IHA Application for the Queen Charlotte Fault, Summer 2021 Page Ii Table of Contents
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Request by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for an Incidental Harassment Authorization to Allow the Incidental Take of Marine Mammals during Marine Geophysical Surveys by R/V Marcus G. Langseth of the Queen Charlotte Fault in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, Summer 2021 submitted by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 61 Route 9W, P.O. Box 1000 Palisades, NY 10964-8000 to National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Protected Resources 1315 East–West Hwy, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282 Application Prepared by LGL Limited, environmental research associates 22 Fisher St., POB 280 King City, Ont. L7B 1A6 2 December 2019 revised 16 December 2020 LGL Report FA0186-00B L-DEO IHA Application for the Queen Charlotte Fault, Summer 2021 Page ii Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Page SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 I. OPERATIONS TO BE CONDUCTED .............................................................................................................. 1 Overview of the Activity .................................................................................................................... 1 Source Vessel Specifications .............................................................................................................. 4 Airgun Description ............................................................................................................................. 4 Predicted Sound Levels ............................................................................................................ 4 OBS Description and Deployment ..................................................................................................... 5 Description of Operations ................................................................................................................... 6 II. DATES, DURATION, AND REGION OF ACTIVITY....................................................................................... 7 III. SPECIES AND NUMBERS OF MARINE MAMMALS IN AREA ..................................................................... 7 IV. STATUS, DISTRIBUTION AND SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION OF AFFECTED SPECIES OR STOCKS OF MARINE MAMMALS ....................................................................................................................... 8 Mysticetes ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Odontocetes ...................................................................................................................................... 18 Pinnipeds .......................................................................................................................................... 24 Fissipeds ........................................................................................................................................... 29 V. TYPE OF INCIDENTAL TAKE AUTHORIZATION REQUESTED .................................................................. 30 VI. NUMBERS OF MARINE MAMMALS THAT COULD BE TAKEN................................................................ 31 VII. ANTICIPATED IMPACT ON SPECIES OR STOCKS .................................................................................. 31 Summary of Potential Effects of Airgun Sounds ............................................................................. 31 Tolerance ................................................................................................................................ 32 Masking .................................................................................................................................. 32 Disturbance Reactions ............................................................................................................ 33 Hearing Impairment and Other Physical Effects.................................................................... 39 Possible Effects of Other Acoustic Sources ..................................................................................... 42 Other Possible Effects of Seismic Surveys ....................................................................................... 44 Numbers of Marine Mammals that could be “Taken by Harassment” ............................................. 46 Basis for Estimating “Takes” ................................................................................................. 46 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 51 VIII. ANTICIPATED IMPACT ON SUBSISTENCE ........................................................................................... 51 IX. ANTICIPATED IMPACT ON HABITAT ..................................................................................................... 52 X. ANTICIPATED IMPACT OF LOSS OR MODIFICATION OF HABITAT ON MARINE MAMMALS ................... 52 XI. MITIGATION MEASURES....................................................................................................................... 52 Planning Phase.................................................................................................................................. 53 Mitigation During Operations .......................................................................................................... 54 L-DEO IHA Application for the Queen Charlotte Fault, Summer 2021 Page iii Table of Contents Shut-down/Power-down Procedures ...................................................................................... 54 Ramp-up Procedures .............................................................................................................. 54 XII. PLAN OF COOPERATION ...................................................................................................................... 55 XIII. MONITORING AND REPORTING PLAN ................................................................................................ 55 Vessel-based Visual Monitoring ...................................................................................................... 56 Passive Acoustic Monitoring ............................................................................................................ 56 PSO Data and Documentation .......................................................................................................... 57 XIV. COORDINATING RESEARCH TO REDUCE AND EVALUATE INCIDENTAL TAKE .................................. 58 XV. LITERATURE CITED ............................................................................................................................. 58 LIST OF APPENDICES: .................................................................................................................................. 94 APPENDIX A: DETERMINATION OF MITIGATION ZONES .......................................................................... A-1 APPENDIX B: MARINE MAMMAL DENSITIES ........................................................................................... B-1 APPENDIX C: MARINE MAMMAL TAKE CALCULATIONS ......................................................................... C-1 APPENDIX D: ENSONIFIED AREAS FOR MARINE MAMMAL TAKE CALCULATIONS ................................. D-1 L-DEO IHA Application for the Queen Charlotte Fault, Summer 2021 Page iv Summary Request by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for an Incidental Harassment Authorization to Allow the Incidental Take of Marine Mammals during Marine Geophysical Surveys by R/V Marcus G. Langseth of the Queen Charlotte Fault in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, Summer 2021 SUMMARY Researchers from the University of New Mexico and Western Washington University, with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and in collaboration with researchers from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Dalhousie University, and the Geological Survey of Canada, propose to conduct high-energy seismic surveys from the Research Vessel (R/V) Marcus G. Langseth (Langseth) at the Queen Charlotte Fault (QCF) in the Northeast Pacific Ocean during summer 2021. The NSF-owned Langseth is operated by L-DEO under an existing Cooperative Agreement. The proposed 2-D seismic surveys would occur within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Canada and the U.S., including U.S. state waters and Canadian Territorial Waters. This request prepared pursuant to Section 101 (a)(5)(D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), 16 U.S.C. § 1371(a)(5), was originally submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on 3 December 2019. However, it has been revised due to a number of factors including: (1) to address comments from NMFS, (2) a schedule change from summer 2020 to summer 2021 due to COVID-19 impacts, and (3) a change in the mitigation zones which are now based on both modeling for the Level A and Level B thresholds and using empirical measurements from Crone et al. (2014) from the Cascadia Margin, which were then used to revise the take estimates, and (4) a change in location tracklines. Although the location of some tracklines has changed from what was originally proposed, the original trackline locations were used to generate take estimates, because they are still adequately representative of the proposed survey plan. Numerous species of marine mammals inhabit the proposed survey area in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Under the U.S. ESA, several of these are listed as