Title 50
SECTION 218.145
218.145 Requirements for monitoring and reporting.
§ 218.145 Requirements for monitoring and reporting.(a) Notification of take. Navy personnel must notify NMFS immediately (or as soon as operational security considerations allow) if the specified activity identified in § 218.140 is thought to have resulted in the mortality or serious injury of any marine mammals, or in any Level A harassment or Level B harassment of marine mammals not identified in this subpart.
(b) Monitoring and reporting under the LOAs. The Navy must conduct all monitoring and reporting required under the LOAs, including abiding by the U.S. Navy's Marine Species Monitoring Program. Details on program goals, objectives, project selection process, and current projects are available at www.navymarinespeciesmonitoring.us.
(c) Notification of injured, live stranded, or dead marine mammals. The Navy must consult the Notification and Reporting Plan, which sets out notification, reporting, and other requirements when dead, injured, or live stranded marine mammals are detected. The Notification and Reporting Plan is available at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/incidental-take-authorizations-military-readiness-activities.
(d) Annual NWTT Study Area marine species monitoring report. The Navy must submit an annual report of the NWTT Study Area monitoring, which will be included in a Pacific-wide monitoring report including results specific to the NWTT Study Area, describing the implementation and results from the previous calendar year. Data collection methods must be standardized across Pacific Range Complexes including the Mariana Islands Training and Testing (MITT), Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing (HSTT), NWTT, and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Study Areas to allow for comparison in different geographic locations. The report must be submitted to the Director, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, either within three months after the end of the calendar year, or within three months after the conclusion of the monitoring year, to be determined by the adaptive management process. NMFS will submit comments or questions on the report, if any, within three months of receipt. The report will be considered final after the Navy has addressed NMFS' comments, or three months after submittal of the draft if NMFS does not provide comments on the draft report. This report will describe progress of knowledge made with respect to intermediate scientific objectives within the NWTT Study Area associated with the Integrated Comprehensive Monitoring Program (ICMP). Similar study questions must be treated together so that progress on each topic can be summarized across all Navy ranges. The report need not include analyses and content that does not provide direct assessment of cumulative progress on the monitoring plan study questions. This will continue to allow the Navy to provide a cohesive monitoring report covering multiple ranges (as per ICMP goals), rather than entirely separate reports for the NWTT, HSTT, GOA, and MITT Study Areas.
(e) NWTT Annual Training Exercise Report and Annual Testing Activity Report. Each year, the Navy must submit two preliminary reports (Quick Look Reports) detailing the status of applicable sound sources within 21 days after the anniversary of the date of issuance of each LOA to the Director, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS. The Navy must also submit detailed reports (NWTT Annual Training Exercise Report and Annual Testing Activity Report) to the Director, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, within three months after the one-year anniversary of the date of issuance of the LOAs. NMFS will submit comments or questions on the reports, if any, within one month of receipt. The reports will be considered final after the Navy has addressed NMFS' comments, or one month after submittal of the draft if NMFS does not provide comments on the draft reports. The NWTT Annual Training Exercise Report and Annual Testing Activity Report can be consolidated with other exercise and activity reports from other range complexes in the Pacific Ocean for a single Pacific Training Exercise and Testing Activity Report, if desired. The annual reports must contain a summary of all sound sources used (total hours or quantity of each bin of sonar or other non-impulsive source; total annual number of each type of explosive; and total annual expended/detonated rounds (missiles, bombs, sonobuoys, etc.) for each explosive bin). The annual reports will also contain both the current year's sonar and explosive use data as well as cumulative sonar and explosive use quantity from previous years' reports. Additionally, if there were any changes to the sound source allowance in a given year, or cumulatively, the report must include a discussion of why the change was made and include analysis to support how the change did or did not affect the analysis in the 2020 NWTT FSEIS/OEIS and MMPA final rule. The annual report must also include details regarding specific requirements associated with the mitigation areas listed in § 218.144(a)(2). The final annual/close-out report at the conclusion of the authorization period (year seven) will serve as the comprehensive close-out report and include both the final year annual incidental take compared to annual authorized incidental take as well as cumulative seven-year incidental take compared to seven-year authorized incidental take. The Annual Training Exercise Report and Annual Testing Activity Report must include the following information.
(1) Summary of sources used. This section of the report must include the following information summarized from the authorized sound sources used in all training and testing events:
(i) Sonar and other transducers. Total annual hours or quantity (per the LOA) of each bin of sonar or other transducers, and
(ii) Explosives. Total annual expended/detonated ordinance (missiles, bombs, sonobuoys, etc.) for each explosive bin.
(2) [Reserved]
(f) Annual classified reports. Within the annual classified training exercise and testing activity reports, separate from the unclassified reports described in paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section, the Navy must specifically include the information described in paragraphs (f)(1) and (2) of this section.
(1) Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Mitigation Area. Total hours of authorized low-frequency, mid-frequency, and high-frequency active sonar (all bins, by bin) used during training and testing annually within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Mitigation Area; and
(2) Surface ship hull-mounted MF1 mid-frequency active sonar. Total hours of surface ship hull-mounted MF1 mid-frequency active sonar used in the following mitigation areas:
(i) Testing annually in three combined areas. Testing annually within 20 nmi from shore in the Marine Species Coastal Mitigation Area, the Juan de Fuca Eddy Marine Species Mitigation Area, and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Mitigation Area combined;
(ii) Stonewall and Heceta Bank Humpback Whale Mitigation Area. Training and testing from May 1 to November 30 within the Stonewall and Heceta Bank Humpback Whale Mitigation Area; and
(iii) Point St. George Humpback Whale Mitigation Area. Training and testing from July 1 to November 30 within the Point St. George Humpback Whale Mitigation Area.
(g) Final close-out report. The final (year seven) draft annual/close-out report must be submitted within three months after the expiration of this subpart to the Director, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS. NMFS will submit comments on the draft close-out report, if any, within three months of receipt. The report will be considered final after the Navy has addressed NMFS' comments, or three months after submittal of the draft if NMFS does not provide comments.