Section 1 Introduction - National Marine Fisheries Service - NOAA

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NBK at Bangor EHW-1 Pile Replacement Project Final Marine Mammal Monitoring Report addition, a number of California sea lions hauled out on the floating security fence before, during and after pile driving. In summary, MMOs had the general impression that neither harbor seals nor California sea lions were adversely affected by the pile driving activities at the EHW-1 PRP. Some animals were observed diving at the initiation of soft start, reemerging further away and continuing their movements. Multiple-week observations of two individual harbor seals suggested that these animals were drawn to the area by curiosity and did not appear to be repelled by marine noise or construction-related activities. Section 4 Recommendations 1. Observational data collected during the EHW-1 PRP did not indicate any adverse reaction of marine mammals to pile driving activities. The harbor seal, which is the species that most heavily utilizes the WRA (in particular, the EHW-1 structure), did not appear to be affected by construction as it often came in the closest to investigate construction activities. Based on the observational data collected during the EHW-1 PRP, the standoff distances currently used for marine mammals may be overly conservative (i.e., overestimated), especially given that vibratory pile driving does not produce SPLs that would exceed the injury criteria within more than a few meters of the pile. A smaller shutdown zone (e.g., 10 m [33 ft] rather than the 50 m [164 ft] used during this project) should be utilized for future construction projects in this area. A shutdown zone of 10 m (33 ft) would prevent direct interactions with marine mammals and would be sufficient to avoid adverse behavioral reactions to pile driving activities. If feasible, differentiate the shutdown zone for pinnipeds versus cetaceans, because the acoustic criteria levels are different for these species, as is their use of the nearshore areas (i.e., inside the WRA) at NBK at Bangor. 2. The 1-minute pauses in between soft start sounds employed during this project may have been too long to send an effective warning to animals in the area. Longer breaks between the sounds may be interpreted by the animals as transient noise and may not serve the intended purpose of providing an indication that louder sounds from pile driving are about to begin. It is recommended that noise bursts during soft start events occur at 30-second intervals and with increasing intensity, as done for seismic surveys Soft start pauses should at least be shortened to 30 seconds, even if SPLs remain the same throughout soft start. 3. Due to the substantial effort and cost of monitoring the entire Hood Canal area, future monitoring efforts might effectively be confined to the shutdown zone and adjacent areas (i.e., inside the WRA fence) to document behavioral impacts to marine mammals. 4. Steller sea lion takes should be included in take permits for future construction projects in Hood Canal. 5. Further detailed analysis of harbor porpoise density, abundance and habitat use should be completed to provide updates to current available data. Bangor, Washington 64
NBK at Bangor EHW-1 Pile Replacement Project Final Marine Mammal Monitoring Report Section 5 Acknowledgements Thanks are due to Andrea Balla-Holden (NAVFAC NW) and Danielle Buonantony (NAVFAC LANT) for their support and organization of monitoring efforts; lead boat captain, Captain Lou Schwartz (Tetra Tech, Inc.); monitoring coordinators Jeff Barrett and Jason Stutes (Hart Crowser); and acousticians James Reyff and Keith Pommerenck (Illingworth and Rodkin). Section 6 List of Preparers Kristen Ampela, PhD HDR Project Manager and Chief Scientist Todd McConchie HDR Data Analysis/Author Cathy Bacon HDR Data Analysis/Author Christopher McJetters HDR Technical Editor Phil Thorson, PhD HDR Technical Reviewer Cheryl Myers HDR Document Formatting and Production Section 7 References DeLong, R., and T. Loughlin. 2003. Survival/mortality of marked sea lions and food habits of sea lions in Oregon and California (02SSL-12). Page 30 in L. Fritz (compiler). Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Steller Sea Lion Research Reports, Fiscal Year 2002. AFSC Processed Report 2003-08. National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, Washington. DoN (Department of the Navy). 2011. Final Environmental Assessment. Explosives Handing Wharf 1 Pile Replacement Project Naval Base Kitsap at Bangor Silverdale WA. Eder, T., and I. Sheldon. 2001. Whales and Other Marine Mammals of Washington and Oregon. Auburn, Washington: Lone Pine Publishing. Bangor, Washington 65
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Section 1 Introduction - National Marine Fisheries Service - NOAA

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