MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1998 



that it be made clear to the applicant that future 

 authorizations will need to consider possible cumula- 

 tive long-term effects that may not be negligible and 

 thus carmot be authorized under section 101(a)(5)(A) 

 of the Act. 



Comments on the proposed incidental harassment 

 authorization also were submitted to the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service by Greenpeace on behalf of 

 itself, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, the 

 Alaska Community Action on Toxics, the Alaska 

 Conservation Alliance (representing 31 Alaska-based 

 conservation groups and businesses), and the Alaska 

 Center for the Environment. These organizations 

 questioned the preliminary finding that the planned 

 construction would have negligible effects and argued 

 that there was insufficient justification for granting the 

 requested incidental harassment authorization. 



At the end of the year, the National Marine Fisher- 

 ies Service was considering the comments provided by 

 the Commission, Greenpeace, and others. 



Request from BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. to 

 Renew Its Authorization to Harass Marine Mam- 

 mals Incidental to Seismic Surveys in the Southern 

 Beaufort Sea — On 26 March 1998 BP Exploration 

 (Alaska) Inc. applied to the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service for renewal of its previous one-year authoriza- 

 tion to allow taking of small numbers of marine 

 mammals by harassment incidental to seismic surveys 

 to be conducted in the southern Beaufort Sea between 

 20 July and 20 October 1998. Notice of receipt of the 

 application and proposed issuance of the requested 

 authorization were published in the Federal Register 

 on 6 May 1998. The Marine Mammal Commission, 

 in consultation with its Committee of Scientific 

 Advisors, reviewed and on 5 June 1998 provided 

 comments on the application and a marine mammal 

 and acoustic monitoring plan submitted with it. 



The seismic surveys were to be done when ice 

 conditions permit between 20 July and 20 October 

 1998. They would involve up to four vessels deploy- 

 ing and retrieving cable containing seismic sensors; 

 two or possibly three vessels towing airgun arrays; a 

 large barge with 26 modular buildings housing genera- 

 tors and other equipment; and one or more utility 

 vessels to handle crew changes, support boat-based 



acoustic measurements, and conduct shallow-water 

 bathymetric surveys. The planned marine mammal 

 monitoring program included observations by trained 

 biologists aboard the seismic source vessels to detect 

 marine mammals that may be present in or near 

 designated safety or shutdown zones; daily aerial 

 surveys, weather permitting, from 1 September until 

 three days after the end of the seismic surveys to 

 document the distributions, movements, and general 

 activities of bowhead whales and other marine mam- 

 mals in and near the area in which they potentially 

 could be affected by the surveys; deployment of 

 autonomous sea floor acoustic recorders to monitor 

 bowhead whale vocalizations from mid-August to mid- 

 or late September and to document the transmission 

 characteristics and levels of pulsed seismic sounds 

 received by marine mammals in and near the planned 

 survey area. 



The Commission concurred with most of the 

 determinations concerning the possible effects of the 

 planned seismic surveys on marine mammals. How- 

 ever, it noted that the rationale for some conclusions 

 was not explained clearly and that several of the 

 determinations appeared to be based on unstated 

 assumptions that might not be valid. The Commission 

 noted, for example, that the applicant had received 

 authorization to take small numbers of marine mam- 

 mals incidental to seismic and related logistic support 

 activities in the same general area in 1996 and 1997, 

 and that none of the applications had indicated how 

 much seismic work would be required to delineate 

 possible oil- and gas-bearing strucmres in the area or 

 the type and level of further exploratory and develop- 

 ment activities that may follow. The Commission 

 recommended that the Service, if it had not already 

 done so, consult with the applicant, the Alaska De- 

 partment of Fish and Game, and Alaska Native 

 communities whose subsistence hunting could be 

 affected by exploration and development activities, to 

 determine the long-term monitoring that would be 

 required to confirm that the proposed seismic surveys 

 and possible future exploration and development 

 activities do not cause changes in the seasonal distri- 

 bution patterns, abundance, or productivity of marine 

 mammal populations in the area. 



The Commission also noted that the Federal 

 Register notice, the request for incidental harassment 



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