In response to a request under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended, from the City of Cordova, Alaska, the Service proposes to authorize nonlethal incidental take by harassment of small numbers of the Southcentral Alaska stock of northern sea otters for 1 year from the date of issuance of the incidental harassment authorization. The applicant has requested this authorization for take by harassment that may result from activities associated with pile driving and marine construction activities in Cordova, Alaska. We estimate that this project may result in the nonlethal incidental take by harassment of up to 82 northern sea otters from the Southcentral stock. This proposed authorization, if finalized, will be for up to 30 takes of 5 northern sea otters by Level A harassment and 790 takes of 77 northern sea otters by Level B harassment. No lethal take is requested, or expected, and no such take will be authorized.
The proposed incidental harassment authorization and supporting documents are available for public review and comment at www.regulations.gov, docket number FWS-R7-ES-2023-0101. The public comment period is from November 06, 2023 to December 6, 2023. Once the public comment period closes, we will review all submitted comments prior to making a final determination.
Comments may be submitted electronically or by U.S. Mail. All comments received on a proposed authorization during the comment period will be posted at http://www.regulations.gov. You may request that we withhold personal identifying information from public review; however, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Electronic submission: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments to Docket No. FWS–R7–ES–2023–0101.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS–R7–ES–2023–0101, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041–3803
