Endangered Species Act Section 7(a)(2) Biological Opinion Taiya Inlet Railroad Dock Dolphin Project, Skagway, Alaska NMFS Consultation Number: AKR-2018-9831 Action Agency: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), and Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources (PR1), National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA Affected Species and Determinations: Is the Is Action Is Action Action Is Action Likely To Likely to Likely to Likely To Destroy or ESA-Listed Status Adversely Adversely Jeopardize Adversely Species Affect Affect the Modify Species? Critical Species? Critical Habitat? Habitat? Humpback Whale, Mexico DPS Threatened Yes N/A No N/A (Megaptera novaeangliae) Sperm whale (Physeter Endangered No N/A No N/A macrocephalus) Steller Sea Lion, Western DPS Endangered Yes No No No (Eumatopias jubatus) Consultation Conducted By: National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region Issued By: ____________________ James W. Balsiger, Ph.D. Regional Administrator Date: February 11, 2019 Taiya Inlet Railroad Dock Project and NMFS’s IHA issuance, 2018 AKR-2018-9831 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. 2 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ 4 LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... 4 TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................. 5 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 6 1.1 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................. 6 1.2 CONSULTATION HISTORY ................................................................................................ 8 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION AND ACTION AREA ...................... 8 2.1 PROPOSED ACTION........................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Construction of Dock Dolphin .................................................................................. 10 2.1.2 Transport of Material and Equipment ....................................................................... 11 2.1.3 Dates and Duration of Activities............................................................................... 11 2.1.4 Acoustic Sources ....................................................................................................... 12 Impact Hammer ....................................................................................................................... 12 Vibratory Hammer .................................................................................................................... 13 DTH Hydro-Hammering ............................................................................................................. 13 2.1.5 Mitigation Measures ................................................................................................. 13 WP&YR Proposed Mitigation Measures .......................................................................................... 13 NMFS PR1 Proposed Mitigation ................................................................................................... 14 2.2 ACTION AREA ................................................................................................................ 23 3 APPROACH TO THE ASSESSMENT ............................................................................ 25 4 RANGEWIDE STATUS OF THE SPECIES AND CRITICAL HABITAT ................. 27 4.1 SPECIES AND CRITICAL HABITATS NOT CONSIDERED FURTHER IN THIS OPINION .......... 27 4.1.1 Sperm Whales ........................................................................................................... 27 4.1.2 Steller Sea Lion Critical Habitat ............................................................................... 28 4.2 CLIMATE CHANGE ......................................................................................................... 29 4.3 STATUS OF LISTED SPECIES ........................................................................................... 32 4.3.1 Mexico DPS Humpback Whale ................................................................................ 32 4.3.2 Western DPS Steller Sea Lion .................................................................................. 36 5 ENVIRONMENTAL BASELINE ..................................................................................... 40 5.1 FACTORS AFFECTING SPECIES WITHIN THE ACTION AREA ............................................. 40 5.1.1 Climate Change ......................................................................................................... 40 5.1.2 Fisheries .................................................................................................................... 41 5.1.3 Fishing Gear and Marine Debris Entanglement........................................................ 42 5.1.4 Harvest ...................................................................................................................... 43 5.1.5 Natural and Anthropogenic Noise ............................................................................ 43 5.1.6 Pollutants and Discharges ......................................................................................... 44 2 Taiya Inlet Railroad Dock Project and NMFS’s IHA issuance, 2018 AKR-2018-9831 5.1.7 Scientific Research.................................................................................................... 45 5.1.8 Vessel Interactions .................................................................................................... 46 5.1.9 Environmental Baseline Summary ........................................................................... 48 6 EFFECTS OF THE ACTION ........................................................................................... 48 6.1 STRESSORS ..................................................................................................................... 49 6.1.1 Stressors Not Likely to Adversely Affect ESA-listed Species ................................. 49 6.1.2 Stressors Likely to Adversely Affect ESA-listed Species ........................................ 51 6.2 EXPOSURE ...................................................................................................................... 53 6.2.1 Exposure to Major Noise Sources............................................................................. 54 6.2.2 Exposure to Vessel Interactions ................................................................................ 61 6.3 RESPONSE ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................... 61 6.3.1 Responses to Major Noise Sources (Pile Driving/Removal and DTH Hammering) 62 6.3.2 Responses to Vessel Noise........................................................................................ 73 6.3.3 Response Summary ................................................................................................... 74 7 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ................................................................................................ 76 8 INTEGRATION AND SYNTHESIS OF EFFECTS ....................................................... 77 9 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 78 10 INCIDENTAL TAKE STATEMENT............................................................................... 78 10.1 AMOUNT OR EXTENT OF TAKE ....................................................................................... 79 10.2 EFFECT OF THE TAKE ..................................................................................................... 80 10.3 REASONABLE AND PRUDENT MEASURES ....................................................................... 80 10.4 TERMS AND CONDITIONS ............................................................................................... 81 11 CONSERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................. 84 12 REINITIATION NOTICE ................................................................................................. 84 13 DATA QUALITY ACT DOCUMENTATION AND PRE-DISSEMINATION REVIEW ...................................................................................................................................... 85 13.1 UTILITY ......................................................................................................................... 85 13.2 INTEGRITY ..................................................................................................................... 85 13.3 OBJECTIVITY .................................................................................................................. 85 14 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 86 3 Taiya Inlet Railroad Dock Project and NMFS’s IHA issuance, 2018 AKR-2018-9831 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Temporary Template and Permanent Pile Details for New Construction (PND Engineers 2018). ................................... 10 Table 2. Pile Driving and Removal Modeling Scenarios for the WP&YR Dolphin Project