On December 27, 2013, NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) published notice of its Draft Guidance for Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammals-Acoustic Threshold Levels for Onset of Permanent and Temporary Threshold Shifts (PTS and TTS) in the Federal Register (See: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/acoustics/draft_acoustic_guidance_2013.pdf). Frequently Asked Questions about the draft acoustic threshold levels can be accessed here: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/acoustics/faq.htm. Initially, comments on the draft guidance were due January 27, 2014. On January 2, IAGC requested an extension of this comment deadline and also requested that NMFS release the peer review reports on the draft guidance to inform the comment and public review process. Our request for extension was granted and NMFS extended the comment period 45 days to March 13.
IAGC and API have jointly retained the law firm of Stoel Rives to prepare joint industry comments on the draft acoustic guidance. IAGC has circulated a technical report on the guidelines and list of questions for feedback to its members through the SML Committee and Americas Offshore Committee.
In the draft Guidance, NMFS proposed new acoustic thresholds for TTS & PTS onset, including both weighted and non-weighted frequencies for five categories of marine species based on impulsive (e.g., seismic) and non-impulsive (e.g., sonar) sounds. NMFS equates the onset of PTS with “Level A Harassment” in the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and with “harm” as defined in Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations, such that exposing an animal to weighted received sound levels at or above the indicated PTS threshold is considered to result in these two types of “take.” In this guidance, NMFS does not consider TTS to be an auditory injury and does not qualify TTS as Level A harassment or harm, but instead as Level B harassment. New behavioral thresholds for Level B harassment are still under consideration by NMFS and the peer reviewers and have not yet been proposed.
Once finalized, NMFS anticipates including the new threshold criteria in their analysis of oil and gas exploration activities in the Final Arctic EIS now expected fall 2014. The criteria will not be included in the final Atlantic EIS expected February 2014, but members should anticipate that NMFS will utilize any new thresholds in their analysis of IHA applications in the Atlantic. IAGC attended a public meeting on the draft Guidance held in DC on January 14. At that time, NMFS announced that it is preparing a “user guide” to assist with application of the new thresholds once final.
The criteria will not be included in the final Atlantic EIS expected February 2014, but members should anticipate that NMFS will utilize any new thresholds in their analysis of IHA applications in the Atlantic. IAGC attended a public meeting on the draft Guidance held in DC on January 14. At that time, NMFS announced that it is preparing a “user guide” to assist with application of the new thresholds once final.