§ 218.184 - Requirements for monitoring and reporting.

(a) The Holder of the Letter of Authorization issued pursuant to §§216.106 and 218.186 for activities described in §218.180(c) is required to cooperate with the NMFS when monitoring the impacts of the activity on marine mammals.

(b) The Holder of the Authorization must notify NMFS immediately (or as soon as clearance procedures allow) if the specified activity identified in §218.180(c) is thought to have resulted in the mortality or injury of any marine mammals, or in any take of marine mammals not identified or authorized in §218.181(b).

(c) The Holder of the Letter of Authorization must conduct all monitoring and required reporting under the Letter of Authorization, including abiding by the NSWC PCD Study Area Complex Monitoring Plan, which is incorporated herein by reference, and which requires the Navy to implement, at a minimum, the monitoring activities summarized below.

(1) Visual Surveys—Vessel, Aerial and Shore-based: The Holder of this Authorization shall visually survey a minimum of 2 HFAS/MFAS activities and 2 explosive events per year. If the 53C sonar was being operated, such activity must be monitored as one of the HFAS/MFAS activities. For explosive events, one of the monitoring measures shall be focused on a multiple detonation event.

(i) In accordance with all safety considerations, observations shall be maximized by working from all available platforms: Vessels, aircraft, land and/or in combination.

(ii) Vessel and aerial surveys shall be conducted two days before, during, and one to five days after the NSWC PCD mission activities on commercial vessels and aircraft.

(iii) Visual surveys shall be conducted during Navy mission activities that have been identified to provide the highest likelihood of success.

(iv) The visual survey team shall collect the same data that are collected by Navy marine observers, including but not limited to:

(A) Location of sighting;

(B) Species (or to the lowest taxa possible);

(C) Number of individuals;

(D) Number of calves present, if any;

(E) Duration of sighting;

(F) Behavior of marine animals sighted;

(G) Direction of travel;

(H) Environmental information associated with sighting event including Beaufort sea state, wave height, swell direction, wind direction, wind speed, glare, percentage of glare, percentage of cloud cover; and

(I) When in relation to Navy exercises did the sighting occur (before, during or after detonations/exercise).

(v) Animal sightings and relative distance from a particular activity site shall be used post survey to estimate the number of marine mammals exposed to different received levels (energy and pressure of discharge based on distance to the source, bathymetry, oceanographic conditions and the type and size of detonation) and their corresponding behavior.

(vi) Any digital photographs that are taken of marine mammals during visual surveys shall be provided to local researchers for their regional research.

(vii) The Holder of the Letter of Authorization shall, when conducting RDT&E activities in the NSWC PCD Study Area, implement the following monitoring methods:

(A) Aerial surveys:

(1) During NSWC PCD sonar related mission activities, an aerial survey team shall fly transects relative to a Navy surface vessel that is conducting the mission activities.

(2) The aerial survey team shall collect both visual sightings and behavioral observations of marine animals.

(3) These transect data shall provide an opportunity to collect data of marine mammals at different received levels and their behavioral responses and movement relative to the Navy vessel's position.

(4) Aerial surveys shall include time with and without test events in order to compare density, geographical distribution and behavioral observations.

(5) Behavioral observation methods shall involve three professionally trained marine mammal observers and a pilot. Two observers shall observe behaviors, one with hand-held binoculars and one with the naked eye.

(6) Detailed behavioral focal observations of cetaceans shall be recorded including the following variables where possible: species (or to the lowest taxa possible), group size and composition (number of calves, etc.), latitude/longitude, surface and dive durations and times, number and spacing/times of respirations, conspicuous behaviors (e.g., breach, tail slap, etc.), behavioral states, orientation and changes in orientation, estimated group travel speed, inter-individual distances, defecation, social interactions, aircraft speed, aircraft altitude, distance to focal group (using the plane's radar) and any unusual behaviors or apparent reactions.

(B) Vessel Surveys:

(1) Vessel surveys shall be designed to maximize detections of any target species near mission activity event for focal follows.

(2) Systematic transects shall be used to locate marine mammals. In the course of conducting these surveys, the vessel(s) shall deviate from transect protocol to collect behavioral data particularly if a Navy vessel is visible on the horizon or closer.

(3) While the Navy vessels are within view, attempts shall be made to position the dedicated survey vessel in the best possible way to obtain focal follow data in the presence of the Navy mission activities. If Navy vessels are not in view, then the vessel shall begin a systematic line transect surveys within the area to assess marine mammal occurrence and observe behavior.

(4) Post-analysis shall focus on how the location, speed and vector of the survey vessel and the location and direction of the sonar source (e.g. Navy surface vessel) relates to the animal.

(5) Any other vessels or aircraft observed in the area shall also be documented.

(C) Shore-based Surveys:

(1) Shore-based monitors shall observe explosive events that are planned in advance to occur adjacent to nearshore areas where there are elevated coastal structures (e.g. lookout tower at Eglin Air Force Base) or topography, and shall use binoculars or theodolite to augment other visual survey methods.

(2) Shore-based surveys of the detonation area and nearby beaches shall be conducted for stranded marine animals following nearshore events. If any distressed, injured or stranded animals are observed, an assessment of the animal's condition (alive, injured, dead, or degree of decomposition) shall be reported immediately to the Navy for appropriate action and the information shall be transmitted immediately to NMFS.

(3) If animals are observed prior to or during an explosion, a focal follow of that individual or group shall be conducted to record behavioral responses.

(2) Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM): The Holder of this Authorization shall visually survey a minimum of 2 HFAS/MFAS activities and 2 explosive events per year. If the 53C sonar was being operated, such activity must be monitored as one of the HFAS/MFAS activities. For explosive events, one of the monitoring measures shall be focused on a multiple detonation event.

(i) The Navy shall use towed or over-the-side passive acoustic monitoring device/hydrophone array when feasible in the NSWC PCD Study Area for PAM.

(ii) The array shall be deployed for each of the days the ship is at sea.

(iii) The array shall be able to detect low frequency vocalizations (less than 1,000 Hz) for baleen whales and relatively high frequency vocalizations (up to 30 kHz) for odontocetes.

(iv) These buoys shall be left in place for a long enough duration (e.g. months) that data are collected before, during and outside of mission activities.

(v) Acoustic data collected from the buoys shall be used in order to detect, locate, and potentially track calling whales/dolphins.

(3) Marine Mammal Observers (MMOs) on Navy vessels:

(i) Civilian MMOs aboard Navy vessels shall be used to research the effectiveness of Navy marine observers, as well as for data collection during other monitoring surveys.

(ii) MMOs shall be field-experienced observers that are Navy biologists or contracted observers.

(iii) MMOs shall be placed alongside existing Navy marine observers during a sub-set of RDT&E events.

(iv) MMOs shall inform the Navy marine observer of any marine mammal sighting so that appropriate action may be taken by the chain of command. For less biased data, it is recommended that MMOs schedule their daily observations to duplicate the marine observers' schedule.

(v) MMOs shall monitor for marine mammals from the same height above water as the Navy marine observers (e.g. bridge wings) and as all visual survey teams, and they shall collect the same data collected by Navy marine observers, including but not limited to:

(A) Location of sighting;

(B) Species;

(C) Number of individuals;

(D) Number of calves present, if any;

(E) Duration of sighting;

(F) Behavior of marine animals sighted;

(G) Direction of travel;

(H) Environmental information associated with sighting event including Beaufort sea state, wave height, swell direction, wind direction, wind speed, glare, percentage of glare, percentage of cloud cover; and

(I) When in relation to Navy RDT&E activities did the sighting occur (before, during or after detonations/exercise).

(d) General Notification of Injured or Dead Marine Mammals—Navy personnel shall ensure that NMFS (regional stranding coordinator) is notified immediately (or as soon as clearance procedures allow) if an injured or dead marine mammal is found during or shortly after, and in the vicinity of, any Navy's RDT&E activities utilizing underwater explosive detonations. The Navy shall provide NMFS with species or description of the animal(s), the condition of the animal(s) (including carcass condition if the animal is dead), location, time of first discovery, observed behaviors (if alive), and photo or video (if available).

(e) If there is clear evidence that a marine mammal is injured or killed as a result of the proposed Navy RDT&E activities (e.g., instances in which it is clear that munitions explosions caused the injury or death) the Naval activities shall be immediately suspended and the situation immediately reported by personnel involved in the activity to the Test Director or the Test Director's designee, who will follow Navy procedures for reporting the incident to NMFS through the Navy's chain-of-command.

(f) Annual NSWC PCD Report—The Navy shall submit a report annually on October 1 describing the RDT&E activities conducted and implementation and results of the NSWC PCD Monitoring Plan (through August 1 of the same year) and RDT&E activities. Although additional information will also be gathered, the MMOs collecting marine mammal data pursuant to the NSWC PCD Monitoring Plan shall, at a minimum, provide the same marine mammal observation data listed below.

(1) RDT&E Information:

(i) Date and time test began and ended;

(ii) Location;

(iii) Number and types of active sources used in the test;

(iv) Number and types of vessels, aircraft, etc., participated in the test;

(v) Number and types of underwater detonations;

(vi) Total hours of observation effort (including observation time when sonar was not operating).

(vii) Total hours of all active sonar source operation;

(viii) Total hours of each active sonar source; and

(ix) Wave height (high, low, and average during the test) in feet.

(2) Individual Marine Mammal Sighting Info:

(i) Location of sighting;

(ii) Species;

(iii) Number of individuals;

(iv) Calves observed (y/n);

(v) Initial detection sensor;

(vi) Indication of specific type of platform observation made from;

(vii) Length of time observers maintained visual contact with marine mammal(s);

(viii) Wave height (in feet);

(ix) Visibility;

(x) Sonar source in use (y/n);

(xi) Indication of whether animal is <200 yd, 200-500 yd, 500-1,000 yd, 1,000-2,000 yd, or >2,000 yd from sonar source above;

(xii) Mitigation implementation—Whether operation of sonar sensor was delayed, or sonar was powered or shut down, and how long the delay was;

(xiii) If the active MFAS in use is hullmounted, true bearing of animal from ship, true direction of ship's travel, and estimation of animal's motion relative to ship (opening, closing, parallel);

(xiv) Observed behavior—Marine observers shall report, in plain language and without trying to categorize in any way, the observed behavior of the animals (such as animal closing to bow ride, paralleling course/speed, floating on surface and not swimming, etc.); and

(xv) An evaluation of the effectiveness of mitigation measures designed to avoid exposing marine mammals to HFAS/MFAS. This evaluation shall identify the specific observations that support any conclusions the Navy reaches about the effectiveness of the mitigation.

(g) NSWC PCD Comprehensive Report—The Navy shall submit to NMFS a draft report that analyzes and summarizes all of the multi-year marine mammal information gathered during sonar operations and underwater explosive events for which individual reports are required in §218.184 (d-f). This report will be submitted at the end of the fourth year of the rule (December 2013), covering activities that have occurred through July 1, 2013.

(h) The Navy shall respond to NMFS comments and requests for additional information or clarification on the NSWC PCD Comprehensive Report and the Annual NSWC PCD Report if submitted within 3 months of receipt. The report will be considered final after the Navy has addressed NMFS' comments or provided the requested information, or three months after the submittal of the draft if NMFS does not comment by then.

(i) In 2011, the Navy shall convene a Monitoring Workshop in which the Monitoring Workshop participants will be asked to review the Navy's Monitoring Plans and monitoring results and make individual recommendations (to the Navy and NMFS) of ways of improving the Monitoring Plans. The recommendations shall be reviewed by the Navy, in consultation with NMFS, and modifications to the Monitoring Plan shall be made, as appropriate.