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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 206 / Thursday, October 24, 2024 / Notices
Endangered Species Act
Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered
Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.) requires that each Federal agency
ensure that any action it authorizes,
funds, or carries out is not likely to
jeopardize the continued existence of
any endangered or threatened species or
result in the destruction or adverse
modification of designated critical
habitat. To ensure ESA compliance for
the issuance of IHAs, NMFS consults
internally whenever we propose to
authorize take for endangered or
threatened species.
No incidental take of ESA-listed
species is expected to result from this
activity. Therefore, NMFS has
determined that formal consultation
under section 7 of the ESA is not
required for this action.

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National Environmental Policy Act
To comply with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and
NOAA Administrative Order (NAO)
216–6A, NMFS must evaluate our
proposed action (the issuance of an
IHA) and alternatives with respect to
potential impacts on the human
environment.
This action is consistent with
categories of activities identified in
Categorical Exclusion B4 (IHAs with no
anticipated serious injury or mortality)
of the Companion Manual for NAO 216–
6A, which do not individually or
cumulatively have the potential for
significant impacts on the quality of the
human environment and for which we
have not identified any extraordinary
circumstances that would preclude this
categorical exclusion. Accordingly,
NMFS determined that the issuance of
the initial IHA qualified to be
categorically excluded from further
NEPA review. NMFS has determined
that the application of this categorical
exclusion remains appropriate for this
renewal IHA.
Authorization
NMFS has issued a renewal IHA to
the U.S Navy for the potential
harassment of small numbers of six
marine mammal species incidental to
the Replacement of Pier 302 at Naval
Base Point Loma, San Diego, California,
that includes the previously explained
mitigation, monitoring and reporting
requirements.
Dated: October 21, 2024.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources,
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024–24763 Filed 10–23–24; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; National Marine Sanctuary
Permits
The Department of Commerce will
submit the following information
collection request to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance in accordance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, on or after the date of publication
of this notice. We invite the general
public and other Federal agencies to
comment on proposed, and continuing
information collections, which helps us
assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. Public
comments were previously requested
via the Federal Register on May 14,
2024 during a 60-day comment period
and no comments were received. This
notice allows for an additional 30 days
for public comments.
Agency: National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
Title: National Marine Sanctuary
Permits.
OMB Control Number: 0648–0141.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular submission,
revision and extension of a current
information collection.
Number of Respondents: 567.
Average Hours per Response: General
permits and authorizations, 1 hour and
30 minutes; special use permits, 8
hours; archaeological research permits,
13 hours; baitfish permits, 25 minutes;
permit amendments and certifications,
30 minutes; voluntary registrations, 15
minutes; appeals, 24 hours; Tortugas
access permits, 5 minutes.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,307.75.
Needs and Uses: This request is for
revision and extension of a currently
approved information collection by the
Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
(ONMS). ONMS manages national
marine sanctuaries pursuant to the
purposes and policies of the National
Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA, 16
U.S.C. 1431 et seq.). National marine
sanctuary regulations at 15 CFR part 922
list specific activities that are prohibited
in national marine sanctuaries. These
regulations also state that otherwise
prohibited activities may be conducted
if a permit is issued by ONMS. For most
types of permits, persons desiring a

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permit must submit an application (note
that requests for baitfish permits and
Tortugas Ecological Reserve North
Access permits require contacting
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
and do not require a completed ONMS
permit application), and anyone
obtaining a permit is generally required
to submit one or more reports on the
activity allowed under the permit. The
recordkeeping and reporting
requirements at 15 CFR part 922 form
the basis for this collection of
information.
This information is required by
ONMS to protect and manage sanctuary
resources. The permit application
collects information about the proposed
activities, the methods proposed to be
used, the potential effects to sanctuary
resources, and information on the
regulatory review criteria at 15 CFR part
922. ONMS uses this information to
evaluate whether the proposed activities
are consistent with the goals and
objectives of the sanctuary and the
purposes and policies of the NMSA.
Changes to this information collection
include revisions to the permit
application and instructions to collect
information about small businesses to
better assess the types of entities
engaged in permitting activities. The
estimated number of permits issued per
year also changed from 424 to 567 to
reflect the additional estimated permit
numbers if the various proposed
national marine sanctuary designations
are finalized. In particular, this is based
on adding an estimated fifteen
additional permits and about 59
certifications for the recently designated
Chumash Heritage National Marine
Sanctuary (89 FR 83554, Oct. 16, 2024),
an estimated five additional permits for
the proposed designation of the
National Marine Sanctuary for the
Pacific Remote Islands (88 FR 23624;
April 18, 2023), an estimated five
additional permits for the recently
designated Lake Ontario National
Marine Sanctuary (89 FR 48272, June 6,
2024), an estimated five additional
permits for proposed Lake Erie
Quadrangle National Marine Sanctuary
(88 FR 32198, May 19, 2023), an
estimated nine permits for the proposed
sanctuary in the Hudson Canyon area
(87 FR 38387, June 8, 2022), and
increasing the numbers of amendments
and Tortugas access permits to reflect
more recent average permit numbers.
The number of baitfish permits was
diminished by 35 permits and Florida
Keys National Marine Sanctuary has
proposed phasing out the bait fishing
permits over the next three years (87 FR
42800, July 18, 2022). Other revisions
made to the application and applicant

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 206 / Thursday, October 24, 2024 / Notices

instructions were to improve the quality
of information initially collected and to
make the permit process more efficient.
Affected Public: Individuals; Business
or other for-profit organizations; Not-forprofit institutions; State, Local, or Tribal
government; Federal Government.
Frequency: On occasion.
Respondent’s Obligation: Required to
Obtain or Retain Benefits.
Legal Authority: National Marine
Sanctuaries Act, 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.
This information collection request
may be viewed at https://
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the
instructions to view the Department of
Commerce collections currently under
review by OMB.
Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be
submitted within 30 days of the
publication of this notice on the
following website https://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find this particular information
collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under
30-day Review—Open for Public
Comments’’ or by using the search
function and entering either the title of
the collection or the OMB Control
Number 0648–0141.
Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office
of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs,
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024–24702 Filed 10–23–24; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XD212]

2024 Updated Guidance for Assessing
the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on
Marine Mammal Hearing—Underwater
and In-Air Criteria for Onset of
Auditory Injury and Temporary
Threshold Shifts (Version 3.0)
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

The National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces the
availability of our final 2024 Update to:
Technical Guidance for Assessing the
Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on
Marine Mammal Hearing (Version 3.0):
Underwater and In-Air Criteria for
Onset of Auditory Injury and Temporary
Threshold Shifts (2024 Updated
Technical Guidance). The 2024 Updated

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SUMMARY:

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Technical Guidance provides updated
information, or acoustic criteria, to
predict when individual marine
mammals, both in-air and underwater,
will experience changes in their hearing
sensitivity (auditory injury or temporary
threshold shift) from exposure to
anthropogenic sound sources. The 2024
Updated Technical Guidance replaces
NMFS’s current 2018 Revisions to:
Technical Guidance for Assessing the
Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on
Marine Mammal Hearing (Version 2.0):
Underwater Thresholds for Onset of
Permanent and Temporary Threshold
Shifts (2018 Revised Technical
Guidance).
ADDRESSES: The final 2024 Updated
Technical Guidance is available in
electronic form via the internet https://
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/
marine-mammal-protection/marinemammal-acoustic-technical-guidance.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Amy R. Scholik-Schlomer, Office of
Protected Resources, 301–427–8449,
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS has
updated its guidance for assessing the
effects of anthropogenic sound on the
hearing of marine mammal species
under NMFS’s jurisdiction. Specifically,
the 2024 Updated Technical Guidance
identifies the received levels and
auditory weighting functions, or
‘‘acoustic criteria,’’ that describe the
received levels (decibels (dB)) and
frequencies (kilohertz (kHz)) where
individual marine mammals are
predicted to experience changes in their
hearing sensitivity (auditory injury
(AUD INJ) or temporary threshold shift
(TTS)) from exposure to anthropogenic
sound sources both in-air and
underwater. This document is intended
for use by NMFS analysts and managers
and other relevant user groups and
interested parties, including other
Federal agencies, when seeking to
determine whether and how their
activities are expected to result in
auditory impacts to marine mammals
via acoustic exposure in-air and
underwater. The 2024 Updated
Technical Guidance outlines NMFS’s
updated acoustic criteria and describes
in detail how they were developed and
how they will be updated in the future.
For information on NMFS’ 2018 Revised
and the original 2016 Technical
Guidance, refer to our 2016 Federal
Register notification (81 FR 51694,
August 4, 2016).
For the 2024 Updated Technical
Guidance, NMFS again worked with the
U.S. Navy (Navy), which recently
updated its marine mammal AUD INJ
and TTS criteria (Finneran 2024), to

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incorporate the best available science.
NMFS conducted an independent peer
review in October/November 2022.
Details of the peer review, peer reviewer
comments, and our response to these
comments are available at the following
website: https://www.noaa.gov/
information-technology/update-to20162018-technical-guidance-forassessing-effects-of-anthropogenicsound-on-marine-mammal. In May/June
of 2023, NMFS solicited input from
other relevant Federal agencies on the
2024 Updated Technical Guidance.
Federal agency comments and NMFS
responses to those comments are
available at the following website:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/
national/marine-mammal-protection/
marine-mammal-acoustic-technicalguidance. To complete the review
process, NMFS solicited additional
feedback from user groups and
interested parties via a 45-day public
comment period in May/June 2024.
Comments received via the public
comment period can be found at the
following website: https://
www.regulations.gov/document/NOAANMFS-2024-0026-0001.
It is important to note that the use of
the acoustic criteria within the 2024
Updated Technical Guidance should not
be considered to represent the entirety
of an impact assessment, but rather
serve as one tool to help evaluate the
effects of a proposed action.
Furthermore, the 2024 Updated
Technical Guidance does not create or
confer any rights for or on any person,
or operate to bind the public. For the
purposes of assessing auditory impacts
to marine mammals in support of
regulatory processes under NMFS’
authority, an alternative approach that
has undergone independent peer review
may be proposed (by Federal agencies or
prospective action proponents or
applicants) and used if case-specific
information/data indicate that the
alternative approach is likely to produce
a more accurate portrayal of auditory
impacts (AUD INJ or TTS) for the
project being evaluated, if NMFS
determines the approach satisfies the
requirements of the applicable statutes
and regulations.
The 2024 Updated Technical
Guidance reflects the current state of
scientific knowledge regarding the
characteristics of sound that have the
potential to impact marine mammal
hearing sensitivity. NMFS recognizes
that the implementation of marine
mammal weighting functions and the
weighted SEL24h criteria may extend
beyond the capabilities of some action
proponents. Thus, NMFS has developed
an optional, alternative tool for those

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