USAF 86 Fighter Squadron LRS Weapon Systems Evaluation
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REQUEST FOR A LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION FOR THE INCIDENTAL TAKING OF MARINE MAMMALS RESULTING FROM LONG RANGE STRIKE WEAPON SYSTEMS EVALUATION PROGRAM AT THE PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY AT KAUAI, HAWAII Submitted To: Office of Protected Resources National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 1315 East-West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910-3226 Submitted By: Department of the Air Force Revised December 2016 Request for an LOA for the Incidental Taking of Marine Mammals Resulting from Long Range Strike WSEP at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... ii GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS, AND SYMBOLS ..............................................iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.0 DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................1-1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1-1 1.2 MISSION DESCRIPTION ..............................................................................................1-1 2.0 DURATION AND LOCATION OF THE ACTIVITIES ........................................................2-1 3.0 MARINE MAMMAL SPECIES AND NUMBERS .................................................................3-1 4.0 AFFECTED SPECIES STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION .......................................................4-1 4.1 Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae).................................................................4-8 4.2 Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) ...........................................................................4-10 4.3 Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) ..............................................................................4-12 4.4 Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis) ...............................................................................4-13 4.5 Bryde’s Whale (Balaenoptera brydei/edeni) .................................................................4-14 4.6 Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) .................................................................4-15 4.7 Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus).......................................................................4-17 4.8 Pygmy Sperm Whale (Kogia breviceps)........................................................................4-18 4.9 Dwarf Sperm Whale (Kogia sima) ................................................................................4-19 4.10 Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)..........................................................................................4-20 4.11 False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens)...................................................................4-21 4.12 Pygmy Killer Whale (Feresa attenuata)........................................................................4-23 4.13 Short-Finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) ...........................................4-24 4.14 Melon-Headed Whale (Peponocephala electra)............................................................4-25 4.15 Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).......................................................................4-26 4.16 Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (Stenella attenuata) .........................................................4-28 4.17 Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) .......................................................................4-29 4.18 Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris).........................................................................4-30 4.19 Rough-Toothed Dolphin (Steno bredanensis) ...............................................................4-32 4.20 Fraser’s Dolphin (Lagenodelphis hosei)........................................................................4-33 4.21 Risso’s Dolphin (Grampus griseus)...............................................................................4-34 4.22 Cuvier’s Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris)................................................................4-35 4.23 Blainville’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) .................................................4-36 4.24 Longman’s Beaked Whale (Indopacetus pacificus) ......................................................4-37 4.25 Hawaiian Monk Seal (Neomonachus schauinslandi) ....................................................4-38 5.0 TAKE AUTHORIZATION REQUESTED ............................................................................5-45 6.0 NUMBERS AND SPECIES TAKEN ........................................................................................6-1 6.1 Physical Strike ................................................................................................................. 6-1 6.2 Ingestion Stressors ...........................................................................................................6-1 Page ES-i December 2016 Request for an LOA for the Incidental Taking of Marine Mammals Resulting from Long Range Strike WSEP at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii 6.3 Detonation Effects ...........................................................................................................6-2 7.0 IMPACTS TO MARINE MAMMAL SPECIES OR STOCKS .............................................7-1 8.0 IMPACT ON SUBSISTENCE USE ..........................................................................................8-1 9.0 IMPACTS TO MARINE MAMMAL HABITAT AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF RESTORATION......................................................................................................................... 9-1 10.0 IMPACTS TO MARINE MAMMALS FROM LOSS OR MODIFICATION OF HABITAT .................................................................................................................................. 10-1 11.0 MEANS OF AFFECTING THE LEAST PRACTICABLE ADVERSE IMPACTS ..........11-1 12.0 MINIMIZATION OF ADVERSE EFFECTS ON SUBSISTENCE USE ............................12-1 13.0 MONITORING AND REPORTING MEASURES ...............................................................13-2 14.0 RESEARCH ......................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. 15.0 LIST OF PREPARERS ............................................................................................................15-1 16.0 LITERATURE CONSIDERED AND REFERENCES CITED ...........................................16-1 Appendix A ACOUSTIC MODELING METHODOLOGY .............................................................. A-i Appendix B MARINE MAMMALS DEPTH DISTRIBUTIONS ................................................... B-15 LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1. Summary of Example Aircraft Usage During Long Range Strike WSEP Missions ................1-2 Table 1-2. Summary of Proposed Testing at Pacific Missile Range Facility from 2017 to 2021 ..............1-7 Table 3-1. Marine Mammals with Potential Occurrence in the Study Area ..............................................3-1 Table 3-2. Hearing and Vocalization Ranges for Marine Mammal Functional Hearing Groups and Species Potentially Occurring within the Study Area .........................................................3-3 Table 3-3. Marine Mammal Density Models and Uncertainty Values for the Hawaii Region ..................3-7 Table 3-4. Marine Mammal Density Estimates ......................................................................................... 3-8 Table 4-1. Occurrence of Marine Mammal Species with Multiple Designated Stocks .............................4-2 Table 4-2. Status of Marine Mammals in the Study Area .......................................................................... 4-3 Table 6-1. Threshold Radii (in meters) for a Long Range Strike WSEP Typical Mission Day ................6-7 Table 6-2. Number of Marine Mammals Potentially Affected by Long Range Strike WSEP Missions .............................................................................................................................. 6-8 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1. Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-Off Missile (JASSM) Released ....................................................1-3 Figure 1-2. Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-Off Missile (JASSM) ...................................................................1-4 Figure 1-3. Small Diameter Bomb-I (SDB-I) ........................................................................................... 1-4 Figure 1-4. Small Diameter Bomb-II (SDB-II) ......................................................................................... 1-4 Figure 1-5. High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) ........................................................................1-4 Figure 1-6. Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) .................................................................................... 1-5 Figure 1-7. Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD/MALD-J) ...............................................................1-5 Figure 2-1. Regional Location of Long Range Strike WSEP Activities ....................................................2-2 Figure 2-2. Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii .................................................................... 2-3 Figure