2011) also reported that sound could be a potential source of stress for marine mammals. Bowhead whales show that their responsiveness can be quite variable depending on their activity (migrating vs. feeding). Bowhead whales migrating west across the Alaskan Beaufort Sea in autumn, in particular, are unusually responsive, with substantial avoidance occurring out to distances of 20–30 km from a medium-sized airgun source (Miller et al. 1999; Richardson et al. 1999). Subtle but statistically significant changes in surfacing–respiration–dive cycles were shown by traveling and socialzing bowheads exposed to airgun sounds in the Beaufort Sea, including shorter surfacings, shorter dives, and decreased number of blows per surfacing (Robertson et al. 2013). More recent research on bowhead whales corroborates earlier evidence that, during the summer feeding season, bowheads are less responsive to seismic sources (e.g., Miller et al. 2005; Robertson et al. 2013). Bowhead whale calls detected in the presence and absence of airgun sounds have been studied extensively in the Beaufort Sea. Bowheads continue to produce calls of the usual types when exposed to airgun sounds on their summering grounds, although numbers of calls detected are significantly lower in the presence than in the absence of airgun pulses; Blackwell et al. (2013) reported that calling rates in 2007 declined significantly where received SPLs from airgun sounds were 116–129 dB re 1 µPa. Thus, bowhead whales in the Beaufort Sea apparently decreased their calling rates in response to seismic operations, although movement out of the area could also have contributed to the lower call detection rate (Blackwell et al. 2013). A multivariate analysis of factors affecting the distribution of calling bowhead whales during their fall migration in 2009 noted that the southern edge of the distribution of calling whales was significantly closer to shore with increasing levels of airgun sound from a seismic survey a few hundred kilometers to the east of the study area (i.e., behind the westward-migrating whales; McDonald et al. 2010, 2011). It was not known whether this statistical effect represented a stronger tendency for quieting of the whales farther offshore in deeper water upon exposure to airgun sound, or an actual inshore displacement of whales. Reactions of migrating and feeding (but not wintering) gray whales to seismic surveys have been studied. Off St. Lawrence Island in the northern Bering Sea, it was estimated, based on small sample sizes, that 50% of feeding gray whales stopped feeding at an average received pressure level of 173 dB re 1 Pa on an (approximate) rms basis, and that 10% of feeding whales interrupted feeding at received levels of 163 dB re 1 Parms (Malme et al. 1986, 1988). Those findings were generally consistent with the results of experiments conducted on larger numbers of gray whales that were migrating along the

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California coast (Malme et al. 1984; Malme and Miles 1985) and western Pacific gray whales feeding off Sakhalin Island, Russia (e.g., Gailey et al. 2007; Johnson et al. 2007; Yazvenko et al. 2007a,b). Various species of Balaenoptera (blue, sei, fin, and minke whales) have occasionally been seen in areas ensonified by airgun pulses; sightings by observers on seismic vessels off the U.K. from 1997 to 2000 suggest that, during times of good sightability, sighting rates for mysticetes (mainly fin and sei whales) were similar when large arrays of airguns were shooting vs. silent, although there was localized avoidance (Stone and Tasker 2006). Singing fin whales in the Mediterranean moved away from an operating airgun array, and their song notes had lower bandwidths during periods with vs. without airgun sounds (Castellote et al. 2012). During seismic surveys in the northwest Atlantic, baleen whales as a group showed localized avoidance of the operating array (Moulton and Holst 2010). Sighting rates were significantly lower during seismic operations compared with non-seismic periods. Baleen whales were seen on average 200 m farther from the vessel during airgun activities vs. non-seismic periods, and these whales more often swam away from the vessel when seismic operations were underway compared with periods when no airguns were operating (Moulton and Holst 2010). Blue whales were seen significantly farther from the vessel during single airgun operations, ramp up, and all other airgun operations compared with non- seismic periods (Moulton and Holst 2010). Similarly, fin whales were seen at significantly farther distances during ramp up than during periods without airgun operations; there was also a trend for fin whales to be sighted farther from the vessel during other airgun operations, but the difference was not significant (Moulton and Holst 2010). Minke whales were seen significantly farther from the vessel during periods with than without seismic operations (Moulton and Holst 2010). Minke whales were also more likely to swim away and less likely to approach during seismic operations compared to periods when airguns were not operating (Moulton and Holst 2010). Data on short-term reactions by cetaceans to impulsive noises are not necessarily indicative of long-term or biologically significant effects. It is not known whether impulsive sounds affect repro- ductive rate or distribution and habitat use in subsequent days or years. However, gray whales have continued to migrate annually along the west coast of North America with substantial increases in the population over recent years, despite intermittent seismic exploration (and much ship traffic) in that area for decades. The western Pacific gray whale population did not seem affected by a seismic survey in its feeding ground during a previous year, and bowhead whales have continued to travel to the eastern Beaufort Sea each summer, and their numbers have increased notably, despite seismic exploration in their summer and autumn range for many years. Toothed Whales Little systematic information is available about reactions of toothed whales to sound pulses. However, there are recent systematic studies on sperm whales, and there is an increasing amount of information about responses of various odontocetes to seismic surveys based on monitoring studies. Seismic operators and marine mammal observers on seismic vessels regularly see dolphins and other small toothed whales near operating airgun arrays, but in general there is a tendency for most delphinids to show some avoidance of operating seismic vessels (e.g., Stone and Tasker 2006; Moulton and Holst 2010; Barry et al. 2012; Wole and Myade 2014). In most cases, the avoidance radii for delphinids appear to be small, on the order of 1 km or less, and some individuals show no apparent avoidance. During seismic surveys in the northwest Atlantic, delphinids as a group showed some localized avoidance of the operating array (Moulton and Holst 2010). The mean initial detection distance was significantly farther (by ~200 m) during seismic operations compared with periods when the seismic

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source was not active; however, there was no significant difference between sighting rates (Moulton and Holst 2010). The same results were evident when only long-finned pilot whales were considered. Preliminary findings of a monitoring study of narwhals in Melville Bay, Greenland (summer and fall 2012) showed no short-term effects of seismic survey activity on narwhal distribution, abundance, migration timing, and feeding habits (Heide-Jørgensen et al. 2013a). In addition, there were no reported effects on narwhal hunting. These findings do not seemingly support a suggestion by Heide-Jørgensen et al. (2013b) that seismic surveys in Baffin Bay may have delayed the migration timing of narwhals, thereby increasing the risk of narwhals to ice entrapment. The beluga, however, is a species that (at least at times) shows long-distance (10s of km) avoidance of seismic vessels (e.g., Miller et al. 2005). Captive bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales exhibited changes in behavior when exposed to strong pulsed sounds similar in duration to those typically used in seismic surveys, but the animals tolerated high received levels of sound before exhibiting aversive behaviors (e.g., Finneran et al. 2000, 2002, 2005). Most studies of sperm whales exposed to airgun sounds indicate that the sperm whale shows considerable tolerance of airgun pulses; in most cases the whales do not show strong avoidance (e.g., Stone and Tasker 2006; Moulton and Holst 2010), but foraging behavior can be altered upon exposure to airgun sound (e.g., Miller et al. 2009). There are almost no specific data on the behavioral reactions of beaked whales to seismic surveys. Most beaked whales tend to avoid approaching vessels of other types (e.g., Würsig et al. 1998) and/or change their behavior in response to sounds from vessels (e.g., Pirotta et al. 2012). However, some northern bottlenose whales remained in the general area and continued to produce high-frequency clicks when exposed to sound pulses from distant seismic surveys (e.g., Simard et al. 2005). In any event, it is likely that most beaked whales would also show strong avoidance of an approaching seismic vessel, although this has not been documented explicitly. The limited available data suggest that harbor porpoises show stronger avoidance of seismic operations than do Dall’s porpoises. Thompson et al. (2013) reported decreased densities and reduced acoustic detections of harbor porpoise in response to a seismic survey in Moray Firth, Scotland, at ranges of 5–10 km (SPLs of 165–172 dB re 1 μPa, SELs of 145–151 dB μPa2 · s). For the same survey, Pirotta et al. (2014) reported that the probability of recording a porpoise buzz decreased by 15% in the ensonified area, and that the probability was positively related to the distance from the seismic ship; the decreased buzzing occurrence may indicate reduced foraging efficiency. Nonetheless, animals returned to the area within a few hours (Thompson et al. 2013). Kastelein et al. (2013a) reported that a harbor porpoise showed no response to an impulse sound with an SEL below 65 dB, but a 50% brief response rate was noted at an SEL of 92 dB and an SPL of 122 dB re 1 µPa0-peak. The apparent tendency for greater respon- siveness in the harbor porpoise is consistent with its relative responsiveness to boat traffic and some other acoustic sources (Richardson et al. 1995; Southall et al. 2007). Odontocete reactions to large arrays of airguns are variable and, at least for delphinids, seem to be confined to a smaller radius than has been observed for the more responsive of the mysticetes and some other odontocetes. A 170 dB disturbance criterion (rather than 160 dB) is considered appropriate for delphinids, which tend to be less responsive than the more responsive cetaceans. Pinnipeds Pinnipeds are not likely to show a strong avoidance reaction to an airgun array. Visual monitoring from seismic vessels has shown only slight (if any) avoidance of airguns by pinnipeds and only slight (if

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any) changes in behavior. However, telemetry work has suggested that avoidance and other behavioral reactions may be stronger than evident to date from visual studies (Thompson et al. 1998). Sea Turtles Several recent papers discuss the morphology of the turtle ear (e.g., Christensen-Dalsgaard et al. 2012; Willis et al. 2013) and the hearing ability of sea turtles (e.g., Martin et al. 2012; Piniak et al. 2012a,b; Lavender et al. 2014). The limited available data indicate that sea turtles will hear airgun sounds and sometimes exhibit localized avoidance (see PEIS, § 3.4.4.3). DeRuiter and Doukara (2012) observed that immediately following an airgun pulse, small numbers of basking loggerhead turtles (6 of 86 turtles observed) exhibited an apparent startle response (sudden raising of the head and splashing of flippers, occasionally accompanied by blowing bubbles from the beak and nostrils, followed by a short dive). Diving turtles (49 of 86 individuals) were observed at distances from the center of the airgun array ranging from 50 to 839 m. The estimated sound level at the median distance of 130 m was 191 dB re 1 Papeak. These observations were made during ~150 h of vessel-based monitoring from a seismic vessel operating an airgun array (13 airguns, 2440 in3) off Algeria; there was no corresponding observation effort during periods when the airgun array was inactive (DeRuiter and Doukara 2012). Based on available data, it is likely that sea turtles will exhibit behavioral changes and/or avoidance within an area of unknown size near a seismic vessel. To the extent that there are any impacts on sea turtles, seismic operations in or near areas where turtles concentrate would likely have the greatest impact; concentration areas are not known to occur within the proposed survey areas. There are no specific data that demonstrate the consequences to sea turtles if seismic operations with large or small arrays of airguns occur in important areas at biologically important times of the year. Hearing Impairment and Other Physical Effects.―Temporary or permanent hearing impairment is a possibility when marine mammals are exposed to very strong sounds. TTS has been demonstrated and studied in certain captive odontocetes and pinnipeds exposed to strong sounds. However, there has been no specific documentation of TTS let alone permanent hearing damage, i.e., PTS, in free-ranging marine mammals exposed to sequences of airgun pulses during realistic field conditions. Additional data are needed to determine the received sound levels at which small odontocetes would start to incur TTS upon exposure to repeated, low-frequency pulses of airgun sound with variable received levels. To determine how close an airgun array would need to approach in order to elicit TTS, one would (as a minimum) need to allow for the sequence of distances at which airgun pulses would occur, and for the dependence of received SEL on distance in the region of the seismic operation (e.g., Breitzke and Bohlen 2010; Laws 2012). At the present state of knowledge, it is also necessary to assume that the effect is directly related to total received energy (SEL); however, this assumption is likely an over-simplification (Finneran 2012). There is recent evidence that auditory effects in a given animal are not a simple function of received acoustic energy. Frequency, duration of the exposure, and occurrence of gaps within the exposure can also influence the auditory effect (Finneran and Schlundt 2010, 2011, 2013; Finneran et al. 2010a,b; Popov et al. 2011, 2013a; Finneran 2012; Kastelein et al. 2012a,b; 2013b,c, 2014; Ketten 2012). Recent data have shown that the SEL required for TTS onset to occur increases with intermittent exposures, with some auditory recovery during silent periods between signals (Finneran et al. 2010b; Finneran and Schlundt 2011). Schlundt et al. (2013) reported that the potential for seismic surveys using airguns to cause auditory effects on dolphins could be lower than previously thought. Based on

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behavioral tests, Finneran et al. (2011) and Schlundt et al. (2013) reported no measurable TTS in bottlenose dolphins after exposure to 10 impulses from a seismic airgun with a cumulative SEL of ~195 dB re 1 µPa2 · s; results from auditory evoked potential measurements were more variable (Schlundt et al. 2013). Recent studies have also shown that the SEL necessary to elicit TTS can depend substantially on frequency, with susceptibility to TTS increasing with increasing frequency above 3 kHz (Finneran and Schlundt 2010, 2011; Finneran 2012). When beluga whales were exposed to fatiguing noise with sound levels of 165 dB re 1 μPa for durations of 1–30 min at frequencies of 11.2–90 kHz, the highest TTS with the longest recovery time was produced by the lower frequencies (11.2 and 22.5 kHz); TTS effects also gradually increased with prolonged exposure time (Popov et al. 2013a). Additionally, Popov et al. (2013b) reported that TTS produced by exposure to a fatiguing noise was larger during the first session (or naïve subject state) with a beluga whale than TTS that resulted from the same sound in subsequent sessions (experienced subject state). Similarly, several other studies have shown that some marine mammals (e.g., bottlenose dolphins, false killer whales) can decrease their hearing sensitivity in order to mitigate the impacts of exposure to loud sounds (e.g., Nachtigall and Supin 2013, 2014, 2015) Previous information on TTS for odontocetes was primarily derived from studies on the bottlenose dolphin and beluga, and that for pinnipeds has mostly been obtained from California sea lions and elephant seals (see § 3.6.4.3, § 3.7.4.3, § 3.8.4.3 and Appendix E of the PEIS). Thus, it is inappropriate to assume that onset of TTS occurs at similar received levels in all cetaceans or pinnipeds (cf. Southall et al. 2007). Some cetaceans or pinnipeds could incur TTS at lower sound exposures than are necessary to elicit TTS in the beluga and bottlenose dolphin or California sea lion and elephant seal, respectively. Several studies on TTS in porpoises (e.g., Lucke et al. 2009; Popov et al. 2011; Kastelein et al. 2012a, 2013b,c. 2014) indicate that received levels that elicit onset of TTS are lower in porpoises than in other odontocetes. Kastelein et al. (2012a) exposed a harbor porpoise to octave band noise centered at 4 kHz for extended periods of time. A 6-dB TTS occurred with SELs of 163 dB and 172 dB for low- intensity sound and medium-intensity sound, respectively; high-intensity sound caused a 9-dB TTS at a SEL of 175 dB (Kastelein et al. 2012a). Kastelein et al. (2013b) exposed a harbor porpoise to a long, continuous 1.5-kHz tone, which induced a 14-dB TTS with a total SEL of 190 dB. Popov et al. (2011) examined the effects of fatiguing noise on the hearing threshold of Yangtze finless porpoises when exposed to frequencies of 32–128 kHz at 140–160 dB re 1 Pa for 1–30 min. They found that an exposure of higher level and shorter duration produced a higher TTS than an exposure of equal SEL but of lower level and longer duration. Popov et al. (2011) reported a TTS of 25 dB for a Yangtze finless porpoise that was exposed to high levels of 3-min pulses of half-octave band noise centered at 45 kHz with an SEL of 163 dB. Initial evidence from prolonged (non-pulse and pulse) exposures has also suggested that some pinnipeds (harbor seals in particular) incur TTS at somewhat lower received levels than do most small odontocetes exposed for similar durations (Kastak et al. 1999, 2005, 2008; Ketten et al. 2001; Kastelein et al. 2013c). Kastelein et al. (2012b) exposed two harbor seals to octave-band white noise centered at 4 kHz at three mean received SPLs of 124, 136, and 148 dB re 1 µPa; TTS >2.5 dB was induced at an SEL of 170 dB (136 dB SPL for 60 min), and the maximum TTS of 10 dB occurred after a 120-min exposure to 148 dB re 1 µPa or an SEL of 187 dB. Kastelein et al. (2013c) reported that a harbor seal unintentionally exposed to the same sound source with a mean received SPL of 163 dB re 1 µPa for 1 hr induced a 44 dB TTS. For a harbor seal exposed to octave-band white noise centered at 4 kHz for 60 min

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with mean SPLs of 124–148 re 1 µPa, the onset of PTS would require a level of at least 22 dB above the TTS onset (Kastelein et al. 2013c). Based on the best available information at the time, Southall et al. (2007) recommended a TTS threshold for exposure to single or multiple pulses of 183 dB re 1 µPa2 · s for all cetaceans and 173 dB re 1 µPa2 · s for pinnipeds in water. Tougaard et al. (2015) have suggested an exposure limit for TTS as an SEL of 100–110 dB above the porpoise pure tone hearing threshold at a specific frequency; they also suggested an exposure limit of Leq-fast (rms average over the duration of the pulse) of 45 dB above the hearing threshold for behavioral responses (i.e., negative phonotaxis). In addition, M-weighting, as used by Southall et al. (2007), might not be appropriate for the harbor porpoise (Wensveen et al. 2014; Tougaard et al. 2015); thus, Wensveen et al. (2014) developed six auditory weighting functions for the harbor porpoise that could be useful in predicting TTS onset. Gedamke et al. (2011), based on prelim- inary simulation modeling that attempted to allow for various uncertainties in assumptions and variability around population means, suggested that some baleen whales whose closest point of approach to a seismic vessel is 1 km or more could experience TTS. It is unlikely that a marine mammal would remain close enough to a large airgun array for sufficiently long to incur TTS, let alone PTS. There is no specific evidence that exposure to pulses of airgun sound can cause PTS in any marine mammal, even with large arrays of airguns. However, given the possibility that some mammals close to an airgun array might incur at least mild TTS, there has been further speculation about the possibility that some individuals occurring very close to airguns might incur PTS (e.g., Richardson et al. 1995, p. 372ff; Gedamke et al. 2011). In terrestrial animals, exposure to sounds sufficiently strong to elicit a large TTS induces physiological and structural changes in the inner ear, and at some high level of sound exposure, these phenomena become non-recoverable (Le Prell 2012). At this level of sound exposure, TTS grades into PTS. Single or occasional occurrences of mild TTS are not indicative of permanent auditory damage, but repeated or (in some cases) single exposures to a level well above that causing TTS onset might elicit PTS (e.g., Kastak and Reichmuth 2007; Kastak et al. 2008). Current NMFS policy regarding exposure of marine mammals to high-level sounds is that cetaceans and pinnipeds should not be exposed to impulsive sounds with received levels 180 dB and 190 dB re 1 µParms, respectively (NMFS 2000). These criteria have been used in establishing the exclusion (=shut-down) zones planned for the proposed seismic survey. However, those criteria were established before there was any information about minimum received levels of sounds necessary to cause auditory impairment in marine mammals. Recommendations for science-based noise exposure criteria for marine mammals, frequency- weighting procedures, and related matters were published by Southall et al. (2007). Those recom- mendations were never formally adopted by NMFS for use in regulatory processes and during mitigation programs associated with seismic surveys, although some aspects of the recommendations have been taken into account in certain environmental impact statements and small-take authorizations. In December 2013, NOAA made available for public comment new draft guidance for assessing the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals (NOAA 2013), taking at least some of the Southall et al. recommendations into account, as well as more recent literature. At the time of preparation of this Draft EA, the date of release of the final guidelines and how they would be implemented are unknown. Nowacek et al. (2013) concluded that current scientific data indicate that seismic airguns have a low probability of directly harming marine life, except at close range. Several aspects of the planned monitoring and mitigation measures for this project are designed to detect marine mammals occurring

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near the airgun array, and to avoid exposing them to sound pulses that might, at least in theory, cause hearing impairment (see § II and § IV[2], below). Also, many marine mammals and (to a limited degree) sea turtles show some avoidance of the area where received levels of airgun sound are high enough such that hearing impairment could potentially occur. In those cases, the avoidance responses of the animals themselves would reduce or (most likely) avoid any possibility of hearing impairment. Non-auditory physical effects may also occur in marine mammals exposed to strong underwater pulsed sound. Possible types of non-auditory physiological effects or injuries that might (in theory) occur in mammals close to a strong sound source include stress, neurological effects, bubble formation, and other types of organ or tissue damage. It is possible that some marine mammal species (i.e., beaked whales) are especially susceptible to injury and/or stranding when exposed to strong transient sounds. There is no definitive evidence that any of these effects occur even for marine mammals in close proximity to large arrays of airguns. However, Gray and Van Waerebeek (2011) have suggested a cause- effect relationship between a seismic survey off Liberia in 2009 and the erratic movement, postural instability, and akinesia in a pantropical spotted dolphin based on spatially and temporally close association with the airgun array. Additionally, a few cases of strandings in the general area where a seismic survey was ongoing have led to speculation concerning a possible link between seismic surveys and strandings (e.g., Castellote and Llorens 2013). Non-auditory effects, if they occur at all, would presumably be limited to short distances and to activities that extend over a prolonged period. Marine mammals that show behavioral avoidance of seismic vessels, including most baleen whales, some odontocetes, and some pinnipeds, are especially unlikely to incur non-auditory physical effects. The brief duration of exposure of any given mammal and the planned monitoring and mitigation measures would further reduce the probability of exposure of marine mammals to sounds strong enough to induce non-auditory physical effects. Sea Turtles There is substantial overlap in the frequencies that sea turtles detect vs. the frequencies in airgun pulses. We are not aware of measurements of the absolute hearing thresholds of any sea turtle to waterborne sounds similar to airgun pulses. In the absence of relevant absolute threshold data, we cannot estimate how far away an airgun array might be audible. Moein et al. (1994) and Lenhardt (2002) reported TTS for loggerhead turtles exposed to many airgun pulses (see § 3.4.4 of the PEIS). This sug- gests that sounds from an airgun array might cause temporary hearing impairment in sea turtles if they do not avoid the (unknown) radius where TTS occurs. However, exposure duration during the proposed survey would be much less than during the aforementioned studies. Also, recent monitoring studies show that some sea turtles do show localized movement away from approaching airguns. At short distances from the source, received sound level diminishes rapidly with increasing distance. In that situation, even a small-scale avoidance response could result in a significant reduction in sound exposure. Although it is possible that exposure to airgun sounds could cause mortality or mortal injuries in sea turtles close to the source, this has not been demonstrated and seems highly unlikely (Popper et al. 2014), especially because sea turtles appear to be highly resistant to explosives (Ketten et al. 2005 in Popper et al. 2014). Nonetheless, Popper et al. (2014) proposed sea turtle mortality/mortal injury criteria of 210 dB SEL or >207 dBpeak for sounds from seismic airguns. The PSOs stationed on the Langseth would watch for sea turtles, and airgun operations would be shut down if a turtle enters the designated EZ.

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(b) Possible Effects of Other Acoustic Sources The Kongsberg EM 122 MBES and Knudsen Chirp 3260 SBP would be operated from the source vessel during the proposed survey. Information about this equipment was provided in § 2.2.3.1 of the PEIS. A review of the anticipated potential effects (or lack thereof) of MBESs, SBPs, and pingers on marine mammals and sea turtles appears in § 3.4.4.3, § 3.6.4.3, § 3.7.4.3, § 3.8.4.3, and Appendix E of the PEIS. There has been some recent attention given to the effects of MBES on marine mammals, as a result of a report issued in September 2013 by an IWC independent scientific review panel linking the operation of an MBES to a mass stranding of melon-headed whales (Peponocephala electra; Southall et al. 2013) off Madagascar. During May–June 2008, ~100 melon-headed whales entered and stranded in the Loza Lagoon system in northwest Madagascar at the same time that a 12-kHz MBES survey was being conducted ~65 km away off the coast. In conducting a retrospective review of available information on the event, an independent scientific review panel concluded that the Kongsberg EM 120 MBES was the most plausible behavioral trigger for the animals initially entering the lagoon system and eventually stranding. The independent scientific review panel, however, identified that an unequivocal conclusion on causality of the event was not possible because of the lack of information about the event and a number of potentially contributing factors. Additionally, the independent review panel report indicated that this incident was likely the result of a complicated confluence of environmental, social, and other factors that have a very low probability of occurring again in the future, but recommended that the potential be considered in environmental planning. It should be noted that this event is the first known marine mammal mass stranding closely associated with the operation of an MBES. Leading scientific experts knowledgeable about MBES have expressed concerns about the independent scientific review panel analyses and findings (Bernstein 2013). There is no available information on marine mammal behavioral response to MBES sounds (Southall et al. 2013) or sea turtle responses to MBES systems. Much of the literature on marine mammal response to sonars relates to the types of sonars used in naval operations, including Low-Frequency Active (LFA) sonars (e.g., Miller et al. 2012; Sivle et al. 2012) and Mid-Frequency Active (MFA) sonars (e.g., Tyack et al. 2011; Melcón et al. 2012; Miller et al. 2012; DeRuiter et al. 2013a,b; Goldbogen et al. 2013; Baird et al. 2014). However, the MBES sounds are quite different from naval sonars. Ping duration of the MBES is very short relative to naval sonars. Also, at any given location, an individual marine mammal would be in the beam of the MBES for much less time given the generally downward orientation of the beam and its narrow fore-aft beamwidth; naval sonars often use near-horizontally- directed sound. In addition, naval sonars have higher duty cycles. These factors would all reduce the sound energy received from the MBES relative to that from naval sonars. In the fall of 2006, an Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (OAWRS) experiment was carried out in the Gulf of Maine (Gong et al. 2014); the OAWRS emitted three frequency-modulated (FM) pulses centered at frequencies of 415, 734, and 949 Hz (Risch et al. 2012). Risch et al. (2012) found a reduction in humpback whale song in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary during OAWRS activities that were carried out ~200 km away; received levels in the sanctuary were 88–110 dB re 1 µPa. In contrast, Gong et al. (2014) reported no effect of the OAWRS signals on humpback whale vocalizations in the Gulf of Maine. Range to the source, ambient noise, and/or behavioral state may have differentially influenced the behavioral responses of humpbacks in the two areas (Risch et al. 2014). Deng et al (2014) measured the spectral properties of pulses transmitted by three 200-kHz echosounders, and found that they generated weaker sounds at frequencies below the center frequency (90–130 kHz). These sounds are within the hearing range of some marine mammals, and the authors

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suggested that they could be strong enough to elicit behavioral responses within close proximity to the sources, although they would be well below potentially harmful levels. Hastie et al. (2014) reported behavioral responses by grey seals to echosounders with frequencies of 200 and 375 kHz. Despite the aforementioned information that has recently become available, this Draft EA is in agreement with the assessment presented in § 3.4.7, 3.6.7, 3.7.7, and 3.8.7 of the PEIS that operation of MBESs, SBPs, and pingers is not likely to impact marine mammals and is not expected to affect sea turtles, (1) given the lower acoustic exposures relative to airguns and (2) because the intermittent and/or narrow downward-directed nature of these sounds would result in no more than one or two brief ping exposures of any individual marine mammal or sea turtle given the movement and speed of the vessel. Also, for sea turtles, the associated frequency ranges are above their known hearing range.

(c) Other Possible Effects of Seismic Surveys Other possible effects of seismic surveys on marine mammals and/or sea turtles include masking by vessel noise, disturbance by vessel presence or noise, and injury or mortality from collisions with vessels or entanglement in seismic gear. Vessel noise from the Langseth could affect marine animals in the proposed survey areas. Sounds produced by large vessels generally dominate ambient noise at frequencies from 20 to 300 Hz (Richardson et al. 1995). Ship noise, through masking, can reduce the effective communication distance of a marine mammal if the frequency of the sound source is close to that used by the animal, and if the sound is present for a significant fraction of time (e.g., Richardson et al. 1995; Clark et al. 2009; Jensen et al. 2009; Gervaise et al. 2012; Hatch et al. 2012; Rice et al. 2014). In addition to the frequency and duration of the masking sound, the strength, temporal pattern, and location of the introduced sound also play a role in the extent of the masking (Branstetter et al. 2013; Finneran and Branstetter 2013). In order to compensate for increased ambient noise, some cetaceans are known to increase the source levels of their calls in the presence of elevated noise levels from shipping, shift their peak frequencies, or otherwise change their vocal behavior (e.g., Parks et al. 2011; 2012; Castellote et al. 2012; Melcón et al. 2012; Tyack and Janik 2013). Baleen whales are thought to be more sensitive to sound at these low frequencies than are toothed whales (e.g., MacGillivray et al. 2014), possibly causing localized avoidance of the proposed survey areas during seismic operations. Reactions of gray and humpback whales to vessels have been studied, and there is limited information available about the reactions of right whales and rorquals (fin, blue, and minke whales). Reactions of humpback whales to boats are variable, ranging from approach to avoidance (Payne 1978; Salden 1993). Baker et al. (1982, 1983) and Baker and Herman (1989) found humpbacks often move away when vessels are within several kilometers. Humpbacks seem less likely to react overtly when actively feeding than when resting or engaged in other activities (Krieger and Wing 1984, 1986). Many odontocetes show considerable tolerance of vessel traffic, although they sometimes react at long distances if confined by ice or shallow water, if previously harassed by vessels, or have had little or no recent exposure to ships (Richardson et al. 1995). Dolphins of many species tolerate and sometimes approach vessels. Some dolphin species approach moving vessels to ride the bow or stern waves (Williams et al. 1992). There are few data on the behavioral reactions of beaked whales to vessel noise, though they seem to avoid approaching vessels (e.g., Würsig et al. 1998) or dive for an extended period when approached by a vessel (e.g., Kasuya 1986). Based on a single observation, Aguilar Soto et al. (2006) suggest foraging efficiency of Cuvier’s beaked whales may be reduced by close approach of vessels. The PEIS concluded that project vessel sounds would not be at levels expected to cause anything more than possible localized and temporary behavioral changes in marine mammals or sea turtles, and

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would not be expected to result in significant negative effects on individuals or at the population level. In addition, in all oceans of the world, large vessel traffic is currently so prevalent that it is commonly considered a usual source of ambient sound. Another concern with vessel traffic is the potential for striking marine mammals or sea turtles. Information on vessel strikes is reviewed in § 3.4.4.4, § 3.6.4.4, and § 3.8.4.4 of the PEIS. The PEIS concluded that the risk of collision of seismic vessels or towed/deployed equipment with marine mammals or sea turtles exists but is extremely unlikely, because of the relatively slow operating speed (typically 7–9 km/h) of the vessel during seismic operations, and the generally straight-line movement of the seismic vessel. There has been no history of marine mammal vessel strikes with the R/V Langseth, or its predecessor, R/V Maurice Ewing over the last two decades. Entanglement of sea turtles in seismic gear is also a concern. There have been reports of turtles being trapped and killed between the gaps in tail-buoys offshore from West Africa (Weir 2007); however, these tailbuoys are significantly different then those used on the Langseth. In April 2011, a dead olive ridley turtle was found in a deflector foil of the seismic gear on the Langseth during equipment recovery at the conclusion of a survey off Costa Rica, where sea turtles were numerous. Such incidents are possible, but that was the only case of sea turtle entanglement in seismic gear for the Langseth, which has been conducting seismic surveys since 2008, or for its predecessor, R/V Maurice Ewing, during 2003– 2007. Towing the seismic equipment during the proposed survey is not expected to significantly interfere with sea turtle movements, including migration.

(d) Mitigation Measures Several mitigation measures are built into the proposed seismic survey as an integral part of the planned activities. These measures include the following: ramp ups; typically two, however a minimum of one dedicated observer maintaining a visual watch during all daytime airgun operations; two observers for 30 min before and during ramp ups; PAM during the day and night to complement visual monitoring (unless the system and back-up systems are damaged during operations); and power downs (or if necessary shut downs) when mammals or turtles are detected in or about to enter designated EZ. These mitigation measures are described in § 2.4.4.1 of the PEIS and summarized earlier in this document, in § II(3). The fact that the 36-airgun array, because of its design, would direct the majority of the energy downward, and less energy laterally, is also an inherent mitigation measure. Previous and subsequent analysis of the potential impacts takes account of these planned mitigation measures. It would not be meaningful to analyze the effects of the planned activities without mitigation, as the mitigation (and associated monitoring) measures are a basic part of the activities, and would be implemented under the Proposed Action or Alternative Action.

(e) Potential Numbers of Cetaceans Exposed to Received Sound Levels 160 dB All anticipated takes would be “takes by harassment” as described in § I, involving temporary changes in behavior. The mitigation measures to be applied would minimize the possibility of injurious takes. (However, as noted earlier and in the PEIS, there is no specific information demonstrating that injurious “takes” would occur even in the absence of the planned mitigation measures.) In the sections below, we describe methods to estimate the number of potential exposures to sound levels >160 dB re

1 µParms and present estimates of the numbers of marine mammals that could be affected during the proposed seismic survey. The estimates are based on consideration of the number of marine mammals that could be disturbed appreciably by ~652 km of seismic surveys outside the 6-n.mi. territorial seas of

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Greece. The main sources of distributional and numerical data used in deriving the estimates are describ- ed in the next subsection. Basis for Estimating Exposure.—The estimates are based on a consideration of the number of marine mammals that could be within the area around the operating airgun array where received levels

(RLs) of sound >160 dB re 1 µParms are predicted to occur (see Table 1). The estimated numbers are based on the densities (numbers per unit area) of marine mammals expected to occur in the area in the absence of a seismic survey. To the extent that marine mammals tend to move away from seismic sources before the sound level reaches the criterion level and tend not to approach an operating airgun array, these estimates are likely to overestimate the numbers actually exposed to the specified level of sound. The overestimation is expected to be particularly large when dealing with the higher sound-level criteria, e.g., 180 dB re 1 μParms, as animals are more likely to move away before RLs reach 180 dB than they are to move away before it reaches (for example) 160 dB re 1 μParms. Likewise, they are less likely to approach within the ≥180 or 190 dB re 1 μParms radii than they are to approach within the considerably larger ≥160 dB radius. Density estimates are not available for the proposed survey areas; density estimates from the nearest available Mediterranean regions were therefore applied to species expected to occur in the survey areas (Table 4). Densities for fin whales, sperm whales, striped dolphins and Risso’s dolphins are based on visual surveys (and combined acoustic surveys for sperm whales) in the Ligurian Sea during October– March 2001–2004 (Laran et al. 2010). The densities were calculated using standard line-transect methods (Buckland et al. 2001); densities were corrected for trackline detection probability bias [f(0)] by the authors, but not availability [g(0)] bias. The density for short-beaked common dolphins is based on the Laran et al. (2010) striped dolphin density adjusted for the proportional difference between striped dolphin and common dolphin sightings from surveys of the Ionian Sea (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. 1993). The density for common bottlenose dolphins is based on a 2010 summer aerial survey in the Adriatic Sea; this survey did not correct for perception or availability bias (Fortuna et al. 2011). The density for Cuvier’s beaked whales is based on the density for sperm whales as described above and adjusted for the proportional difference in sighting rates and mean group sizes between sperm and Cuvier’s beaked whales in the Mediterranean Sea (Boisseau et al. 2010). Species classified as vagrants in Table 3 and the long-finned pilot whale, for which there are no confirmed sightings in the eastern Mediterranean, are not included in Table 4. Species that could occur in the survey areas, including those classified as visitors, are included in Table 4, although density estimates are not available. There is some uncertainty about the representativeness of the density data and the assumptions used in the calculations. The available densities are more than 10 years old in some cases and are not from the Aegean Sea, but from other regions of the Mediterranean Sea. Nonetheless,, the approach used here is based on the best available data. Densities used for the calculations were for October–March (for most species) and July–August (for common bottlenose dolphins); densities for other seasons were not available. Thus, the calculated exposures which are based on these densities are best estimates for the proposed survey for any time of the year.

The estimated numbers of individuals potentially exposed are based on the 160-dB re 1 μParms criterion for all cetaceans and pinnipeds. It is assumed that marine mammals exposed to airgun sounds that strong could change their behavior sufficiently to be considered “taken by harassment”. Table 4 shows the density estimates calculated as described above and the estimates of the number of different individual marine mammals that potentially could be exposed to ≥160 dB re 1 μParms during the seismic survey if no animals moved away from the survey vessel. The Requested Take Authorization is given in

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TABLE 4. Densities and estimates of the possible numbers of individuals that could be exposed to >160 dB re 1 µParms during the proposed seismic survey in the eastern Mediterranean Sea during October–November 2015. The proposed sound source consists of a 36-airgun array with a total discharge volume of ~6600 in3. Species in italics are listed under the ESA as endangered. The column of numbers in boldface shows the numbers of Level B "takes" for which authorization is requested.

Reported Estimated Density Density % of Requested (#/1000 Correction (#/1000 Ensonified Calculated Regional Level B Take Species1 km2) Factor 2 km2) Area (km2) Take3 Pop'n4 Authorization Mysticetes Humpback whale 0 0 7059 0 <0.01 15 Minke whale 0 0 7059 0 <0.01 15 Fin whale 2.06 2.0 7059 14 0.3 14 Odontocetes Sperm whale 0.526 0.52 7059 4 2.0 4 Cuvier’s beaked whale N.A. 1.567 7059 11 5.5 11 Rough-toothed dolphin 0 0 7059 0 N/A 85 Common bottlenose dolphin 438 43 7059 304 3.0 304 Striped dolphin 3706 370 7059 2612 1.1 2612 Short-beaked common dolphin N.A. 309 7059 212 1.1 212 Risso’s dolphin 356 35 7059 247 8.2 247 False killer whale 0 0 7059 0 N/A 35 Harbor porpoise 0 0 7059 0 <0.2 25 Pinnipeds Mediterranean monk seal 0 0 7059 0 <0.6 2

N.A. = not available. ConsequencesEnvironmental IV. 1 Not included are species considered to be vagrant in the Mediterranean or eastern Mediterranean (see Table 3). 2 No additional correction factors were applied for these calculations. 3 Calculated take is estimated density (reported density x correction factor) multiplied by the 160-dB ensonified area (including the 25% contingency for the Santorini survey area in the Aegean Sea). 4 Requested takes expressed as percentages of the Mediterranean populations, where available, or for parts of the Mediterranean (most odontocetes–see Table 3); N/A means not available. 5 For species for which no density estimates are available, requested take authorization was increased to mean group size in the U.S. northwestern Atlantic Ocean for humpback and minke whales (Palka 2012), in the Mediterranean Sea for the rough-toothed dolphin and false killer whale (Boisseau et al. 2010), in the northern Aegean Sea for the harbor porpoise (Ryan et al 2014), and in the Cilician Basin for the Mediterranean monk seal (Gücü et al. 2004). 6 Densities based on Laran et al. (2010).

7 Density based on density for sperm whales (Laran et al. 2010) and adjusted for proportional difference in sighting rates and mean group sizes between sperm and Cuvier’s beaked whales in the Mediterranean Sea (Boisseau et al. 2010). 8 Density based on Fortuna et al. (2011). 9 Density based Laran et al. (2010) striped dolphin winter density adjusted for the proportional difference in striped dolphin to common dolphin sightings as indicated by surveys of the Ionian Sea (Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. 1993). the far right column of Table 4. For those species that could occur in the survey areas but for which densities were not available, we have included a Requested Take Authorization for the mean group size for the species in the Mediterranean, where available, or other locations. It should be noted that the following estimates of exposures assume that the proposed survey would be completed; in fact, the ensonified area calculated using the planned number of line-kilometers for the Santorini survey area in the Aegean Sea have been increased by 25% to accommodate turns, lines that may need to be repeated, equipment testing, etc. As is typical during offshore seismic surveys, inclement

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weather and equipment malfunctions are likely to cause delays and might limit the number of useful line- kilometers of seismic operations that can be undertaken. Also, any marine mammal sightings within or near the designated EZ would result in the shut down of seismic operations as a mitigation measure. Thus, the following estimates of the numbers of marine mammals potentially exposed to 160-dB re

1 μParms sounds are precautionary and probably overestimate the actual numbers of marine mammals that could be involved. These estimates assume that there would be no weather, equipment, or mitigation delays, which is highly unlikely. Consideration should be given to the hypothesis that delphinids are less responsive to airgun sounds than are mysticetes, as referenced in both the PEIS and “Summary of Potential Airgun Effects” of this document. The 160-dB (rms) criterion currently applied by NMFS, on which the following estimates are based, was developed based primarily on data from gray and bowhead whales. The estimates of “takes by harassment” of delphinids are thus considered precautionary. As noted previously, in December 2013, NOAA made available for public comment new draft guidance for assessing the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals (NOAA 2013), although at the time of preparation of this Draft EA, the date of release of the final guidelines and how they would be implemented are unknown. Available data suggest that the current use of a 160-dB criterion could be improved upon, as behavioral response might not occur for some percentage of marine mammals exposed to received levels >160 dB, whereas other individuals or groups might respond in a manner considered as “taken” to sound levels <160 dB (NMFS 2013c). It has become evident that the context of an exposure of a marine mammal to sound can affect the animal’s initial response to the sound (NMFS 2013c). Potential Number of Marine Mammals Exposed.—The number of different individuals that could be exposed to airgun sounds with received levels 160 dB re 1 µParms on one or more occasions can be estimated by considering the total marine area that would be within the 160-dB radius around the operating seismic source on at least one occasion, along with the expected density of animals in the area. The number of possible exposures (including repeated exposures of the same individuals) can be esti- mated by considering the total marine area that would be within the 160-dB radius around the operating airguns, including areas of overlap. During the proposed Santorini survey in the Aegean Sea, the area including overlap is 3.4 times the area excluding overlap, so a marine mammal that stayed in that survey area during the survey could be exposed less than four times, on average. There is no overlap for the single Hellenic subduction zone transect line. However, it is unlikely that a particular animal would stay in the area during the entire survey. The numbers of different individuals potentially exposed to 160 dB re 1 µParms were calculated by multiplying the expected species density times the anticipated area to be ensonified to that level during airgun operations excluding overlap. The area expected to be ensonified was determined by entering the planned survey lines into a MapInfo GIS, using the GIS to identify the relevant areas by “drawing” the applicable 160-dB buffer (see Table 1) around each seismic line, and then calculating the total area within the buffers. Applying the approach described above, ~6318 km2 (~7059 km2 including the 25% contingency for the Santorini survey area only) would be within the 160-dB isopleth on one or more occasions outside of Greek territorial waters during the proposed survey. Because this approach does not allow for turnover in the mammal populations in the area during the course of the survey, the actual number of individuals exposed could be underestimated, although the conservative (i.e., probably overestimated) line-kilometer distances used to calculate the area could offset this. Also, the approach assumes that no cetaceans would move away or toward the trackline in response to increasing sound levels before the levels reach 160 dB as the Langseth approaches. Another way of interpreting the estimates is that they represent the number

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of individuals that are expected (in the absence of a seismic program) to occur in the waters that would be exposed to 160 dB re 1 µParms. The estimate of the number of individual marine mammals that could be exposed to seismic sounds with received levels ≥160 dB re 1 µParms during the proposed survey is 3404 (Table 4). That total includes 18 cetaceans listed as Endangered under the ESA: 14 fin whales and 4 sperm whales, representing 0.3% and 2.0 % of their regional populations, respectively. In addition, 11 Cuvier’s beaked whales (5.5% of the regional population) could be exposed during the survey (Table 4). Most (99.1%) of the cetaceans potentially exposed would be delphinids; the striped, common bottlenose, Risso’s, and short-beaked common dolphins are estimated to be the most common (and only) delphinid species in the area, with estimates of 2612 (1.1% of the regional population), 304 (3.0%), 247 (8.2%), and 212 (1.1%) exposed to ≥160 dB re 1 μParms, respectively. Percentage estimates for most odontocetes are likely overestimates, in some cases considerable overestimates, because the population sizes are expected to be underestimates. This is because there are no truly regional population size estimates for the Mediterranean Sea for these species; estimates are only available for parts of the Mediterranean Sea. (f) Conclusions for Marine Mammals and Sea Turtles The proposed seismic project would involve towing a 36-airgun array with a total discharge volume of 6600 in3 that introduces pulsed sounds into the ocean. Routine vessel operations, other than the proposed seismic operations, are conventionally assumed not to affect marine mammals sufficiently to constitute “taking”. Marine Mammals.—In § 3.6.7, § 3.7.7, and § 3.8.7, the PEIS concluded that airgun operations with implementation of the proposed monitoring and mitigation measures could result in a small number of Level B behavioral effects in some mysticete, odontocete, and pinniped species and that Level A effects were highly unlikely. In this analysis, estimates of the numbers of marine mammals that could be exposed to airgun sounds during the proposed program have been presented, together with the requested “take authorization”. The estimated numbers of animals potentially exposed to sound levels sufficient to cause appreciable disturbance are low percentages of the regional population sizes (Table 4). The estimates are likely overestimates of the actual number of animals that would be exposed to and would react to the seismic sounds. The reasons for that conclusion are outlined above. The relatively short-term exposures are unlikely to result in any long-term negative consequences for the individuals or their populations. Therefore, no significant impacts on cetaceans or pinnipeds would be anticipated from the proposed activities. Sea Turtles.—In § 3.4.7, the PEIS concluded that with implementation of the proposed monitoring and mitigation measures, no significant impacts of airgun operations are likely to sea turtle populations in any of the analysis areas, and that any effects are likely to be limited to short-term behavioral disturbance and short-term localized avoidance of an area of unknown size near the active airguns. Three species of sea turtle―the leatherback, loggerhead, and green―could be encountered in the proposed survey areas. Given the proposed activities, no significant impacts on sea turtles would be anticipated.

(2) Direct Effects on Invertebrates, Fish, Fisheries, and EFH and Their Significance

Effects of seismic sound on marine invertebrates (crustaceans and cephalopods), marine fish, and their fisheries are discussed in § 3.2.4 and § 3.3.4 and Appendix D of the PEIS. Relevant new studies on

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the effects of sound on marine invertebrates, fish, and fisheries that have been published since the release of the PEIS are summarized below. Although research on the effects of exposure to airgun sound on marine invertebrates and fishes is increasing, many data gaps remain (Hawkins et al. 2014).

(a) Effects of Sound on Marine Invertebrates Fewtrell and McCauley (2012) exposed captive squid (Sepioteuthis australis) to pulses from a single airgun; the received sound levels ranged from 120 to 184 dB re 1 dB re 1 μPa2 · s SEL. Increases in alarm responses were seen at SELs >147–151 dB re 1 μPa2 · s; the squid were seen to discharge ink or change their swimming pattern or vertical position in the water column. Solé et al. (2013) exposed four caged cephalopod species to low-frequency (50–400 Hz) sinusoidal wave sweeps (with a 1-s sweep period for 2 h) with received levels of 157 ± 5 dB re 1 μPa, and peak levels up to 175 dB re 1 μPa. Besides exhibiting startle responses, all four species examined received damage to the statocyst, which is the organ responsible for equilibrium and movement. The animals showed stressed behavior, decreased activity, and loss of muscle tone. When wild New Zealand scallop (Pecten novaezelandiae) larvae were exposed to recorded seismic pulses, significant developmental delays were reported, and 46% of the larvae exhibited body abnormalities; it was suggested that the malformations could be attributable to cumulative exposure (de Soto et al. 2013). Their experiment used larvae enclosed in 60-ml flasks suspended in a 2-m diameter by 1.3-m water depth tank and exposed to a playback of seismic sound at a distance of 5–10 cm. Celi et al. (2013) exposed captive red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkia) to linear sweeps with a frequency range of 0.1–25 kHz and a peak amplitude of 148 dB re 1 µPa rms at 12 kHz for 30 min. They found that the noise exposure caused changes in the haemato-immunological parameters (indicating stress) and reduced agonistic behaviors. Other studies conducted in the field have shown no effects on Dungeness crab larvae or snow crab embryos (Pearson et al. 1994; DFOC 2004 in NSF PEIS).

(b) Effects of Sound on Fish Potential impacts of exposure to airgun sound on marine fishes have been reviewed by Popper (2009), Popper and Hastings (2009a,b), and Fay and Popper (2012); they include pathological, physiological, and behavioral effects. Radford et al. (2014) suggested that masking of key environmental sounds or social signals could also be a potential negative effect from sound. Popper et al. (2014) presented guidelines for seismic sound level thresholds related to potential effects on fish. The effect types discussed include mortality, mortal injury, recoverable injury, temporary threshold shift, masking, and behavioral effects. Seismic sound level thresholds were discussed in relation to fish without swim bladders, fish with swim bladders, and fish eggs and larvae. Bui et al. (2013) examined the behavioral responses of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) to light, sound, and surface disturbance events. They reported that the fish showed short-term avoidance responses to the three stimuli. Salmon that were exposed to 12 Hz sounds and/or surface disturbances increased their swimming speeds. Peña et al. (2013) used an omnidirectional fisheries sonar to determine the effects of a 3D seismic survey off Vesterålen, northern Norway, on feeding herring (Clupea harengus). They reported that herring schools did not react to the seismic survey; no significant changes were detected in swimming speed, swim direction, or school size when the drifting seismic vessel approached the fish from a distance of 27 km to 2 km over a 6-h period. Peña et al. (2013) attributed the lack of response to strong motivation for feeding, the slow approach of the seismic vessel, and an increased tolerance to airgun sounds.

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Miller and Cripps (2013) used underwater visual census to examine the effect of a seismic survey on a shallow-water coral reef fish community in Australia. The census took place at six sites on the reef before and after the survey. When the census data collected during the seismic program were combined with historical data, the analyses showed that the seismic survey had no significant effect on the overall abundance or species richness of reef fish. This was in part attributed to the design of the seismic survey (e.g., 400 m buffer zone around reef), which reduced the impacts of seismic sounds on the fish communities by exposing them to relatively low SELs (<187 dB re 1 μPa2 · s). Fewtrell and McCauley (2012) exposed pink snapper (Pagrus auratus) and trevally (Pseudocaranx dentex) to pulses from a single airgun; the received sound levels ranged from 120 to 184 dB re 1 dB re 1 μPa2 · s SEL. Increases in alarm responses were seen in the fish at SELs >147–151 dB re 1 μPa2 · s; the fish swam faster and formed more cohesive groups in response to the airgun sounds. Hastings and Miksis-Olds (2012) measured the hearing sensitivity of caged reef fish following exposure to a seismic survey in Australia. When the auditory evoked potentials (AEP) were examined for fish that had been in cages as close as 45 m from the pass of the seismic vessel and at water depth of 5 m, there was no evidence of TTS in any of the fish examined, even though the cumulative SELs had reached 190 dB re 1 μPa2 · s. Popper et al. (2013) recently conducted a study that examined the effects of exposure to seismic airgun sound on caged pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) and paddlefish (Polyodon spathula); the maximum received peak SPL in this study was 224 dB re 1 µPa. Results of the study indicated no mortality, either during or seven days after exposure, and no statistical differences in effects on body tissues between exposed and control fish. Andrews et al. (2014) conducted functional genomic studies on the inner ear of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) that had been exposed to seismic airgun sound. The airguns had a maximum SPL of ~145 dB re 1 µPa2/Hz and the fish were exposed to 50 discharges per trial. The results provided evidence that fish exposed to seismic sound either increased or decreased their expressions of different genes, demonstrating that seismic sound can affect fish on a genetic level.

(c) Effects of Sound on Fisheries Results of a study off Norway in 2009 indicated that fishes reacted to airgun sound based on observed changes in catch rates during seismic shooting; gillnet catches increased during the seismic shooting, likely a result of increased fish activity, whereas longline catches decreased overall (Løkkeborg et al. 2012). Handegard et al. (2013) examined different exposure metrics to explain the disturbance of seismic surveys on fish. They applied metrics to two experiments in Norwegian waters, during which fish distribution and fisheries were affected by airguns. Even though the disturbance for one experiment was greater, the other appeared to have the stronger SEL, based on a relatively complex propagation model. Handegard et al. (2013) recommended that simple sound propagation models should be avoided and that the use of sound energy metrics like SEL to interpret disturbance effects should be done with caution. In this case, the simplest model (exposures per area) best explained the disturbance effect. Hovem et al. (2012) used a model to predict the effects of airgun sounds on fish populations. Modeled SELs were compared with empirical data and were then compared with startle response levels for cod. This work suggested that in the future, particular acoustic-biological models could be useful in designing and planning seismic surveys to minimize disturbance to fishing. Their preliminary analyses indicated that seismic surveys should occur at a distance of 5–10 km from fishing areas, in order to minimize potential effects on fishing.

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(d) Conclusions for Invertebrates, Fish and Fisheries This newly available information does not affect the outcome of the effects assessment as presented in the PEIS. The PEIS concluded that there could be changes in behavior and other non-lethal, short- term, temporary impacts, and injurious or mortal impacts on a small number of individuals within a few meters of a high-energy acoustic source, but that there would be no significant impacts of NSF-funded marine seismic research on populations. The PEIS also concluded that seismic surveys could cause temporary, localized reduced fish catch to some species, but that effects on commercial and recreation fisheries were not significant. Interactions between the proposed survey and commercial and recreational fishing in the survey areas are expected to be limited. Two possible conflicts in general are the Langseth’s streamer entangling with fixed fishing gear and displacement of fishers from the survey areas. Fishing activities could occur within the survey areas; however, a safe distance would need to be kept from the Langseth and the towed seismic equipment. Conflicts would be avoided through communication with the fishing community during the survey; the local Greek Coast Guard and the Santorini Boatmen Union would be made aware of operations in the area. Ninety-three OBS instruments would be deployed during the survey. All OBSs would be recovered after the proposed survey. The OBS anchors either are 23-kg pieces of hot-rolled steel that have a footprint of 0.3×0.4 m or 36-kg iron grates with a footprint of 0.9×0.9 m. OBS anchors would be left behind upon equipment recovery. Although OBS placement would disrupt a very small area of seafloor habitat and could disturb benthic invertebrates, the impacts are expected to be localized and transitory. Given the proposed activities, no significant impacts on marine invertebrates, marine fish, and their fisheries would be anticipated. In decades of seismic surveys carried out by the Langseth and its predecessor, the R/V Ewing, PSOs and other crew members have not observed any seismic sound-related fish or invertebrate injuries or mortality.

(3) Direct Effects on Seabirds and Their Significance

Effects of seismic sound and other aspects of seismic operations (collisions, entanglement, and ingestion) on seabirds are discussed in § 3.5.4 of the PEIS. The PEIS concluded that there could be transitory disturbance, but that there would be no significant impacts of NSF-funded marine seismic research on seabirds or their populations. Given the proposed activities, no significant impacts on seabirds would be anticipated. In decades of seismic surveys carried out by the Langseth and its predecessor, the R/V Ewing, PSOs and other crew members have seen no seismic sound-related seabird injuries or mortality. Terrestrial activities would not affect seabirds because the only activities near the coast would involve burying passive seismometers. (4) Indirect Effects on Marine Mammals, Sea Turtles, Seabirds and Fish and Their Significance

The proposed seismic operations would not result in any permanent impact on habitats used by marine mammals, sea turtles, or seabirds or to the food sources they use. The main impact issue associated with the proposed activities would be temporarily elevated noise levels and the associated direct effects on these species, as discussed above.

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During the proposed seismic survey, only a small fraction of the available habitat would be ensonified at any given time. Disturbance to fish species and invertebrates would be short-term, and fish would return to their pre-disturbance behavior once the seismic activity ceased. Thus, the proposed survey would have little impact on the abilities of marine mammals or sea turtles to feed in the area where seismic work is planned. No significant indirect impacts on marine mammals, sea turtles, or fish would be expected. (5) Direct Effects on Recreational SCUBA Divers and Dive Sites and Their Significance

No significant impacts on dive sites, including shipwrecks, would be anticipated. Airgun sounds would have no effects on solid structures, and the Langseth would avoid deploying OBSs on any wrecks along the survey track lines. The only potential effects could be temporary displacement of fish and invertebrates from the structures. Significant impacts on, or conflicts with, divers or diving activities would be avoided through communication with the diving community before and during the survey; the local Greek Coast Guard and the Santorini Boatmen Union would be informed of the survey. In particular, dive operators would be made aware of operations near dive sites. (6) Cumulative Effects

Wright and Kyhn (2014) recently proposed practical management steps to limit cumulative impacts, including minimizing exposure by reducing exposure rates and levels. The results of the cumulative impacts analysis in the PEIS indicated that there would not be any significant cumulative effects to marine resources from the proposed NSF-funded marine seismic research. However, the PEIS also stated that, “A more detailed, cruise-specific cumulative effects analysis would be conducted at the time of the preparation of the cruise-specific EAs, allowing for the identification of other potential activities in the area of the proposed seismic survey that may result in cumulative impacts to environmental resources.” Here we focus on activities that could impact animals specifically in the proposed survey areas (e.g., research activities, vessel traffic, and commercial fisheries). (a) Past and future research activities in the area Considerable scientific research has been conducted in the area to investigate its submarine volcanic characteristics; methods have included multibeam bathymetric surveys, use of manned submersibles and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), side-scan sonar imaging, and seismic surveys (reviewed in Nomikou et al. 2013), and, more recently, LIDAR or Light Detection and Ranging (Nomikou et al. 2014). Seismic surveys in the area have occurred in the Santorini caldera (e.g., Sigurdsson et al. 2006) and in the Santorini-Amalfi Basin (Perissoratis and Papadopoulos 1999). Shallow multichannel seismic work has previously been conducted in the area, in particular involving the project collaborator Dr. Nomikou. Those studies explained recent tectonic and magmatic processes by how they deform sediments. A local seismic tomography study involving the project collaborator Prof. Papazachos provided some seismic crustal structural information but only to ~6 km depth. The present study would collect data that samples the deepest parts of the magma plumbing system and would be sufficiently dense to perform full waveform inversions that would provide structure at 10 times the resolution of traditional tomography studies. Spanish scientist Dr. C. Ranero is planning a multichannel seismic survey in the summer of 2015 that is expected to cover some of the same area as the present study. This would provide information on upper crustal structure that could complement the present study where the two programs overlap.

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Other scientific seismic research activities might be conducted in this region in the future; however, aside from those noted here, no other marine geophysical surveys are currently proposed in the region using the Langseth in the foreseeable future. At the present time, the proponents of the survey are not aware of other marine research activities planned to occur in the proposed survey areas during the October– November 2015 timeframe, but research activities planned by other entities are possible. (b) Vessel traffic Vessel traffic in and around the proposed survey areas would primarily consist of commercial shipping, recreational vessels, and ferries. Based on data made available through the Automated Mutual- Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) system managed by the U.S. Coast Guard, up to 14 commercial vessels per month typically passed near the Santorini survey area during 2007–2013, although up to 49 vessels per month were also occasionally recorded before 2012. Fifteen to >50 commercial vessels per month typically passed off western and southwestern Crete during 2007‒2013. (The only 2013 data available are for January–June, the most recent data available as of January 2015; USCG 2013). Live vessel traffic information is available from MarineTraffic (2015), including vessel names, types, flags, positions, and destinations. Various types of vessels were in the general vicinity of the Santorini survey area when MarineTraffic (2015) was accessed on 23 and 29 January 2015, including cargo vessels/container ships (64), tankers (52), bulk/heavy load carriers (27), vehicle carriers (2), tugs (2), offshore supply/replenishment vessels (3), passenger ships (21), pleasure craft (2), fishing vessels (2), unidentified vessel types (2), and one each of landing craft, livestock carriers, and reefers. The landing craft, fishing vessels, unidentified vessel types, and all but one of the passenger ships had a Greek flag; the vehicle carriers, tugs, offshore supply/replenishment vessels, livestock carrier, and reefer had foreign flags. The cargo/container ships, tankers, and bulk/heavy load carriers consisted of both Greek- and foreign-flagged vessels. Similar vessel types were in the vicinity of Crete when MarineTraffic (2015) was accessed on 10 February and 17 March 2015, including cargo/container ships (23), tankers (18), bulk carriers (10), supply/replenishment vessels (2), passenger ships (5), and one each of tug, sailing, and law enforcement vessels. Few of these vessels had a Greek flag, including a cargo/container ship, two tankers, and four passenger ships. Based on live vessel traffic information (MarineTraffic 2015), the majority of commercial vessels travel in open waters beyond the proposed survey area near Santorini; commercial traffic is expected to be greater off western Crete. In a given year, ferries travelling between Crete, Santorini, and other Greek islands or mainland Greece would likely comprise the majority of vessel traffic through the proposed survey areas, especially near Santorini, between October and December; off western Crete, there woud also be substantial vessel traffic by commercial vessels such as cargo ships and tankers. Ferries to and from Santorini typically run until mid-afternoon on Mondays through Saturdays from November to April, and from morning to mid-afternoon and during the evenings every day from May to October (Sappho Travel 2012). Ferries to and from Crete typically operate during mornings, afternoons, and evenings throughout the year (CreteTravel 2014). There might be chartered yachts or fishing vessels in the survey areas between October and December; the number of chartered vessels in the Santorini area is low during this period, with the peak season typically running from July until early to mid-September (Willemsen 2013). There would likely be more chartered vessels off western Crete, with a peak season between October and March (CreteTravel 2014). There are at least 28 ports of entry in Greece, providing services such as port of entry registration, port police, customs, fuel, water, general repairs, slipway usage, cranage, and provisions for recreational and commercial vessels (PUPA Yachting 2000). The nearest port of entry to Santorini is ~91 km to the

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north at Port Ermoupolis, on the island of Síros. There are three ports of entry in Crete: Chania, Iraclion Marina and Ayios Nikolaos, along the northwest, north-central, and northeast coastline, respectively. The total transit distance of ~1890 km (including transit to and from port) by L-DEO’s vessel Langseth would be minimal relative to total transit length for vessels operating in the general region around the proposed survey areas during October–November. Thus, the addition of L-DEO’s vessel traffic to existing shipping and recreational traffic is expected to result in only a negligible increase in overall ship traffic. (c) Fisheries The commercial and recreational fisheries in the general area of the proposed survey are described in § III. The primary contributions of fishing to potential cumulative impacts on marine mammals and sea turtles involve noise, potential entanglement, and removal of prey items (e.g., Reeves et al. 2003; Gómez-Campos et al. 2011; Notarbartolo Di Sciara 2014). There might be some localized avoidance by marine mammals of fishing vessels near the proposed seismic survey areas. In contrast, open cage aquaculture facilities in the Mediterranean could attract some marine mammals to the area (e.g., Piroddi et al. 2011). In the Mediterranean Sea, numerous cetaceans (mostly delphinids) and the monk seal suffer serious injury or mortality each year from fisheries. For example, for the species assessed by Reeves et al. (2013), estimated average annual fishery bycatch mortality in gillnets during 1990–2010 was 1800 striped dolphins, 35 bottlenose dolphins, 132 long-finned pilot whales, 79 Risso dolphins, >100 sperm whales, <1 fin whale, and <1 minke whale. The endangered Mediterranean monk seal population has also been adversely impacted by incidental entanglement in fishing gear (gill and trammel nets, trawls, and longlines). Between one and nine monk seals were reported dead annually in gillnets from 1990 to 2008 (Reeves et al. 2013). A single monk seal died in a trammel net off Santorini Island in March 1990 (Cebrian et al. 1990). Deliberate killings of Mediterranean monk seals are also a problem in the eastern Mediterranean (Tudela 2004), occurring in Greece (Ronald and Healey 1974), the Turkish Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea (Berkes 1976). Casale (2011) reported that an estimated >132,000 turtles are caught annually as a result of fishing practices in the Mediterranean Sea, with ~20,000 taken as bycatch in the Aegean Sea (Casale 2011). Fishing bycatch probably results in >44,000 incidental deaths per year (Casale 2011). There might be some localized avoidance by marine mammals of fishing vessels near the proposed seismic survey areas. L-DEO’s operations in the proposed survey areas are limited (duration of ~1 month), and the addition of L-DEO’s operations to existing commercial and recreational fishing operations is expected to result in only a negligible increase in overall disturbance effects on marine mammals and sea turtles. The addition of L-DEO’s operations to existing fishing operations would result in no increase in serious injuries or mortality in marine mammals. (d) Military Activity A small portion of the proposed survey is located within NATO’s Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI) guided missile range in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (NAVFAC 2008). NAMFI is ~14,400 km2 in area and is located in the Sea of Crete. The northern boundary of the range area is located just south of Santorini and includes Christianna Island, thus overlapping the southwest corner of the pimary survey area. The types of activities that could occur in the NAMFI range include testing long-range and

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very long-range weapon systems and missiles. A mass stranding of Cuvier’s beaked whales, coincident with naval exercises in the area, occurred in April 2014 in Crete; there have been at least another 10 strandings of beaked whales in the Mediterranean that closely coincided with naval sonar activities (Aguilar de Soto et al. 2014). L-DEO and NSF are coordinating, and would continue to coordinate, with the NATO to ensure there would be no conflicts. (e) Oil and Gas Activities The eastern Mediterranean Sea is an important petroleum processing and shipping area with several refineries and storage facilities. The oil and gas industry in this area is characterized by production platforms, tanker traffic, seismic surveys, and both aircraft and vessel support. Very little crude oil is produced in Greece (some 1.6 kb/d in 2012), and the oil exclusively comes from Prinos offshore oil field in the Kavala Gulf in the northern Aegean Sea (IEA 2014). There are 10 oil terminals in Greece, all of which are located along the Aegean Sea; the majority are located in the Attiki area (Athens) and the remaining terminals are in the Thessaloniki area. Most of the oil and gas activity in the proposed survey areas would be in the form of tanker and shipping traffic. Geophysical surveys and/or drilling could occur in western Greece at the same time as the proposed survey; the majority of activity is likely to take place offshore West Patraikos Gulf and Katakolon where there is hydrocarbon potential. An extensive 2D seismic survey was conducted during late 2012–early 2013 by Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change; the 2D seismic survey included areas of the Ionian Sea, West Peloponnese, and south of Crete with a total area coverage of 225,000 km2 (Lie et al. 2014). A 3D industry seismic survey might be planned for the eastern Aegean Sea, Kastelorizo, and south of Crete in the near future; no further details about this project are known. L-DEO and NSF are coordinating, and would continue to coordinate, with the oil and gas industry to ensure there would be no conflicts. (7) Unavoidable Impacts Unavoidable impacts to the species of marine mammals and turtles occurring in the proposed survey areas would be limited to short-term, localized changes in behavior of individuals. For cetaceans, some of the changes in behavior may be considered to fall within the MMPA definition of “Level B Harassment” (behavioral disturbance; no serious injury or mortality). TTS, if it occurs, would be limited to a few individuals, is a temporary phenomenon that does not involve injury, and is unlikely to have long term consequences for the few individuals involved. No long-term or significant impacts would be expected on any of these individual marine mammals or turtles, or on the populations to which they belong. Effects on recruitment or survival would be expected to be (at most) negligible. (8) Coordination with Other Agencies and Processes This Draft EA has been prepared by LGL on behalf of L-DEO and NSF pursuant to Executive Order 12114. Potential impacts to endangered species and critical habitat have also been assessed in the document; therefore, it will be used to support the ESA Section 7 consultation process with NMFS and USFWS. This document will also be used as supporting documentation for an IHA application submitted by L-DEO to NMFS, under the U.S. MMPA, for “taking by harassment” (disturbance) of small numbers of marine mammals, for this proposed seismic survey. L-DEO and NSF have coordinated, and will continue to coordinate, with other applicable Federal agencies as required, and will comply with their requirements. On behalf of L-DEO, the U.S. State Department will seek authorization from Greece for clearance to work in its EEZ.

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Alternative Action: Another Time An alternative to issuing the IHA for the period requested, and to conducting the Project then, is to issue the IHA for another time, and to conduct the project at that alternative time. The proposed dates for the cruise (~29 days in October–November) are the dates when the personnel and equipment essential to meet the overall project objectives are available. The weather in the Mediterranean Sea was taken into consideration when planning the proposed activities. The Mediterranean Sea can be challenging to operate in during certain times of year, precluding the ability to safely tow seismic gear and conduct operations. Additionally, a period was chosen with decreased tourism to minimize any space-use conflict and disturbance. Whereas conducting the survey at an alternative time is a viable alternative, because of the weather conditions, it would not be as desirable to conduct a seismic survey in the Mediterranean Sea during the winter months. Marine mammals and sea turtles are expected to be found throughout the proposed survey areas and throughout the time during which the project would occur. Most marine mammal species are expected to occur in the area year-round, so altering the timing of the proposed project likely would result in no net benefits for those species. No Action Alternative An alternative to conducting the proposed activities is the “No Action” Alternative, i.e., do not issue an IHA and do not conduct the operations. If the research were not conducted, the “No Action” alternative would result in no disturbance to marine mammals or sea turtles attributable to the proposed activities; however, valuable data about the marine environment would be lost. Research that would contribute to understanding the crustal magma plumbing of the Santorini volcanic system would be lost and greater understanding of Earth processes would not be gained. The No Action Alternative would not meet the purpose and need for the proposed activities.

Draft Environmental Analysis for L-DEO Eastern Mediterranean Sea, 2015 Page 66 V. List of Preparers

V. LIST OF PREPARERS

LGL Ltd., environmental research associates

Patrick Abgrall, Ph.D., King City, Ont.* William E. Cross, M.Sc., King City, Ont.* Meike Holst, M.Sc., Sidney, B.C.* Sarah Penney-Belbin, M.Sc., St. John’s, NL* Heather Smith, Ph.D., King City, Ont.* Mark Fitzgerald, B.Sc., King City, Ont. William R. Koski, M.Sc., King City, Ont. W. John Richardson, Ph.D., King City, Ont.

Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory

Helene Carton, Ph.D., Palisades, NY Anne Bécel, Ph.D., Palisades, NY

National Science Foundation

Holly E. Smith, M.A., Arlington, VA

* Principal preparers of this specific document. Others listed above contributed to a lesser extent, or contributed substantially to previous related documents from which material has been excerpted.

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